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As we become increasingly connected, our mobile devices become an essential tool throughout our path-to-purchase. Studies show marketers can utilize mobile and OOH to interact with active people on the path-to-purchase – turning airports, shopping malls, bus shelters and subway/LRT stations into points of sale.

For example, a 2014 comScore study of mobile owners revealed 59% of Canadian mobile subscribers are interested in taking some type of action after seeing an OOH ad. Outsmart, the Out-of-Home Marketing Association in the U.K., recently conducted a study entitled OutPerform** that found OOH activity drives a 17+ uplift in smartphone brand actions, with even better performance amongst Millennials and Gen Z audiences.

Also this year, the Outdoor Advertising Association of America and Nielsen conducted a study that looked at travel habits, the exposure to OOH ads and the shopping and purchase decisions of on-the-go, connected consumers. The results from that study mirrored some of the findings from the Canadian and U.K. study. Some of the key findings were:

• Over 35% used their mobile phone to do a search via Bing or Google.
• Over 1/3 who own a smartphone have searched for an OOH advertiser on their mobile device.

The following campaign case studies show how out-of-home, when executed well, drives mobile interaction.

Toyota Mobile Test Drive

In a bid to appeal to tech-savvy millennials, Toyota developed a campaign with agency Saatchi & Saatchi that put mobile at the centre of their out-of-home, digital, television and social media efforts. The OOH execution included billboards and street-level ads that promoted the Mobile Test Drive for Corolla (see video below). Interactive and NFC-enabled transit shelters launched the activation, allowing consumers to unlock a virtual test drive with a single tap of their mobile device. The posters used a unique printing process to trigger key car features, such as the car’s LED headlights. The results were quite impressive:

• 300,000,000 Mobile Impressions
• 336% increase in mobile traffic
• 3500+ Mobile sales leads in 3 months

Yellow Pages – Highlight Your Hood

Yellow Pages, once a trusted source for bringing business and customers together, had lost its status as a go-to resource and was seen as the old phone book rather than a digital directory. With a new utility-based website and mobile app, Yellow Pages believed it would connect people to business, but in the highly-competitive online search space, YP had to stand out and demonstrate their deep local knowledge. Targeting millennials, Yellow Pages used hyper-local OOH messaging to demonstrate its local knowledge. Over 100 customized illustrations were placed in conjunction with local headlines. OOH, digital, mobile and night projections were used to serve up information about specific neighbourhood spots. This program proved to be very successful, generating recall of 65%, which is significantly above Yellow Page norms. Total mobile visits to Yellow Pages increased by 21% over the previous year.

These are just 2 campaigns that demonstrate how OOH and mobile can work together to target consumers who are on-the-go and connected. With the growth of mobile and specifically smartphones, there is a tremendous opportunity for advertisers and marketers to engage consumers via OOH ads.

Rosanne Caron is President of the Out-Of-Home Marketing Association of Canada and the Canadian Out-of-Home Measurement Bureau. On Tuesday Sept. 20, she will be presenting on “Activating New Ideas In OOH“ during an ACA Webinar. ACA Members can register for the webinar at our events and education section or by emailing Davina Wong, Manager, Events and Education at .