Out-of-Home Ads Consistent with TV Assets Achieve 2x More Brand Recall
System1, the Creative Effectiveness Platform, and JCDecaux UK, the UK leader in Out-of-Home advertising, today revealed its latest research based on viewers’ emotional response data captured via the new OOH in situ Test Your Ad platform created in partnership with JCDecaux. Festive OOH ads matching TV campaigns are twice as effective at branding, scoring 62% on two-second brand recognition (Fluency), which measures the strength and speed of brand recognition, compared to 30% for OOH ads that didn’t align with TV creative. This is significant given the average attention time for OOH is two seconds.
The OOH ads with TV counterparts, like Cadbury’s ‘Secret Santa’ creative, also performed better on System1’s other metrics: Star Rating, which predicts long-term brand gains, and Spike Rating, a measure of short-term sales potential. OOH ads matching TV achieved an average Star Rating of 3.1-Stars and Spike Rating of 1.10 compared to 2.8-Stars and .90 Spike for assets that didn't have a consistent creative thread.
“Christmas OOH ads perform nearly a full Star better on long-term brand building than the average for non-festive OOH ads. Those that match TV creative achieve an impressive uplift across the board, with double the levels of brand recognition,” said Andrew Tindall, global partnerships director at System1. “We’ve seen the same positive effect with this season’s radio ads, further highlighting the value of consistently applying creative best practices across the media mix. Distinctiveness is key so it’s great to see so many brands applying their well-known assets again and again.”
“We have seen so many advertisers create fantastic Christmas TV ads packed with emotion – this new research reaffirms our belief that OOH will enhance your TV campaign by amplifying this emotion across the country as people work, shop, socialise and commute,” said Chris Felton, director of data and insight, JCDecaux UK. “TV and Out-of-home are proven to work well together as complementary brand-building media and by following the guidelines in this report, clients’ campaigns will work even harder, driving results through the brand funnel.”
Best Practices for OOH Effectiveness
System1 and JCDecaux UK tested more than 50 OOH ads to create best practice guidelines for OOH advertising.
- Brand boldly. Distinctive assets like brand logos, slogans, colours and fonts rarely drive feeling, but they do help consumers quickly identify the brand. Go big with your branding so it’s clear who the ad is for.
- Feature fluent devices. Fluent devices, a recurring character or scenario, drive feeling and quick brand recognition, and System1 and JCDecaux UK’s research found that a fluent device makes creative 1/3 more effective.
- Remember ‘less is more’. Keep it simple so people can focus on and remember your message. Aim to use no more than 10 words across your ad.
- Maintain a consistent look and feel. Consistency across the media mix builds familiarity and feeling, especially when leveraging strong narratives, characters and scenarios.
To access the 'How to Create the Perfect Digital Poster' report from System1 and JCDecaux UK, visit here.
