It's not just about product awareness! What are the strengths of DOOH "LIVE BOARD"?

OOH (Out Of Home: a general term for advertising media encountered outside the home, such as transit ads, outdoor billboards, and ads in commercial facilities) seen around town. Its digital transformation (DX) is advancing year by year.

LIVE BOARD Inc. (*1) operates the nationwide DOOH (*2) platform "LIVE BOARD." By delivering ads to targeted audiences at the right moment, it not only builds awareness of products and services but also increases interest and engagement, potentially boosting purchase intent.

In this article, Mr. Tadashi Uemura and Mr. Haruki Kobayashi of LIVE BOARD, who handle advertising planning for various companies, introduce the potential of DOOH using case studies.

*1 LIVE BOARD Inc.: Established in February 2019 by NTT DOCOMO and the Dentsu Group. Operates a DOOH advertising delivery platform, develops advertising media, and sells advertising space. Enables OOH advertising delivery based on impressions (ad viewers) and user attributes, while also verifying OOH advertising effectiveness and cost-effectiveness. Owns and operates the networked DOOH "LIVE BOARD" system nationwide.

※2 DOOH (Digital Out Of Home): Advertising media utilizing digital signage installed in transit advertising, outdoor advertising, commercial facilities, etc.

 

The role of OOH isn't just about raising awareness of products or services!?

To get more people to purchase products or services, it's first necessary to increase the number of people who are aware of their existence. Therefore, in mass media planning, it's common to plan based on "awareness," which is the top part of the marketing funnel.

This approach assumes that "a certain percentage of people progress deeper into the funnel" at each step—from awareness to interest, purchase intent, and finally purchase. By increasing the entry point ("awareness"), the goal is to boost overall purchase volume.

However, unlike groceries or daily necessities, durable goods and luxury items are unlikely to lead to purchase based solely on consumer awareness. For such products, it is necessary to intentionally strengthen each step, such as "Interest/Curiosity" or "Purchase Intention." Therefore, we employ various approaches distinct from mass media, such as feature articles on the web and collaborations with magazines or influencers.

We believed that the fundamental principle of media planning was to change the media used for each step we wanted to strengthen. In practice, OOH media, including LIVE BOARD, are often used by companies primarily expecting increased "awareness." However, while working on media planning at LIVE BOARD, we began to think that DOOH could be effective at any stage of the funnel, depending on how it was used.

The key is capturing the right "moment" to reach the audience.

Here, we present two case studies demonstrating how DOOH delivered results not only in building awareness but also in the middle and lower funnel stages.

The first example is Suntory's "Kawari Sakaba Lemon Sour." In summer 2022, Suntory launched an advertising campaign utilizing the exterior surfaces of LIVE BOARD units at 56 locations nationwide. While the company routinely uses DOOH to expand reach, this campaign challenged them to go beyond mere product awareness. They aimed to "capture and appeal to the moment when people crave a Lemon Sour."

Suntory's ad video delivered on sunny days using LIVE BOARD (Photo courtesy of Suntory)

LIVE BOARD enables weather targeting, delivering ads linked to weather and temperature. For this campaign, a delivery plan was adopted to "display ads only on sunny or cloudy days when the temperature was 28°C (82°F) or higher."

We anticipated higher purchase intent during hot, sunny periods, but also ran ads on rainy days for comparative effectiveness. Results quantitatively demonstrated that individuals who encountered the product during particularly hot, sunny moments showed a significantly higher lift in purchase intent. This confirmed that capturing the moment (the instant consumers seek a product or service) substantially enhances advertising effectiveness.

Furthermore, the research revealed that LIVE BOARD ads scored higher than other media in terms of "purchasing the product on the same day the ad was seen." Unlike other digital media or TV, LIVE BOARD is an outdoor advertising medium. This outdoor placement may make weather- and temperature-based advertising appeals particularly effective.

The second case study is Ajinomoto's "Nabe Cube®". Ajinomoto used weather targeting to deliver ads linked to weather and temperature conditions to promote sales of "Nabe Cube®", a cube-shaped soup base for hot pots.

Video of hot pot dishes delivered by Ajinomoto to LIVE BOARD (Photo courtesy of Ajinomoto)

In Tokyo and Osaka, they targeted DOOH in areas frequented by their primary audience—women in their 30s and older with households. They delivered "Nabe Cube®" ads when temperatures dropped to a specified level.

The results showed that delivering ads when people were experiencing the cold outdoors significantly influenced purchase intent. By tapping into the psychology of "wanting warm food on cold days" and delivering ads at the right moment, DOOH's strengths can be effectively leveraged.

These two cases demonstrate that "reaching consumers at the right moment" can not only boost simple product awareness but also strengthen the middle funnel—specifically, interest, engagement, and purchase intent.

Collaborative Campaigns with Media Partners to Enhance Middle Funnel Impact

Moving forward, we aim to explore delivery options that not only leverage external factors like weather, temperature, or trending news but also intentionally strengthen the middle funnel. One idea is "collaborative delivery with media partners." Imagine this scenario:

※Conceptual diagram

"The forecast said it would get cold in the evening, but I accidentally went out wearing light clothes."   Everyone has experienced a situation like this. In such a moment, what if, in addition to ads targeting "weather and temperature" like in the earlier example, you also saw recommendations for outfit ideas or item suggestions from your favorite magazine? And what if it also told you that you could buy those items right near your current location?

※Illustration 

"It's going to get cold tonight, and if it's an item endorsed by the magazine, I'll give it a try." This could be the push to actually go out and buy it.

Because it's outdoor advertising where immediate action is possible, using emotionally compelling expressions to promote products could enhance DOOH's effectiveness in driving mid-funnel and bottom-funnel conversions.

Beyond such flexible media planning, LIVE BOARD enables advertisers to predict beforehand how likely their target audience is to encounter OOH. It also measures actual exposure using data like Docomo's location information. While OOH has traditionally struggled to prove its effectiveness numerically, this addresses that challenge.

LIVE BOARD represents an evolution beyond traditional OOH, offering expected benefits like numerical accountability and full-funnel effectiveness. Depending on the creative approach, it may even unlock entirely new value. For those seeking more effective advertising tailored to specific product or service characteristics, LIVE BOARD could prove a highly effective solution.