Product News | October 11, 2021

Leveraging out-of-home for maximum impact this travel season

It’s springtime, and in North America, we’re breathing a collective sigh of relief. The days are getting longer, the weather is warming up, and travel season is kicking into high gear.

For advertisers, this surge in travel presents the perfect opportunity to leverage out-of-home (OOH) advertising in bold, innovative ways. Unlike digital ads that compete for attention on crowded screens, OOH captures the attention of travellers at key moments—whether they’re catching a flight, cruising down highways, or wrangling kids at an amusement park.

In this article, we’ll explore how OOH is uniquely positioned to engage audiences on the go, and how to best leverage this medium to maximize marketing impact during peak travel seasons.

Key travel trends for 2025

Despite economic uncertainty, travel remains a priority, with 76% of travellers plan to spend the same or more on trips in 2025 compared to last year. The travel bug isn’t letting up, and neither should your marketing.

One significant trend is reshaping the spring break landscape: the rise of solo travel. Airbnb data shows a 90% uptick in solo searches for spring travel dates compared to last year. Individuals are increasingly embracing “soft travel” – slower-paced trips focused on wellbeing and leisure.

A recent survey from Squaremouth reveals that solo travelers remain dedicated to their adventures despite rising travel costs, with many willing to invest significantly in their trips. Over half (53%) plan to spend more than $3,000 on their next vacation, while 39% expect to budget between $1,000 and $3,000. Beyond spending more, they’re also looking beyond borders—87% of solo travellers are interested in taking international trips this year. With solo trips averaging 19 days—longer than the typical 14-day trips taken by couples—this extended travel time increases exposure to OOH advertising, especially in high-traffic transit hubs like airports, train stations, and public transport.

With their larger budgets and flexible travel plans, solo travellers are an ideal audience for OOH campaigns promoting premium experiences, accommodations, and activities. Their spontaneity makes them highly receptive to destination-based advertising, while the rise in international travel presents opportunities for global OOH campaigns to build consistent brand recognition across multiple markets. Additionally, digital OOH formats enable dynamic, real-time messaging tailored to travellers’ locations, enhancing relevance and engagement.

OOH strategies to engage travellers on the go

No matter where travellers are headed or how they’re getting there, OOH advertising offers unique advantages for connecting with them at every stage of their journey.

Capture audience attention during wait times

Transportation hubs like airports, cruise terminals, and train stations create environments where travellers have extended dwell times with limited distractions, making them exceptionally receptive to advertising messages.

Airports are a perfect example. Travellers spend hours waiting at airports, from check-in to boarding, providing a captive audience actively seeking mental stimulation. Strategic placement of engaging OOH displays across security lines, departure gates, and baggage claim areas transforms otherwise idle time into valuable brand exposure.

What makes these captive audience moments so valuable? It comes down to a few key factors:

Longer dwell time: Travel often means long wait times, giving you the chance to deliver more detailed messages or tell a story through interactive displays.
Fewer distractions: With fewer digital distractions and a heightened awareness of their surroundings, travellers are more likely to notice and engage with advertisements.
Varied demographics: Airports are a melting pot and one of the few places where families, leisure travellers, and business executives come together, allowing brands to target diverse audiences in a single location.
Global mix: Airports allow brands to engage with a truly global audience, presenting a unique opportunity for cross-market advertising.
Access to high-value customers: C-suite executives can be hard to reach. By placing ads in strategic locations like airport lounges, brands can bridge the gap and offer tailored messaging for luxury brands, high-end airlines, hotels, and B2B services.

Whether it’s a theme park promoting family packages on airport digital displays or a beach destination showcasing its attractions in cruise terminals, these strategically placed OOH messages can sway decision-makers at just the right moment. Plus, OOH ads can’t be skipped, so your message is more likely to be seen than on other digital platforms.

For example, Disney’s vibrant ads at LAX and DFW tap into nostalgia and whimsy, sparking an emotional response that draws travellers in.

Use interactive experiences to drive engagement

Interactive experiences are essential for driving deeper engagement and building meaningful connections with audiences. For travel advertisers, incorporating interactive elements can turn passive viewers into active participants, strengthening brand affinity and inspiring action.

Take, for example, a digital billboard in a bustling city center featuring a QR code inviting passersby to “Scan & Explore.” With a quick scan, users are taken to an interactive landing page where they can browse curated travel guides, receive personalized trip recommendations, and access exclusive booking offers. By strategically placing QR-enabled OOH ads in high-traffic areas like transit hubs and shopping districts, travel brands can seamlessly bridge the gap between inspiration and planning—turning interest into action in just a few taps.

Harness the power of pDOOH for context-driven personalization at scale

While ad placement is a top consideration, so is timing.

Programmatic digital out-of-home (pDOOH) is revolutionizing travel advertising through audience-first planning and real-time data analytics. With this technology, brands can deliver contextual messaging that feels personally relevant while reaching thousands of travellers.

For example, a luxury resort brand that runs a campaign in premium malls targeting high-end shoppers. Their content might showcase resort locations like Dubai or Singapore, positioning them as shopping destinations for lovers of designer brands. In doing so, they reach shoppers who’ve demonstrated interest in high-end experiences when they’re already in a spending mindset.

Contextualized targeting makes sure travel advertisements reach audiences in environments that complement and enhance the message, making them particularly effective for specialized travel segments. These advantages make DOOH a powerful tool for travel brands looking to enhance visibility and engagement in a competitive market.

Capitalize on omnichannel retargeting for continued engagement

One of OOH’s most powerful capabilities is enabling retargeting across channels. By reaching audiences first exposed to DOOH ads via mobile or digital platforms, marketers can deliver a more personalized experience that keeps their brand top-of-mind throughout the customer journey.

To boost brand awareness and drive consideration for its premium luggage, Samsonite launched the Take What’s Yours campaign across major U.S. cities. The campaign encouraged professionals to use their PTO and travel more, with eye-catching DOOH ads placed in high-traffic spots like office buildings, malls, and apartment complexes. Aimed at digitally-savvy consumers, the campaign extended its messaging across CTV, social, and online video for a seamless cross-platform experience—ultimately driving a 53% lift in purchase consideration.

Samsonite drove a significant lift in purchase consideration with its omnichannel campaign

For travel advertisers, this highlights how OOH can convert seasonal foot traffic into real bookings. A resort chain, for example, could deploy transit ads in spring break hotspots, using QR codes to direct travelers to exclusive deals or virtual tours—seamlessly bridging awareness and action.

Leveraging OOH advertising for travel season success

OOH advertising offers unmatched opportunities to engage with diverse audiences around the world. By strategically placing ads at key travel touchpoints and leveraging the power of digital and programmatic OOH, brands can craft campaigns that speak to specific traveller segments while maintaining the broad reach that makes OOH so effective.

Whether your brand is travel-related or simply looking to connect with consumers on the go, now is the perfect time to integrate OOH into your marketing strategy for the season.

Interested in getting started with programmatic DOOH this travel season?

Explore curated audiences in our Travel & Tourism package here!

Product News | October 11, 2021

The next chapter of OOH: Insights from Broadsign’s Burr Smith and Ari Buchalter

At this year’s Independent Billboard Operators (IBO) panel discussion, one theme emerged consistently throughout the conversation: the next phase of OOH growth will depend on making the medium easier to buy, sell, and measure for operators of all sizes.

Broadsign CEO Burr Smith and Chief Strategy Officer Ari Buchalter shared their perspectives on the forces reshaping OOH advertising, from automation and programmatic transactions to audience-driven buying and measurement, while also discussing what those shifts mean for independent operators navigating an increasingly digital and data-driven landscape.

Out-of-home is entering its next evolution

The global advertising market is now roughly $1 trillion, with OOH accounting for approximately $50 billion worldwide and programmatic transactions representing a fast-growing portion of that spend. Throughout the panel, Ari emphasized that the industry may be approaching a tipping point, as improvements in automation, measurement, and accessibility continue attracting greater interest from major omnichannel buying platforms and advertisers.

That opportunity is driven by many of the qualities that have long made OOH valuable: strong real-world audience connection, proximity to the point of purchase, high visibility, and immunity from the bot fraud that plagues many digital channels. At the same time, advances in data, automation, and audience-based measurement are making the medium more flexible, measurable, and accessible to advertisers.

As campaigns become more dynamic, data-driven, and omnichannel, many OOH transactions still rely on fragmented planning, buying, and operational workflows that create friction across the campaign lifecycle. Simplifying those processes is becoming increasingly important as advertisers expect the same speed, flexibility, and interoperability they experience across other digital channels. For independent operators, that evolution could help reduce operational complexity and make it easier to participate in audience-based and programmatic buying environments.

Programmatic DOOH is accelerating that shift. While still early in its maturity compared to broader digital advertising, adoption continues to grow as more transactions move through DSPs and programmatic platforms. As a result, OOH has an opportunity to capture a larger share of media budgets while giving independent billboard operators greater visibility within national and regional media buys alongside larger networks.

“Our objective at Broadsign is to try and unify, automate, and simplify that entire $50 billion slice of the market, because if we make OOH as simple to buy as other media channels, with the same efficiency, transparency, and visibility into audiences, we should be able to grow that $50 billion market to capture more share,” says Burr. “There are certain aspects of OOH that are much better: it’s closer to purchase, there’s less fraud, and there are inherent strengths in the medium if we do what we need to do.”

Building a more connected ecosystem with Broadsign and Place Exchange

A recurring theme throughout the IBO panel was that OOH’s continued growth will depend on stronger collaboration across the ecosystem. As advertisers increasingly expect unified workflows, audience-based buying, and easier access to inventory, operators, platforms, and buyers all play a role in modernizing OOH transactions.

That broader industry shift is reflected in the combination of Broadsign and Place Exchange. While Broadsign has long focused on the infrastructure and operational side of OOH, including content management, ad serving, and campaign management tools, Place Exchange brings expertise in programmatic transactions, SSP capabilities, and established buy-side relationships, particularly in the US market. Together, the companies support a more connected workflow spanning inventory management, campaign delivery, programmatic monetization, and audience-based activation.

For independent operators, that broader ecosystem creates new opportunities to participate in programmatic DOOH and access regional and national demand flowing through programmatic platforms. While larger operators may integrate directly with SSPs and buying platforms, smaller media owners can work through aggregators such as Screenverse, Vengo, Adkom, and Billboard Planet, to collectively expand their reach and make inventory more accessible to buyers.

The discussion also reinforced that independent operators remain a critical part of OOH’s broader ecosystem. Their local market expertise, unique inventory, and community presence continue to offer meaningful value to advertisers seeking more contextual and geographically diverse ways to reach audiences.

“I got into out-of-home because I was excited not just by the power of the channel as an advertising medium, but by its growth potential and its ability to leverage data and technologies like programmatic to grow beyond the relatively small share of advertising spend it represents today, roughly 5% globally and only 2% in the US,” says Ari. “That remains our North Star. We’re focused on OOH at a time when many competitors are shifting toward areas like CTV and search. That focus on OOH defines who we are.”

Product News | October 11, 2021

Broadsign’s Sell-Side AI Agent Joins With Global Netherlands and Draft Digital to Deliver First-Ever End-to-End Agentic AI-Powered OOH Campaign

Collaboration paves the way to faster, more automated, and data-driven OOH buys

MONTREAL (May 27, 2026) – Broadsign, the leading global platform for managing and monetizing out-of-home (OOH) media, today announced that its sell-side AI agent and digital marketing agency Draft Digital’s buy-side agent, planned, booked, and executed the first-ever fully agentic AI OOH ad campaign. The agentic AI solutions enabled the end-to-end media buy for Lot of Happiness on premium OOH inventory in collaboration with media owner Global Netherlands.

Agentic AI powered the buy from beginning to end, using the brand’s campaign goals to inform audience and venue targeting, media selection, campaign setup, creative workflow and approvals, and execution. The AI agentic solutions used the AdCP protocol and Broadsign’s industry-leading OOH sell-side technology and data infrastructure. Moving beyond chatbots layered over existing tools, the collaboration proved the power of agentic AI in enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of OOH campaigns from start to finish. Together, the buy and sell-side agents rapidly coordinated complex tasks across parties, with human oversight and guardrails.

With the largest global OOH media supply – including the largest aggregation of video-enabled displays, in-store media, and on-screen cinema inventory – Broadsign’s goal with this campaign is to unlock the power of agentic trading for OOH. The company is committed to bringing greater scale, data, and efficiency to buyers and opening up more demand for sellers.

“Agentic AI allows us to double down on our value proposition of leveraging technology to support media owners in achieving their business goals,” explained Bryan Mongeau, CTO, Broadsign. “Overlaying AI atop our global static and digital OOH supply, in concert with advanced data and execution capabilities, such as screen-level audience indexes, dynamic creative, guaranteed in-advance buying, and more, sets the stage for a paradigm shift that will transform the OOH business. This innovative collaboration is only the beginning.”

“A number of us at Draft Digital were early adopters of programmatic DOOH years ago, so being first to move on this next leap, fully agentic OOH, is genuinely exciting. Agentic advertising lets us build true multichannel experiences for our clients, backed by first-party performance data and a much cleaner ecosystem,” shared Aliks Röling, Digital Marketing Consultant, Draft Digital. “It pushes us into tighter collaboration with quality publishers and partners and ultimately delivers sharper strategic impact for brands like Lot of Happiness.”

As a growing charity lottery with around 100,000 participants and over €50 million donated to good causes, Lot of Happiness is always looking for smarter ways to expand its reach. Without the media budgets of larger lottery players, the organization relies on creativity and innovation to fuel its growth. “As a growing organization, we have to be creative and find efficiencies that larger players simply take for granted. Agentic DOOH is one of those opportunities where we want to be at the forefront, and we’re excited to see where it takes us.” Leo Nijs, Online Marketer, Lot of Happiness

“In today’s competitive media landscape, digital out-of-home must be as easy to discover, plan, buy, and measure as any other channel, and this collaboration proves it’s possible,” said Mink Zwolsman, Business Development Director, Global Netherlands. “What excites us most is that no single party could have done this alone. By combining Broadsign’s infrastructure with buy-side intelligence, Draft Digital’s ambition and our diverse digital out-of-home offering, we’ve shown that outdoor can be planned, bought, and activated with the same speed and data-driven precision as any digital channel. For Global Netherlands, this is a meaningful step toward making our inventory more accessible to buyers who want seamless, omnichannel campaigns and we’ve only just begun to uncover the advantages.”

Marketers and media owners looking to learn more about Broadsign’s sell-side agentic solution can get in touch with the company.

About Broadsign

Broadsign develops the leading global platform for managing and monetizing out-of-home (OOH) media. The company, which also operates Place Exchange by Broadsign, the largest independent SSP for Digital OOH, empowers media owners, media buyers, and retailers to harness the power and reach of out-of-home to connect with audiences in ways unlike any other advertising channel. More than 2.8 million static and digital signs along roadways and in airports, shopping malls, grocery and convenience stores, health clinics, transit systems, and more run on Broadsign. https://broadsign.com

About Draft Digital

At Draft Digital, we are setting the new standard in marketing and media. We believe that standing still is falling behind; an organization that isn’t growing is already losing. Built on a foundation of relevance and trust, we guide clients through a digital journey that never ends. We are leading the transition to Agentic Advertising, where intelligent Agents handle the operational burden of media buying. This shifts our focus from execution to pure strategy and innovation. By merging classic marketing theory with AI, we deliver scalable creativity and perfected measurement. We are not just service providers; we are the architects of digital growth.

About Global Netherlands

Global is a media operator and market leader in the (Digital) Out-of-Home sector, offering advertisers the opportunity to advertise in high streets, supermarkets, shopping centres, at railway stations, petrol stations and along motorways. With a nationwide digital network, Global meets advertisers’ needs to reach their target audience at precise times and locations. Thanks to these exclusive concessions across these diverse networks, advertisers can reach the masses or, conversely, target specific audiences very precisely in a wide variety of locations.

About Lot of Happiness

We believe in a better world for everyone. Charities, both big and small, drive this mission, they all deserve our support. By playing in our lottery, we together contribute to their missions. Playing = impact. You choose which charity receives half of your contribution. We are flexible: you decide how often you play and with what amount. This makes Lot of Happiness the lottery where your voice counts and your impact is big. And you can win fantastic prizes, from €1 million in the bank to a brand-new electric cargo bike. A true win-win.

Product News | October 11, 2021

How Osmow’s achieved a 33.9% lift in restaurant visits with programmatic DOOH

To support its next phase of national growth, Osmow’s, a leader in the Canadian quick-service restaurant (QSR) space, launched a high-impact programmatic digital out-of-home (pDOOH) campaign to reach its target audience at scale. Specializing in modern Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisine, the brand sought to strengthen its position as a category leader and drive measurable foot traffic to restaurant locations across the country.

Objective

The campaign aimed to increase brand awareness and category share for Osmow’s, leveraging three tailored executions to support its diverse product offering. A core objective was to drive in-restaurant visits across urban, suburban, and rural markets, while positioning the brand as a value leader during the competitive post-holiday period.

Strategy

Osmow’s partnered with Involved Media and Broadsign to launch a data-driven programmatic digital out-of-home (pDOOH) campaign, activating premium inventory across 4,912 screens. The campaign leveraged a diverse mix of placements, including large-format billboards, transit shelters, and campus screens, to deliver broad reach and sustained frequency.

Using the OutMoove DSP, the campaign employed programmatic triggers to engage consumers at high-intent moments throughout their daily routines. To maximize relevance and efficiency, ads were programmatically dayparted to peak during lunch (11 am–2 pm) and dinner (5 pm–7 pm) consideration windows. By utilizing proximity targeting near restaurant locations across Canada, the campaign ensured that tailored messaging reached audiences at the moment of choice.

Results

Foot Traffic Lift: Achieved a 33.9% lift in visits across 30 restaurant locations compared to the non-exposed control group

Sales Impact: Delivered a 5% contribution to total sales throughout the campaign period

“With over 240 locations, we are always looking for ways Osmow’s can stay top-of-mind while driving traffic to restaurants. Programmatic DOOH gave us the flexibility to do both at once. We were able to maintain a massive presence across the country, but with the additional layer of dayparting and proximity tools needed to reach the right people during the key lunch and dinner windows. It’s been a very effective way to bridge our digital strategy with the physical restaurant locations,” says Effie Ambida, Director Strategy & Planning at Involved Media.

Want the campaign highlights? Check out the infographic below.

Product News | October 11, 2021

Best practices for high-impact out-of-home creative

The out-of-home (OOH) ads that stop people in their tracks, spark awareness, and drive action all share a common thread: they’re built on proven creative principles shaped by real-world testing and what works in today’s evolving OOH landscape.

Effective OOH creative relies on bold design, minimal text, and clear branding. But what works on a static highway billboard may not have the same impact on a digital out-of-home (DOOH) screen or a crowded subway platform at rush hour.

That’s what makes OOH unique. It reaches audiences as they move through real-world environments like airports, malls, roadways, and city centres across both static formats and dynamic, data-driven digital displays, offering far more creative flexibility than the medium often gets credit for.

This guide explores the OOH and DOOH creative strategies that consistently deliver results before you plan your next campaign.

OOH creative fundamentals

When developing the creative for an OOH ad, there are core principles to keep in mind.

Define your goals: What does the ad wish to accomplish? Is the aim to drive in-store traffic? Stand out from competitors? Remind existing customers of an ongoing promotion? A firm strategy narrows the focus and clarifies the message.
Be bold: Most out-of-home ads have only seconds to reach audiences. When producing OOH or DOOH creative, employ boldness to stand out.
Keep it simple: A less-is-more approach is typically most effective. Messaging should be clear, direct, and to the point.
Let brand personality shine: Use humour, surprise, intrigue, even edginess to amplify your message.
Context is key: think about how your creative fits into its surroundings. Incorporating messaging that speaks to current events or relates to live data can boost performance and turn your ad from informative to innovative.

Think Design

Great OOH design is built for how people experience it. In fast-moving environments, you have seconds to make an impression, so clarity and visibility matter more than complexity.

At its core, effective design comes down to a few essentials:

High-contrast colours that cut through busy surroundings
Simple, focused layouts that are easy to process at a glance
Bold, recognizable imagery paired with clean, legible type

KFC’s bold, recognizable imagery makes this billboard instantly identifiable

Context matters just as much as design. What works on a roadside billboard viewed at speed won’t translate the same way to a street-level or place-based screen where dwell time is longer. Simpler creative performs better at a distance, while closer environments allow for more detail, as long as clarity isn’t compromised.

And while best practices exist for a reason, they are not rules. Intentionally breaking them can be just as effective when done with purpose.

Get the Specs Right

Even the strongest creative can fall flat if it is not built for the screen. OOH and DOOH formats vary widely across billboards, transit shelters, retail environments, and place-based networks, each with different dimensions, orientations, and file requirements.

A few fundamentals to keep in mind:

Design for both vertical and horizontal formats so layouts translate cleanly across environments
Stick to supported file types like JPG or PNG for static, and MP4 or HTML for digital placements
Keep file sizes within recommended limits to ensure smooth delivery and playback
Always build with the final screen size and placement in mind to avoid cropping or distortion

Below are some of the most common specs for digital and video displays in the US.

Most Common Display Sizes:

1920 x 1080
1080 x 1920
1400 x 400
840 x 400

Most Common Video Sizes (15-Second):

1920 x 1080
1080 x 1920
1400 x 400
1280 x 960

For more guidelines on proper format sizes, read our Best Practices Guide: How to create DOOH campaigns that get results.

Let’s talk about text

It’s not just about what you’re saying, but how you’re saying it: typeface and formatting contribute to how the ad, and its messaging, are received.

Large, bold typeface is easier for people to read, especially from a distance
Avoid thin or serif typefaces, which can be harder to read
Proper spacing between letters, words, and lines will help improve readability and visibility
Keep the copy short and sweet, and limit messaging to five to seven words
Stick to one simple, direct message and call-to-action

Viewing Distance	Minimum Readable Text Height
5’ – 50’	1” – 2” (72px – 144px @ 72dpi)
50’ – 100’	2” – 4” (144px – 288px @ 72dpi)
100’ – 200’	4” – 8” (288px – 576px @ 72dpi)

Virgin Active’s OOH display delivers big impact with minimal text

Video creatives

A recent study found that full-motion video OOH ads drive a 65% increase in “intent to learn more” compared to static creative, along with a 41% lift in perceived relevance, clear indicators of stronger audience consideration.

That’s why incorporating motion into your digital content is such a powerful way to capture attention. In most environments, videos should run no longer than 10-15 seconds; however, longer videos can be impactful for audiences in specific venue types with longer dwell times, like gyms, doctors’ offices, or bars.

Note: Place Exchange by Broadsign can seamlessly adapt social media and in-app vertical video creatives for portrait-mode screens, so you can get maximum value from a single video.

Creating personalized and dynamic content

When vying for a consumer’s attention, optimizing a digital out-of-home campaign with Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO) can be the x-factor in reaching target audiences.

DCO means adjusting and optimizing DOOH ads for real-world contexts and environments, pulling data to deliver ads in response to current events or trends, such as the weather, sports scores, financial markets, audience profiles, or other nearby events or relevant information.

With DCO, ads can deliver more personalized experiences and stronger audience relevance. In fact, according to the OAAA and The Harris Poll, 81% of respondents exposed to weather-triggered ads featuring relevant product offers found them valuable. Thinking about where your ad will live along the consumer’s journey, and in what context, is an opportunity to create a high-impact ad that resonates with your target audience.

To create a high-impact ad, thread in creative that responds to live signals like time of day, weather, audience demographics or current events for a more targeted activation that reaches audiences at key moments.

Some ideas include:

Modify messaging based on relevant data inputs (e.g., weather, sports scores, etc.): Entice customers on rainy days to pop by for a warm cup of coffee, or advertise air conditioning units on extremely hot days, display sports scores during high-ticket events.
Schedule time-sensitive or product-specific promotions
Incorporate daily countdowns for popular movies or big events with universal appeal

McDonald’s weather-triggered OOH campaign in Qatar

Tracking and measurement

Knowing how your current campaign performs is crucial for planning the next. Use ID markers like QR codes, SMS messages, short-link URLs, hashtags, emails, or phone numbers to track and measure your ad’s performance. Adding a Call to Action (CTA) to your creatives can enable you to directly track “click-through” response to your OOH creative.

The winning formula for an out-of-home ad that gets noticed and delivers on ROI is to combine brand-safe creativity, outside-the-box thinking, and contextual relevance. With these OOH creative best practices in your toolkit, you can successfully create an ad that stands out.

Ready to launch a high-impact, creative out-of-home campaign that delivers results? Browse our inventory catalog to see the complete network of high-impact digital screens available.