Traditional billboards have become outdated in recent times, often serving as one-way broadcasts that hardly improve consumer traffic. Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) retargeting, however, transforms physical advertisements into digital catalysts. This technology closes the gap between seeing a brand on the street and engaging with it on a mobile device.
What Is DOOH Retargeting?
DOOH retargeting is when a physical display is connected to a private screen. A key benefit of retargeting is that it identifies who actually saw the ad using anonymized mobile location data, rather than sending a message to everyone. This allows for a level of audience-specific reinforcement that regular billboards could never achieve.
The process begins with a geofence. Marketers draw a digital perimeter around a physical location, and when a consumer enters this zone with a mobile device, the system tags an anonymous ID. This allows the brand to serve a mobile ad later that reinforces the initial physical encounter.
The Strategic Benefits of Physical-to-Digital Workflows
Combining high-impact assets with strategic follow-ups addresses the forgetfulness that passersby often experience, especially in areas with other physical advertisements and high foot traffic, such as transit hubs.
A consumer might get intrigued by an impressive wrap while commuting, but forget the brand by lunchtime. DOOH retargeting can keep the message top-of-mind by serving social media content after. Studies show consumers are 28% more likely to notice social media ads when they have first seen the brand in a physical DOOH campaign.
This approach is also cost-effective compared to alternatives. DOOH retargeting enables precision, reducing wasted ad spend. Rather than blanket-advertising in a city with digital content, you can focus your budget on people who have already encountered your brand in the real world, leading OOH advertising companies with digital retargeting to have a higher volume of warm leads.
How to Implement a DOOH Retargeting Strategy
The first step is finding the right location. You must choose a setting with high visibility for your target audience. This could be a tech corridor for B2B or a retail shopping district. The physical ad’s job is simply to build awareness and establish the visual hook for the entire campaign.
The next step involves programmatic apps. These platforms help identify the device IDs of people who were within your geofence for processing. Then, this data is passed through a Demand-Side platform to create an audience segment, where a prospect list is built through real-world movement analysis.
3 OOH Advertising Companies Doing Digital Retargeting Right
These three leading OOH companies have demonstrated excellence in implementing digital retargeting methods, serving as strong examples of the potential of DOOH retargeting campaigns for the marketing landscape.
GOOD TRAFFIC
GOOD TRAFFIC has built a reputation as a leading OOH advertising company with digital retargeting, thanks to its bold physical advertising campaigns that turn high-end rideshare vehicles into moving digital primers. The company has been an innovative leader in the advertising space, particularly through its proprietary shadowfencing technology, which leverages street-level visibility to drive real digital conversions. Wrapped vehicles pass through city areas and identify close-proximity mobile devices to form a retargeting pool, whose data is interpreted by marketers who subsequently serve follow-up ads.
For its Klarna campaign in New York City, GOOD TRAFFIC deployed a fleet of wrapped Teslas. This campaign brought together stunning aesthetics and precise data capture, resulting in mass awareness among urban shoppers and precise retargeting to a high-intent digital audience.
Wrapify
Wrapify is a prominent OOH advertising company that specializes in vehicle wraps and digital retargeting. Its platform uses GPS and proximity data to identify mobile devices that have been exposed to their wrapped vehicles, allowing marketers to build a custom audience segment based on real-world exposure. This allows targeted digital ads to be served later.
One of Wrapify’s most notable projects was an impressive campaign for ZOOM in 2019. Using Account-Based Marketing and sending wrapped vehicles to business hubs, the company successfully targeted high-value decision-makers who work and commute there. The strategy resulted in a staggering 102% increase in contact sales conversion rates.
Firefly
Firefly is a leading OOH advertising company that utilizes smart digital displays mounted on rideshare and taxi vehicles. Its technology captures anonymized mobile device data from people who pass within the vehicle’s proximity. This data enables advertisers to retarget specific individuals with mobile display ads later.
For a project that it did for Puma, Firefly deployed its digital toppers to target urban shoppers near the sports brand’s stores. The campaign successfully drove consumers into physical retail locations with effective retargeting, leading to a 136% increase in store foot traffic. This further demonstrates the power of linking mobile billboards with digital retargeting, especially when consumers have shown prior interest in physical stores.
Maximizing DOOH Success
While many marketers believe the industry’s future is fully digital, blending the irreplaceable boldness of physical advertising is a powerful move. For brands looking to establish authority, this strategy creates a marketing funnel that is both highly visible and highly effective.
