Design tips for your OOH campaign

All about Out of Home and the Advantages and disadvantages of OOH advertisingWe’ve already introduced you to these and discussed the reasons behind the enduring success of outdoor advertising. Now it’s a question of designing them properly. Or let’s aim a little higher: designing the perfect outdoor advert!

1 | Who’s it for?

Asking yourself this question is generally not a mistake in marketing and advertising. In outdoor advertising, too, it is important to know your target audience. Only then can you strike the right note and reach precisely this group. If, for example, you know how and where they spend their time, you can position your advertising materials optimally and skilfully tailor their content to suit.

An example: Does the target audience travel by car and commute to work? In that case, you could book billboard space on the main access roads into the relevant city – this target audience might even spend more time looking at them, for example whilst stuck in a traffic jam. If, on the other hand, the target audience tends to travel on foot, by public transport or by bike, you can adapt your placements (traffic lights on major cycle routes, on public transport or generally closer to the city centre).

2 | Choosing colours

This is a very fine line to walk. On the one hand, you should adapt your message to the promotional material; on the other, you shouldn’t stray too far from your corporate identity. Whilst it is advisable to use bold and bright colours on large-scale posters, if the brand’s colour palette is rather dark and understated, one should find a middle ground – in other words, make some compromises when it comes to colour. You should also ask yourself some fairly simple questions before producing the advertising materials – questions that could otherwise cause a costly campaign to fail. Is my advert still recognisable in low light? Or when it’s very bright? And questions such as: Is yellow text on a white background easy to read??

3 | Where are we?

What makes it truly creative – and therefore memorable for customers – is the connection to the surroundings. The great thing about outdoor advertising is that it’s visible right there in our environment. We should make the most of this. A grey building façade with the slogan ‘Why not add a splash of colour to your life?’, adverts for sightseeing spots at the airport, or motivational imagery on the way from the underground to the football stadium – outdoor advertising works best when it blends in with its surroundings. Advertising therefore always has an impact through its placement – or rather, where you happen to be when you see it. Internationally rolled-out campaigns in particular can thus be skilfully adapted to national or local circumstances. From ‘Hello’ to ‘Servus’ to ‘Habe die Ehre’.

4 | Plenty of space for clear messages

Yes, it’s tempting. At last, plenty of space to really let your creativity run wild. That’s true, but on large-scale advertising materials in particular, the message should be even clearer. ONE message, a clean design, good legibility. Even though the area in square metres is huge, those who see it are usually on the move. At best, they’re on foot; at worst, they’re in a car driving past. Seen in this light, a miniature leaflet can contain more information than a 40-square-metre advertising banner. You should be aware of this in order to make the most of every aspect of your 360-degree campaign.

5 | Big, bigger, biggest?

When it comes to designing promotional materials, you should always bear the size in mind. What looks just right on screen can appear completely different when enlarged tenfold. Is it still legible? Am I using the correct resolution (e.g. dpi) to achieve the desired result on the printed product? The crux of creating large-scale promotional materials is that you only see their effect once they have been put up – in other words, once they’ve been printed. The only solution is to use lots of small A4 sheets, and, bearing in mind the ‘think before you print’ principle, you should give this visualisation careful thought. To be on the safe side and to protect the environment, you should consult advertising experts or enquire directly with your trusted print shop. Discover our Advertising banners and tarpaulins, which are used on building sites, at events or on motorways.