Outdoor Digital Advertising – Content Creation

With the rise of digital signage over the last decade it didn’t take long for these indoor screens to start permeating outside too.  Now, outdoor digital signage is becoming and increasingly common sight with digital displays being used in all sorts of locations.

Outdoor advertising, whether it is digital or static signage, should be approached differently to indoor advertising as people view and interact with outdoor media differently compared to inside.

Firstly, the dwell time for outdoor media is a lot less than for indoors. With digital signage this means an indoor sign is typically viewed for between 3-6 seconds, while outdoors, because of the weather, the speed people walk and other variables, you have less than a couple of seconds to get your message across.

Digital outdoor is obviously far more noticeable than static media, but even so, this brief dwell time means that what works in an indoor campaign may not necessarily translate to an outdoor environment.

Many indoor digital advertising campaigns contain transitions, moving images and often have similarities to TV advertising, however, there is just not enough time for these sorts of campaigns to work successfully outside.

For this reason, outdoor content needs to centre around the key message, with bold fonts and text promoting your message being essential and any transitions and moving imagery kept to a minimum as the screen may only be glanced at.

Another major difference between outdoor digital signage and those on indoor screens are the view angle. It is fairly common for people to walk around outdoor locations with their eyes angled downwards as the wind and weather elements prevent people from walking as tall as indoor locations. Viewing angle is therefore highly important with an outdoor screen, which needs to be positioned to catch the eye-line often approaching audience.

A screen that is positioned too high may go completely unnoticed, while digital screens positioned flush against a wall, may too not be as noticeable.

You do have one advantage with an outdoor screen in that it can be viewed from a good distance away.  Often, people on buses and travelling as passengers in cars are often gazing from windows and outdoor screens are often looked at to break the monotony of the journey. To take advantage of this audience, and to ensure signs can be viewed from a good distance away, outdoor digital signage should be a larger than indoor screens.

Outdoor content needs to be big and bold