The Whole World is Watching: Amplifying OOH Through Digital

One of the key challenges brands have faced this year is the need to rethink the role of out-of-home (OOH) advertising experiences within a customer journey that’s become overwhelmingly digital. But for digital-native audiences that gravitate toward experiences, OOH still has plenty of value to offer–especially when amplifying local stories for audiences far and wide.

This was an approach we took with More Than 7, an outdoor exhibit that strove to provide visitors to Chicago’s Grant Park with a historical understanding of the protests that happened there during the 1968 Democratic National Convention–an event that instigated the real-world trial depicted in Netflix’s recently released film, The Trial of the Chicago 7, directed by Aaron Sorkin.

By recontextualizing archival images of the protests and placing them directly where they were captured, the exhibit offered a profound space for reflection–and offers insight on how brands can build impactful OOH experiences that prompt digital engagement.

Focus Digital Placemaking on Your Activation’s Key Goals

In building an OOH experience that speaks to the modern consumer, adopt a mindset of digital placemaking. Placemaking is the process of creating quality places that people want to live and work in, and these efforts can become amplified through digital elements that aid in the experience and increase the value of the space itself–a process referred to as digital placemaking.

Placemaking must align with your goal for the experience you want to provide your audience in the place. With More Than 7, we wanted to create a space that was contemplative, inviting viewers to linger and reminisce on what had happened there, building their own understanding of the events rather than have us prescribe our own political stance.

This goal comes to life in the way the exhibit prompted viewers to literally observe the photos from different vantage points. When viewed from the right angle, the images blend in with their surroundings, joining together past and present. While we didn’t overtly call for visitors to share their experience on social, the fun of lining up the images with their surroundings created a natural photo-op, allowing people to share their views digitally as they learned more about the history of the community. This point of interaction shows how OOH experiences can elegantly prompt earned media that starts a cultural conversation and builds relevance to viewers.

Build Value for Audiences Near and Far

Since the pandemic, we’ve all learned how important it is that events and activations reach fans at home. But at-home audiences have always been important to reach–even for OOH activations, and especially ones that have a limited throughput. Even when an experience is closely tied to a local narrative and location like ours, digital elements offer an opportunity to open up that experience to people afar, increasing reach and relevance in the process.

Experience the movement of 1968.

Each stop across our outdoor exhibit prompted viewers to scan a QR code to access an audio track about that location. But the audio guide, collected as a Spotify podcast, wasn’t just for those listening at the park: listeners online could also immerse themselves in the space and feel transported there through the commentary. This touchpoint also helped in building outreach online, with previews of episodes shared through the film’s official Twitter account. As brands consider building location-based spaces, they shouldn’t forget faraway audiences–or their relationship with the brand through social media.

Be Aware of Local Nuances

Finally, when creating an experience within a public space like a park, ensure it lends value to the surrounding community. One of Netflix’s key goals with More Than 7 was to give something back to the city of Chicago by offering an experience that its citizens would enjoy. While The Trial of the Chicago 7 film represents a unique moment in the city’s history, the protests aren’t often talked about, and younger generations in particular may not relate to the impact the events have made.

To ensure such a hyper-local story could be told authentically, we partnered with teams who had close connections to the city, including the production team working on the ground, who were natives to Chicago. The historian who wrote the audio guides also had a tie to the protests: their parents were present as they happened. Through these teams’ participation and input, we could offer a more localized, personal and nuanced take on the project overall.

Essentially, these points are about being authentic to your audience and creating a space for them to reflect, relate and share that experience with others. By infusing digital elements into these spaces, brands can increase the value of a public space and facilitate conversation–driving impact well beyond the borders of a park, much like the protesters of 1968 achieved.