Not all DOOH sites are created equal and new research from Australia suggests that an understanding of the attributes of individual sites provides an additional means to not only quantify these sites but could also become a key discriminator for advertisers.

In The positive halo of digital out of home, a paper written exclusively for WARC, authors Anne Parsons (of QMS Outdoor), Peter Pynta and Dr Shaun Seixas (both of Neuro-Insight) argue that DOOH sites, like television programmes, have distinct attributes.

That being the case, “This would expand the current impact of DOOH beyond the existing convention of physical dimensions or the associated technology to quantify the individuality of the panels in the context of their surrounding and different environments,” they say.

“It would confirm and clarify the degree of uniqueness for each site and therefore imply a distinct personality by individual site.”

An initial study set out to measure the intrinsic associations of 20 QMS DOOH sites against a set of 12 attributes (these included premium, modern, inspirational, innovative, important, impactful, iconic, famous, exciting, engaging, dynamic and community) rated on a scale from average to exceptional.

A second stage then assessed whether there was any benefit for advertisers using sites with known ‘personalities’ as determined by the first stage.

An analysis of the neuro data collected by recreating car journeys past the chosen sites helped to identify what moment, if any, along the journey was responsible for changes in the association between the creative and the set of attributes.

“The neuro time-series analysis revealed the moment of exposure – the moment when the creative was seen on the site in-situ – to be the primary driver in attribute growth for the creative as measured by differences in SST (Steady State Topography) latency,” the authors report.

Their conclusion? Different sites do have different attributes which can influence how a brand message is received.

“Where once the advertising community may have assumed that media context provided an influence over the way communications is processed, this work provides the scientific evidence that the idea of shared equity does indeed exist between a DOOH media environment and creative impact.” 

Sourced from WARC