‍Ding!

What’s that sound?

If you’ve not yet explored the hidden world of Digital Out Of Home advertising, or DOOH, it could be the sound of opportunity.

Take a glance at the advertising landscape today and you’d be forgiven for thinking that it’s all about tablets and smartphones. Social, PPC, even native ads disguised as content — you can’t click or swipe without being confronted with some form of advertising.

But what if this saturation is having the opposite effect an advertiser might want? 

What if, thanks to phenomena like banner blindness and an oversaturation of social channels, another way might engage your audience more effectively?

If that sounds at all intriguing to you as a business, we think you’re really going to love DOOH. And, in particular, elevator marketing.

Adding elevator advertising to your omnichannel marketing mix can bring a huge host of (surprising) benefits. 

Let’s find out more.

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On the up and up: The rising popularity of DOOH

It’d be disingenuous to float the idea of Digital Out Of Home advertising as a solid alternative to mobile channels without something substantial to back it up. So, let’s put our money where our mouth is.

Here are some fast facts about DOOH, and the impact it’s already having — and is predicted to have — on the world of advertising:

• The DOOH advertising market is expected to grow to over $10 billion by 2023, and almost $16 billion by 2027. In short? Now is the perfect time to get involved.
  
  
• 98% of the population sees an Out Of Home ad each week, be it a billboard, poster, or taxi cab signage. For Digital Out Of Home specifically, 49% of the population already see a DOOH ad per week. These could be anything from digital billboards to animated posters on the subway.
  
  
• A study conducted by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) found that Digital Out Of Home advertising isn’t just a powerful tool on its own — it’s also the ideal way to enhance the performance of digital channels. Their results showed a complementary boost of 31% for display advertising, 56% for paid social, and a whopping 80% for paid search. Now that’s an upshot we could all get on-board with!

So, it’s clear that the numbers are headed in the right direction, but what else can DOOH do for your business?

And, to be more specific, where does elevator advertising fit in?

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6 surprising benefits of elevator DOOH

When it comes to marketing mediums, it’s fair to say that elevators aren’t the first place that jumps to mind.

But, as they say, don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. 

Here’s what you stand to gain from focusing your DOOH approach on elevator marketing: 

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1. Elevators are both OOH and in the home (which makes elevator marketing far less susceptible to dramatic behavior shifts, like coronavirus lockdown)‍

COVID-19 radically shifted the movement patterns of people across the world. So, it’s fair to say that OOH advertising was decimated by the pandemic lockdown. With most people stuck at home, there were very few people left to engage with billboards, subway ads, and bus campaigns.

There was one small segment that retained its audience though. 

Yep, you guessed it: residential elevators. 

Numbers from our residential elevator network show that while traffic took a hit, 60-70% of the impression traffic remained throughout the worst of the lockdown. So when you’re considering which mediums to pick, don’t forget the one that still performed during the single biggest disruption to everyday life in recent history!‍

Elevators are both OOH and in the home (which makes elevator marketing far less susceptible to dramatic behavior shifts, like coronavirus lockdown)

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2. A captive audience (with time to kill)

Think back a moment to the last time you took an elevator. Chances are you didn’t get a lot done during the journey — and that’s the secret.

Not only is an elevator a confined space, but the audience within an elevator is often actively looking for something to do. All of those awkward glances when you’re in an elevator with strangers? Those could all be impressions for your ad — and they’re impressions that the audience will certainly welcome.

A captive audience + nothing to engage with for a minute or so = a much higher chance of real ad engagement.

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Download our media kit to find out more about our elevator advertising platform.

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3. Boosted ad recall and focus

The captive audience factor has another benefit on top of simple engagement: it boosts messaging recall.

Because of the close quarters in an elevator, your DOOH campaign will be front-and-center for your target audience. That means we’ve got three different factors at play, all of which boost your chances of making that conversion:

• A small physical space.
• An audience who are actively looking for a distraction.
• Unbroken engagement with the ad creative.

And, actually, this last point bears repeating.

That genuine engagement with your ad campaign is like gold-dust — and it’s something that completely subverts the banner blindness phenomenon. 

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‍4. The unskippable ad medium

Be honest: how quickly do you hit the ‘Skip’ button when it appears on a YouTube video? Or click the little ‘X’ on a banner ad? If you’re anything like, well, most of us, you probably cut those ads short pretty fast.

And rightly so. Too often, those ads do little more than interrupt something we were enjoying.

But what if you could leverage an advertising medium which didn’t interrupt (and potentially irritate) your target audience?

Here’s where elevator DOOH can offer two crucial benefits:

• While it’s always possible to look away, the close quarters of an elevator means that elevator ads are essentially unskippable. But, it’s not like you’re forcing people to view your ad against their will, either. Remember: elevator users are actively looking for distraction. And we’ve found that most people are happy to engage with an ad when they have nothing else to do on a short elevator journey.
  
  
• They’re not disruptive in the same way as most digital ads. They don’t interrupt you as you’re browsing the web, but instead give you something to look at when you’d otherwise be twiddling your thumbs.
  
  

5. Geography, demographic, and time-based targeting

While you’re probably familiar with geographic based targeting for OOH campaigns, did you know that the technology has evolved far past that? 

Vertical Impression is the first company in the world to allow for ad targeting in elevators based on factors like age, gender, time, weather, and a host of other factors.

Here’s an example: imagine you’re targeting young millennial men for an ad campaign. Using our system, you could select buildings across Canada with affordable rent and located in urban cores. Our anonymous demographic sensors in each screen will display your ad every time a young millennial man is detected, or a different message if a different demographic is detected. This technology allows you to create ads and messaging that is far more targeted and impactful. 

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6. Lower cost, higher return on investment

So, what does all of this really add up to?

Well, if you get it right, elevator marketing can be a real game changer for your marketing effectiveness:

• You can target your media placement, based on demographics, time, weather, and geography.
• You can short-circuit the banner blindness we’re all developing from over-exposure to digital ads.
• You can reach an audience without actively disrupting their day, at a time when they’re looking for engagement.

Compare all of these factors to other digital ads and you’ll quickly see why DOOH, and particular elevator advertising, is fast becoming the next big thing.

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Get in on the ground floor of elevator advertising

It should be clear by now that Digital Out Of Home advertising — and specifically elevator ads — is a burgeoning field with a bright future ahead. When added into the omnichannel marketing mix, this form of DOOH can increase overall performance and get you the results you need.

The best part? DOOH is still an almost untapped resource. If you’re sick of building your budget on digital spend just to see your ROI come tumbling down, it might be time to try something new.

And that something might just be the world’s first elevator advertising platform powered by artificial intelligence.

Curious to learn more? We’d love to show you what it can do. Get in touch with the Vertical Impression team and grab the opportunity today.