Month: May 2022

Product News | October 11, 2021

Interactive digital signage: The future of DOOH advertising

Shows an example of a touch-enabled interactive signage display

There has never been a more exciting time for the digital out-of-home industry. From new emerging formats to the accelerated adoption of dynamic DOOH, the innovation taking place in digital out-of-home advertising isn’t slowing down. As digital signage makes its way into new places and spaces, advertisers need to find new ways of catching the attention of their target audience.

That’s where interactivity can make a real difference. For marketing teams, interactivity presents an opportunity to differentiate their brand with effective and engaging stories. For media owners, supporting interactive content can mean more exciting and engaging content across their network, higher premiums associated with booking this sort of complex campaign, and the opportunity to make a splash with delighted social media posts showing off the campaign in action.

What is interactive digital signage?

While personalization has been a hot topic in digital marketing the past few years, the interactive element is what’s really rising to the forefront. These days, you can find interactive ads on desktop, tablet, and—perhaps most frequently—mobile devices. But online isn’t the only place that you can go wild with the level of interactivity; features like advanced audience targeting and anonymized real-time sensors make DOOH uniquely well-suited to creating powerful interactive experiences.

Put simply, interactive digital signage turns traditional advertising into a participatory activity: it invites consumers to physically engage with the display content and find information that’s relevant to them. Whereas traditional digital signage broadcasts information in a single direction, displaying content regardless of whether or not viewers are paying attention, interactive digital signage turns viewers into users.’

Example: This campaign for Dancing with the Stars Australia invited passers-by to push a button on the digital billboard and follow the interactive video tutorial that appeared on the screen. It’s a fun and engaging campaign, and a great example of the potential offered by interactivity.

A brief history of interactive digital signage

The origin of today’s interactive displays can be traced back to the first commercial appearance of touchscreen technology in the early 1980s. Interactive kiosks in the form of the automated teller machine (ATM) were also coming into widespread use at that time, and the ability for customers to interact in that way laid the foundations for the interactive digital signage technologies still emerging today.

While early advancements in digital signage were focused on improving the hardware—with big leaps in the industry being driven by the advent of thinner, brighter displays, improved graphics, and better overall reliability—the significance of those developments in display technology eventually impacted the content and software side. As responsive and dynamic display technology became more affordable and easily available, the market was flooded with digital signage solutions all competing for consumers’ attention. In response, marketers and network owners have started turning to contextualized, dynamic, and perhaps most importantly, interactive content in order to cut through all the noise and preserve the effectiveness of commercial messaging in the DOOH space.

Watch: An interactive DOOH campaign pulling content from social media

Why make digital signage interactive?

The average city-dweller today probably passes by a good number of digital displays on any given day, and most aren’t interactive. With interactive capability generally requiring additional technology and setup, it tends to come at an additional cost. This is both for the media owners who need to outfit the signage and the buyers looking to purchase more intricate campaigns. Is the added expense of investing in interactive signage justified?

The answer largely comes down to memorability in a crowded advertising landscape. According to a report from MAGNA, interactive video ads get 47% more viewing time than non-interactive ones and are more memorable to consumers, regardless of whether or not they choose to interact. People are also more willing to share personal information in exchange for personalization and value; by displaying content that’s relevant and engaging, your audience is more likely to feel comfortable with sharing their data and your buyers can gain insight into customer behaviors which can help inform their future strategies.

Perhaps most crucially for network owners is the fact that potential ad buyers are convinced of interactivity’s effectiveness: 81% of marketers agree that interactive content grabs attention more effectively than static content and 79% believe that it enhances retention of brand messaging when combined with traditional marketing tactics. With high-end buyers seeking ways to make their campaigns stand out, only those DOOH networks that are capable of the interactivity they desire will be in contention to run their campaigns.

Watch: An interactive AR campaign from JCDecaux and BBC Earth

What you need for interactive digital signage

Good interactive content takes a bit of work to bring to life. Network owners will need to secure hardware capable of powering the interactive content, and also drive that hardware with software that can connect all the right pieces together for the content to run flawlessly.

Extensible software offering an open API will generally be the best choice for interactive signage projects, though it is important too to ensure the solution is secure and reliable. Interactive displays within arm’s reach could become targets for tampering by troublemakers, so it’s particularly important that they are secured.

Finally, the signage needs content to be interacted with. This content takes various forms, dependent on the nature of the display. Interactive billboards, for instance, are likely going to display interactive content provided by a media buyer looking to place a particular promotional campaign. For an indoor display, such as a wayfinding terminal in a mall, the interactive content is likely a concern to be handled by the network owners themselves. This isn’t to say that the content must be created in-house. A number of digital signage content providers specialize in providing interactive content that can be tailored to the specific needs of a given network.

Interactive activation for digital signage

“Interactive digital signage” is a broad category, uniting many very different kinds of projects. Here is an overview of some of the most common types of interactivity that are used.

Touch

One of the most common ways digital signage is made interactive is by deploying a touchscreen. The ubiquity of touchscreens today makes this a safe bet for interaction, as there are unlikely to be many barriers to most individuals simply walking up and engaging with the installation. Touch is commonly employed to let audiences browse information on a screen or manipulate on-screen elements.

Common uses: Wayfinding, self-serve kiosks, special ad campaigns

Example: The LinkNYC network of touch-enabled kiosks gives people in New York City access to phone calls, WiFi, directions, and more, all paid for by advertising on the kiosk.

Check out how Intersection bettered the lives of New Yorkers using dynamic DOOH.

Gesture/motion tracking

Gesture control is a lot like touch with a lot more style and a bit less precision. People can walk up and move their hands in the air in front of the sign, with cameras connected to the installation registering the types and speed of the movements being made and triggering corresponding reactions on-screen. This isn’t a particularly common form of interactivity in the digital signage space, though advances in gesture control and greater awareness of hygiene concerns post-pandemic are seeing it become more common.

Common uses: In-store virtual browsing or shopping, interactive advertising

Example: This campaign by Swarovski uses motion and gesture tracking to turn onlookers into participants in an interactive game.

Social media

Social media has been a mainstay of interactive digital signage campaigns for years now, thanks largely to social being such a great tool both for driving engagement and generating onscreen content. The specific implementation of social interactivity varies depending on the campaign. A typical example involves users posting to their own social accounts using a specific hashtag and having their post appear onscreen, sometimes after a moderation process is completed.

Common uses: Advertising

Example: The #SendingLove campaign, facilitated by the World Out of Home Organization, promoted user-submitted messages of love in cities around the world during the fight against the COVID-19.

Mobile

Increasingly, campaigns are making use of the capabilities of mobile phones to deliver some really interesting interactive content. Special applications or mobile websites are created to grant audiences the ability to manipulate onscreen elements or objects, with audiences prompted to visit or download by visiting a site displayed on the billboard. This can be a fun way to put games up on the screen and encourage mass participation in a campaign delivered to a nearby digital billboard.

Common uses: Ad-supported games, interactive advertising, augmented reality

RFID/NFC

RFID (radio frequency identification) and NFC (near field communication) are often spoken about interchangeably, as they achieve similar things with only minor differences. They involve the use of passive chips that interact with a frequency emitted by a powered device, like a smartphone, to deliver information or trigger a reaction. The technology is becoming more common thanks to contactless payment apps promoted by major cellphone companies but might be a bit of a risky choice for an interactive advertising campaign. Many phones today still do not support these technologies.

Augmented reality & visual recognition

Some of the best interactive DOOH campaigns are also some of the simplest. Installing cameras near a digital display and hooking them up to a suitable PC can allow for some really neat augmented reality campaigns. This can be a fun way to bring onlookers and the world around them right into a fun new experience. Other uses include using cameras to do basic visual identification and have campaigns deliver messaging tailored to whoever they see standing by. Different content, for instance, could be delivered depending on whether the onlooker is an adult or a child.

Common uses: AR, dynamic campaigns

Example: JCDecaux and Telia Estonia promoted the launch of a new TV channel, called ‘Inspira’, with Estonia’s first outdoor AR campaign. With 10% of the Estonian population tuning in to the new channel during the first month, we think it’s safe to say this campaign had a positive impact.

QR Codes

QR codes are a fairly passive form of interactivity, offering passers-by the ability to use their phone to receive information or navigate to a website by scanning a code with a capable app. It is generally used to accomplish similar things to NFC campaigns, but is more accessible. Where phones need to include specific hardware to access NFC content, they just need a QR reader application on their smartphone to access codes.

Common uses: Directions, information and website sharing

Example: This campaign by Google Play and oOh! Media offered users the choice of both NFC and QR codes to access media promoted by the campaign.

Key software capabilities for interactive digital signage

Good interactive content takes a bit of work to bring to life. In addition to securing hardware capable of powering the interactive content, network owners will need to select the best digital signage software to connect all the right pieces together and ensure the content runs flawlessly.

Here’s a look at some of the specific features we think you should keep in mind when shopping for digital signage software.

Extensibility

Many interactive DOOH campaigns require real-time integration with external data feeds, audience analytics tools, and other capabilities that generally aren’t included in digital signage software by default.

Extensible software offering an open API will generally be the best choice for interactive signage projects, though it is important too to ensure the solution is secure and reliable. You don’t want to go to the trouble of integrating a service into your network only to have your players fail to play your interactive content.

Dynamic content playback

Since interactive digital signage is a subset of dynamic DOOH, your digital signage software needs to have the ability to change on-screen content in response to external data or triggers. But even though the number of brands demanding dynamic ad capabilities is growing, not all software is capable of displaying this type of content.

To make sure your network doesn’t miss out on great opportunities, check that your digital signage software supports dynamic playback more generally, and is capable of supporting the specific aspects (touchscreen, gesture control, etc.) of your interactive campaigns.

Mobile device integration or coordination

Thanks to advancements in mobile and DOOH advertising technology, it’s easier than ever for brands to create seamless omnichannel campaigns across platforms. Geofencing and scannable QR codes let users engage with digital kiosks and other touchscreen displays without making physical contact, and can help bring interactivity to projected content, displays behind windows, and large video wall displays.

Less direct methods of interactivity have been gaining traction in the wake of COVID-19, so we recommend choosing a digital signage software that supports this type of approach via mobile device integrations.

As interactive technology gets cheaper and more widespread, it’s likely that interactivity will increasingly be seen as a must-have for many networks operating in the digital space. Investing in the right tech today will put network owners and their businesses on the most productive path in the years to come.

Do you want to build an interactive digital signage network?
Request your demo of Broadsign to see how our software can help!

Product News | October 11, 2021

How to boost your back-to-school campaigns with OOH advertising

Back-to-school season isn’t just about new notebooks and sneakers—it’s one of the biggest retail moments of the year. In fact, next to Black Friday, it’s the second-busiest shopping event, with sales expected to reach $84.5 billion in 2025. It’s a key moment for brands to drive both in-store and online traffic.

According to the National Retail Federation, 67% of back-to-school shoppers had already started shopping by early July, up from 55% last year and the highest early start since the NRF began tracking it in 2018. The early start is partly driven by economic concerns: 51% of families say they’re shopping earlier this year to avoid potential price increases due to tariffs or inflation.

With shoppers active early but still open to influence, this season presents a key opportunity for advertisers to stay top of mind throughout the entire purchase journey. DOOH advertising helps brands do just that—reaching shoppers in real time with contextually relevant messages near retail locations, on transit routes, and in everyday environments where purchase decisions happen.

With families actively hunting for value and wrapping up their shopping lists, DOOH offers a smart, scalable way to connect with them. Here’s how to maximize your back-to-school campaigns this season.

Strategies for effective back-to-school OOH advertising

Targeted ad placements

Location matters—and when it comes to driving real-world action, proximity pays off. According to the OAAA, 30% of consumers have recently noticed OOH ads providing directions to a business. Of those, 51% visited the business, and 93% made a purchase, highlighting the power of timely, well-placed messaging to convert attention into action.

With 62% of back-to-school shoppers planning to visit two or more physical stores this season, strategic DOOH placements offer a direct way to influence purchase decisions in real time. By meeting consumers where they live, move, and shop—on commutes, in stores, and during everyday errands—advertisers can stay top of mind throughout the entire path to purchase.

  • Urban panels and transit stations reach students, teachers, and parents as they navigate city streets or commute to school and work—making them ideal for building awareness early in the shopping cycle.
  • In-mall screens and big-box retail placements reach consumers at the point of decision, when new clothes, school supplies, and electronics are already top of mind. These locations offer both high dwell time and strong purchase intent.
  • Grocery stores and pharmacies are high-frequency stops for families throughout the season. Placing DOOH ads in these environments helps reinforce messaging around snacks, lunch prep, personal care, and other everyday essentials.
  • Near college campuses, DOOH campaigns can engage students and educators gearing up for the semester, with messaging focused on dorm furnishings, laptops, and classroom supplies.
Tesco’s back-to-school campaign via Clear Channel UK.

Contextual, relevant messaging

Crafting timely and relevant messages for your OOH ads can significantly enhance their impact—especially as inflation continues to influence how households prioritize their spending. According to the National Retail Federation, nearly half of back-to-school shoppers are delaying purchases to wait for better deals, making context-aware messaging more valuable than ever.

DOOH ads tailored to contextual settings or time-specific discounts can help capture a shopper’s attention and inspire action—whether it’s a limited-time offer near a big-box store or a reminder to stock up on supplies during the afternoon commute. You can take that agility even further by incorporating dynamic creative, allowing your messaging to automatically adapt based on real-time conditions.

Thanks to continued advancements in programmatic digital out-of-home (pDOOH), triggering dynamic ads is easier than ever. Advertisers can activate creative based on factors like weather, traffic conditions, time of day, special offers, or even nearby events. In some cases, ads can even be triggered by inventory status, such as displaying promotional discounts when a store has an overstock of merchandise.

Timing is key—schedule ads during the moments your audience is most likely to engage, like morning and afternoon commute windows, weekend shopping rushes, or after-work errand hours, to ensure your message reaches consumers when it matters most.

H&M promotes the back-to-school season during commuting hours via JCDecaux.

Amplifying digital reach with OOH

OOH advertising is not just about physical presence; it can also drive digital engagement. According to data from The Harris Poll and OAAA, 74% of mobile device users reported taking action on their mobile devices following recent exposure to DOOH ads, with actions ranging from online searches about advertisers to direct visits to advertiser websites and social media platforms. 

Integrating QR codes or short URLs into OOH ads can encourage viewers to visit an online store or follow or engage with a brand on social media to access a promo code for B2S shopping. Social media contests or giveaways with a B2S theme promoted on OOH creative can further drive engagement and increase a brand’s following.

Interested in getting started with DOOH this back-to-school shopping season?

The back-to-school season is a prime time for brands to connect with consumers and boost sales. Incorporating OOH into your marketing strategy is a strategic way to reach parents, students, and teachers where they’re at, increasing brand awareness and prompting them to take action. 

Explore curated audiences in our Retail package here!

Product News | October 11, 2021

Want to scale in-store digital signage the smart way? These costly missteps could undermine long-term growth

As retailers race to meet brand demand and tap into new revenue streams, many are rapidly rolling out digital signage as part of their broader retail media networks (RMNs). But in the rush to scale, it’s easy to make early decisions that quietly erode long-term flexibility, visibility, and control.

The way you structure your network — from how screens are managed to how content is delivered and measured — directly impacts your ability to scale effectively. And when speed is prioritized over strategy, foundational cracks often surface just as brand expectations are rising.

Whether you’re installing your first in-store screens or integrating an existing network into a broader retail media strategy, your setup should serve your business, your partners, and your shoppers without compromise. That’s where Broadsign’s new eBook, Owning Your In-Store Activation: A Playbook for Scaling In-Store Digital Signage Networks, comes in: a guide to scaling smart, staying in control, and building for the long term.

The following insights — pulled directly from the playbook — spotlight three of retailers’ most common missteps when scaling in-store media. Avoiding them early can help you protect long-term flexibility, unlock greater value, and stay in control as your network grows.

Why in-store, why now?

Retail media is one of the fastest-growing channels in advertising — and the physical store is its most underleveraged asset. While ecommerce has historically commanded retail media budgets, over 80% of U.S. retail sales still happen in-store. That’s a massive opportunity to engage shoppers at the point of purchase.

That momentum is building fast:

To capture that value, more retailers are turning to digital signage. With screens, contextual triggers, and access to first-party customer data, they can now deliver targeted, measurable campaigns right where buying decisions are made. From dynamic digital displays to mobile integrations and real-time content delivery, in-store environments are becoming high-impact media assets.

But unlocking that value — and making it work to your advantage — takes more than tech. It takes a strategy that puts you in control.

Retailers that act now, building scalable infrastructure and aligning their networks with long-term goals, will be better positioned to drive revenue, strengthen brand partnerships, and elevate the in-store shopping experience.

What in-store retail media looks like today

Modern in-store retail media is fast, flexible, and measurable. Gone are the days of static signage and lengthy campaign rollouts. Today’s in-store environments are powered by:

  • Endcap and shelf-edge displays for real-time, context-driven promotions
  • Checkout and kiosk screens to deliver targeted, personalized offers
  • Mobile integrations (e.g., dynamic QR codes, NFC) that bridge physical and digital touchpoints

The real power lies in data. With insights from loyalty programs, real-time signals like inventory or weather, and behaviour-based triggers (e.g. motion sensors, dwell time), retailers can automatically serve relevant content when it matters most — increasing engagement and conversion.

Common missteps that undermine retailer control

Before you scale, avoid these all-too-common traps, which can limit your flexibility, erode shopper trust, and ultimately impact your bottom line.

1. Prioritizing speed over strategic control 

Turnkey solutions from third-party platforms can be appealing. They promise fast deployment, minimal lift, and a steady demand pipeline from brand advertisers. But this speed can come at the cost of flexibility. These models often involve rigid contracts, limited customization, and closed systems that don’t integrate easily with your existing operations. Those early decisions can box you in as your network scales, restricting how you deliver content, leverage data, or monetize your screens.

“The best long-term value comes from owning the data and being the front door for how retail media is bought,” says Troy Townsend, CEO of Zitcha. “This is about building enterprise value.”

2. Letting fragmentation create friction

Retailers often launch in-store media programs without standardized systems or shared goals across internal teams. The result? Fragmented networks that are hard to manage and even harder to measure. According to the Path to Purchase Institute, consumer goods companies now work with an average of six retail media networks, a number that’s expected to nearly double by 2026. That fragmentation creates a real challenge for retailers: proving performance and standing out to advertisers.

In-store adds even more complexity. Factors like screen location, shopper flow, and dwell time vary from store to store, making it hard to compare results without standardized reporting. To scale effectively, you need more than screens. You need a connected ecosystem, a unified measurement strategy, and a clear operational playbook.

3. Letting content chaos dilute the shopper experience

You’ve invested in digital screens — now what do you show on them? This is where many retailers hit a wall. Without a coordinated strategy across teams (media, marketing, merchandising, store ops), everyone competes for screen time, leading to:

  • Conflicting messages
  • Missed opportunities for targeted content
  • Visual overload that confuses shoppers and weakens campaigns

Media campaigns are often treated like old-school packages — booked by week or location, with no real audience targeting or dynamic scheduling. That approach might fill screens, but it fails to align with shopper context or brand expectations.

“That lack of screen- or audience-level targeting creates real operational challenges,”
says Jorge Bueno, CEO of Shoppermotion. “Without the right infrastructure, the only option is to run the same ads across all screens at once.”

The result? A disjointed experience that under-delivers for everyone.

Own your growth — before someone else defines it for you

These pitfalls aren’t just operational challenges — they’re symptoms of a deeper issue: giving up too much control over how your network runs, scales, and delivers value.

Taking back control doesn’t mean building everything yourself. It means:

  • Choosing partners who align with your goals
  • Building infrastructure that supports flexibility and interoperability
  • Retaining ownership of the data, processes, and strategy that shape your success

Retailers that define these boundaries early are better equipped to scale their networks purposefully and turn their in-store footprint into a long-term competitive advantage.

Ready to take back control?

Owning your in-store activation doesn’t mean doing it all alone. It means making smart, strategic decisions about your infrastructure, partners, and operations — and building a network that works for you, not the other way around.

Download the complete Owning Your In-Store Activation playbook to explore the key decisions that shape in-store success and learn how to structure your network for long-term, scalable growth.

Product News | October 11, 2021

Digital out-of-home for retail: Strategies to reach consumers along the path-to-purchase

As of early 2025, consumers were spending over $555 billion each month on retail, but only 18.9% of that happened online. Despite ongoing digital growth, 45% of shoppers still prefer brick-and-mortar stores as their primary channel, and 72% visit physical locations weekly, according to Capital One Shopping.

These habits reflect a fluid decision-making process. With 82% of purchases made in-store—and 62% driven by impulse—advertisers have a powerful opportunity to influence shoppers at the point of decision.
Digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising is key to capturing that moment. It grabs attention, builds awareness, and connects online engagement to in-store action, creating a more seamless and impactful customer journey.

Turning retail challenges into opportunities with DOOH

Retail is evolving fast, with fragmented journeys, higher shopper expectations, and growing pressure to turn online engagement into store traffic. Traditional digital ads often miss the mark—skipped, blocked, or ignored at key moments.

Digital OOH offers a powerful alternative, reaching consumers during daily routines like commuting, shopping, or socializing. These unavoidable brand moments drive both awareness and action. According to OAAA and Morning Consult, 42% of consumers say OOH ads impact their in-person shopping decisions, and once inside a store, 75% still notice those ads. Meanwhile, a global study reveals 56% of shoppers purchased an item featured in a DOOH display, with most of those purchases (65%) being unplanned.

As brands adapt to shifting consumer habits, OOH bridges the gap between online and offline, delivering meaningful, measurable results right where buying decisions happen. Here’s how to make it work.

Drive foot traffic to purchase locations

As digital noise intensifies, brands are turning to OOH to drive real-world results. It’s a high-impact, last-mile tool that reaches consumers at key moments with location-relevant prompts. In fact, research from Talon Outdoor shows 59% of shoppers are likely to buy within 30 minutes of seeing an OOH ad, highlighting its power as a last-mile driver.

Smart OOH strategies leverage proximity, timing, and context to turn awareness into action. For instance, proximity-based targeting helps reduce friction along the path-to-purchase by delivering messages when and where shoppers are ready to act, whether that’s during a commute, while running errands, or browsing in a high-traffic retail zone.

To maximize impact, marketers can:

  • Appeal to price-sensitive consumers by highlighting promotions, limited-time deals, or exclusive in-store offers. With 41% of shoppers willing to switch stores or brands to save money, these cues can be powerful motivators.
  • Use high-visibility screens in key pedestrian zones (like digital billboards and urban panels) to build upper-funnel brand awareness and capture attention early in the customer journey.
  • Incorporate interactive or time-sensitive messaging in long-dwell environments, like transit hubs where people spend between 5-15 minutes on average, offices, and casual dining venues. These venues are ideal for more detailed storytelling or promotional offers.
  • Drive urgency with last-mile tactics by promoting local store locations, curbside pickup options, or real-time stock availability, prompting immediate visits.
  • Align messaging with seasonal moments, like back-to-school or the holidays, when audiences are already in a buying mindset.

Success story: Holt Renfrew’s strategic DOOH campaign

Holt Renfrew, Canada’s largest fashion and lifestyle retailer, offers a strong example of strategic digital OOH execution. When Nordstrom exited the Canadian market, Holt Renfrew moved quickly to capture market share among key demographics.

Leveraging geofencing to target areas surrounding closing Nordstrom locations, the campaign activated ads across high-traffic formats like billboards, bus shelters, and urban office buildings within close reach of its core audience. In total, 200 ads ran across seven Holt Renfrew markets, including residential neighbourhoods strategically selected through consumer mapping. Over ten weeks, the campaign drove more than 400,000 store visits, showcasing how smart placement, audience insights, and well-timed messaging can deliver real-world results.

Integrate online and offline journeys

Boosting online sales and engagement starts with smarter, more personalized OOH. By leveraging first-party data, like loyalty program activity or past purchase behaviour, brands can deliver targeted creative that speaks directly to individual shoppers. Interactive elements like QR codes, touchscreens, or social media prompts embedded in DOOH campaigns make those messages instantly actionable.

Viewers can scan a QR code with their phone, triggering an immediate redirect to a microsite, product page, or mobile wallet offer. Saved deals can then prompt timely reminders based on location or expiration, keeping the brand top of mind. Every interaction—from the scan itself to timing and location—is tracked and analyzed, turning passive impressions into valuable insights.

This closed-loop approach bridges physical and digital touchpoints while enabling continuous optimization. And with 76% of consumers taking mobile action after seeing a digital OOH ad, the opportunity for meaningful engagement—and measurable results—has never been greater. From website visits and app downloads to conversions and social shares, interactive DOOH empowers brands to connect, convert, and learn in real time.

Boehringer Ingelheim’s DOOH campaign for Frontpro featured dynamic QR codes that invited passersby to engage with the ad, driving awareness and contributing to a 254% lift in positive brand perception.

Target the right audience with smarter segmentation

Not every shopper engages with the same message or environment. Luxury buyers, for instance, respond to exclusivity and aspirational messaging. Target them in premium urban areas with sleek visuals, minimal copy, and high-end lifestyle cues. Digital billboards and urban panels near luxury retailers or in high-income neighbourhoods help reinforce brand prestige. Value-driven shoppers, on the other hand, are motivated by savings and practicality.

To maximize OOH impact, brands must tailor their creative and placement to their audience and context Some examples include:

  • Bargain Shoppers (ages 55–64) and Department Store Shoppers (primarily women in the same age group) are often found browsing malls and retail corridors in search of deals. Use OOH screens in malls, transit stations, and shopping areas to promote limited-time offers or loyalty incentives.
  • Daily Deal Consumers, who span all age groups and skew female, respond well to time-sensitive promotions. Highlight coupon codes, mobile savings, or QR-driven discounts using interactive formats in long-dwell venues like casual dining spots, grocery stores, or point-of-care locations.
  • Holiday Shoppers, who emerge seasonally and lean slightly female, are driven by urgency and convenience. In the lead-up to peak retail periods, focus OOH messaging on gift guides, holiday exclusives, and extended store hours.
  • Gen Z and Millennials are drawn to bold visuals, interactivity, and values-driven messaging. Use QR codes or social prompts to drive mobile engagement and connect them to exclusive content or offers. Prioritize placements in transit hubs, urban panels, and social venues, with messaging tied to causes like sustainability or inclusivity.

Measure success and optimize campaigns

With DOOH, retail marketers can go beyond basic awareness metrics to track high-value actions—like in-store visits, footfall traffic, online purchases, and app interactions—offering a clearer view of how OOH drives shopper behaviour from discovery to conversion. Attribution connects these insights to broader media performance, revealing how OOH works alongside digital, social, and in-store efforts to boost engagement and sales.

Modern OOH campaigns come equipped with robust measurement tools, including:

  • Mobile location data: Understand how shoppers engage with OOH ads and whether they visit a store or interact online afterward.
  • Footfall analysis: Measure physical store traffic tied directly to campaign exposure.
  • Sales lift studies: Track the revenue impact of targeted OOH campaigns across specific products or categories.
  • Brand lift studies: Assess how OOH influences brand recall, purchase intent, and favorability during key shopping moments.

The future of retail isn’t purely digital or physical—it’s a blend of both. Out-of-home advertising connects these worlds, guiding shoppers from screens to storefronts with relevance, impact, and intent. By combining smart targeting, engaging creative, and measurable outcomes, OOH turns moments of attention into moments of action—bridging the gap between awareness and conversion in a way few other channels can.

Ready to maximize your digital out-of-home investment? Explore curated audiences in our Retail package here!

Product News | October 11, 2021

What’s new in the Broadsign Platform: Sophisticated targeting, creative management and UI improvements

Spring has finally sprung, which means fresh air, greenery, and, most importantly, fresh updates to the Broadsign Platform. This season, we are bringing you sophisticated targeting tools, streamlined creative management, and major UI improvements to make the campaign planning and management process for directly-sold campaigns as seamless as possible for campaign planners. 

Why does this matter? While the activation process for digital out-of-home (DOOH) may only require a couple of minutes, the campaign planning and management process often requires much more time. Discovering available and relevant inventory, collecting data to prove the medium’s effectiveness in meeting campaign goals, and managing campaign creatives are all time-consuming tasks.

The new spring updates introduce a new level of automation that not only reduces the time and complexities of getting DOOH campaigns out the door but also helps make out-of-home (OOH) a competitive and attractive medium for buyers. Let’s dive in!

Sophisticated targeting tools that find the best inventory 

Granular targeting shouldn’t be exclusive to programmatic. That’s why last year, we introduced targeting tools for directly sold campaigns executed through the Broadsign Platform, giving campaign planners the same flexibility and comprehensive targeting capabilities as online and programmatic media buyers. 

The targeting tools included the ability to filter your inventory by location and key points of interest (POIs), enabling campaign planners to find the most relevant inventory for each campaign at the click of a button. An intuitive map view was also introduced, allowing you to better visualize your inventory with quick filtering options by area, support for bulk location uploads, and setting radius parameters. 

This year, we’re introducing two powerful targeting upgrades for directly sold campaigns: demographics and criteria targeting. With demographics targeting, you can filter inventory by attributes like age, gender, or occupation to find the screens that will maximize campaign impact. We’ve also enhanced criteria targeting, giving you more granular control over inclusion and exclusion rules. For example, when building a proposal for an alcohol brand, you can now quickly exclude screens that don’t allow alcohol ads from your inventory search in just a few clicks. 

These new additions to the Broadsign Platform not only reduce the manual work required for inventory discovery but also give your team the opportunity to be a more strategic partner to buyers. We’re also excited to share that these enhanced targeting capabilities are now available to Broadsign customers worldwide! 

Simplified creative management and centralized campaign planning

Media owners juggle multiple campaigns and creatives at the same time, and without the right tools, the creative management process can become complex and stressful for your teams. Last year, we released our in-platform creative management tools, which allowed you to create, edit, manage, and assign campaign creatives with ease. On top of that, we also made it possible for you to push your campaigns live through the Broadsign Platform, eliminating the need to go through Broadsign’s desktop tools. 

In this latest update to the Broadsign Platform, we’re introducing creative scheduling. You’ll now be able to apply multiple scheduling options to your creatives, making it easier than ever to deliver the right message at the right time. You can also target your content by time of day or event, making it easier than ever to adapt your messaging to dayparts or changing campaign goals. Finally, you can update your creatives in real-time, allowing you to plan and deliver up to 55% of your campaigns in one unified workflow directly in-platform. 

Additional management tools for an improved user experience

Along with comprehensive creative management and targeting tools for directly-sold campaigns, additional tools and UI enhancements have been added to improve the usability and user experience of the Broadsign Platform:

Inventory package accessibility

Access inventory packages effortlessly through the platform’s updated navigation bar, enhancing efficiency and ease of use.

Centralized settings management

Administrators can now adjust and manage all necessary settings for digital and static inventory, user management, and more directly within the platform’s web-based UI through a centralized hub for control and configuration.

Campaign monitoring enhancements

With the newly implemented progress indicator, real-time monitoring of campaign pacing is now possible, giving immediate insight into campaign performance. This allows for quick adjustments to be made, as needed, to meet campaign goals effectively.

Search functionality and filters

An improved search mechanism, complemented by additional filters like campaign, client or contract names, enables quicker and more accurate campaign retrieval, saving time and improving workflow.

Line item list

You can now access a list of all line items directly through the navigation bar. Operations teams now have a more precise and comprehensive view of all bookings made on your network.

Dashboard customization

Tailor the platform’s dashboard to meet individual needs, ensuring that the most relevant and important information is always front and center.

Interested in testing out these new features? Book a demo today