DOOH Needs a Creative Refresh

When you step outside, you can’t miss Digital out of home advertising (DOOH). It’s everywhere from sidewalks, transit bugs, and across retail environments. 

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The question is…have you ever stopped and actually looked at those ads? Can you remember the last one you saw? The answer is probably, “No,” and that’s the problem. 

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The infrastructure and investment are both there, but the creative is lacking. 

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Most DOOH creative today is simply resized from other formats. For example, a banner ad reformatted for a billboard or a social ad redesigned for a gas station pump. These are high-impact environments running low impact creative…advertisers are missing out on this opportunity!

DOOH should be a brand builder, a memory maker, and a jaw dropper! 

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It’s time for creative to catch up, for DOOH to meet its full potential. 

It’s about what’s on the screen! 

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Let’s make what we see on screens unforgettable. What does this look like? 

• Motion-first creative 
• Context-aware storytelling 
• Graphics that make people stop and stare

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When you pair the scale and presence of DOOH with high quality creative (the kind that’s animated, personalized, and optimized for the real world) you get something powerful. 

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Picture this…a better-for-you snack brand sold at a retailer wants to become relevant. Instead of a static logo near a counter, you get a full-screen animation of the product ingredients coming to life: berries bursting, oats tumbling, a grandola bar assembling itself mid-air. It’s not just a product shot, but a visual story that cues freshness and energy in the exact moment someone is considering what to eat next. 

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That is where the opportunity lies! Your brand isn’t just showing up, but introducing itself to a new generation of shoppers with creative that reframes perception, builds trust, and makes you memorable…all at a bigger scale. 

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Check out the incredible animation below, which comes straight from HYGH on a screen in Berlin. The life-like fish that swim off the screen through 3D water effects were made to demonstrate HYGH’s new screen capabilities. However, these abilities have never been taken advantage of for advertising, at scale, in the U.S. 

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The same goes for this incredible wave animation from D’strict that streamed in Seoul, Korea. It may look like a glass box containing a wave pool, but is actually just incredible visual effects.

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These are two examples of companies who are carving the path for better DOOH by demonstrating some of the 3D capabilities that can be utilized on these larger screens. Now, at Big Happy we’re taking graphics with this same believability and using our technology to serve ads at scale for amazing brands!

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Big Happy is not focusing on just renting screens, we’re focusing on ensuring that what shows up on those screens evokes an unforgettable emotion. 

Full-funnel just got full-screen  

What’s even more exciting is that DOOH doesn’t live in a silo anymore. We’re not confined to billboards! 

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Retailers are rolling out more in-store inventory every day. Airport gates, subway stations, resort lobbies, and many other dynamic locations now have screens to meet people where they are. That’s a full-funnel opportunity; we drive awareness first, then reinforce the message with retargeting in another location. Creative becomes the connective tissue between moments. 

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These ads become more memorable when the creative is designed to each touchpoint, not recycled across them. 

Cleared for takeoff

There’s plenty of DOOH inventory to go around, especially with the growth of retail media. But very few players are thinking creatively about how to use it. 

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Big Happy is thrilled that we get to jump into this medium at the beginning of its 3D evolution, and, even further, that we’ll be a part of its growth and innovation over the next 10 years.  

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Remember, it’s all about the ad that the consumer sees – how it makes them feel.

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That’s how we move DOOH from an afterthought to a centerpiece. Let’s make DOOH bold, and build stronger brands in the process! 

Check out this press release to learn more about Big Happy’s DOOH launch!