Big Outdoor Media Starts Applying Smartphone Analytics For Ad Targeting

February 29, 2016 by Dave Haynes

Clear Channel Outdoor RADAR photo

Clear Channel Outdoor Americas has launched a new service called Clear Channel Outdoor RADAR that uses location-data from smartphones – mashed up with demographic data to more accurately target and measure the impact of conventional and digital Out-Of-Home media campaigns.

Clear Channel touts radar RADAR as something that gives marketers the same kinds of sophisticated audience segmentation, targeting and insights marketers already use in their online campaigns. “OOH can now be integrated into the broader marketing data ecosystem,” says the company is a news release, “giving brands the unique ability to map real-world behaviors, consumer habits and travel patterns against specific CCOA media.

The media company is using aggregate and anonymous mobile consumer information, initially from AT&T Data Patterns (mobile and WiFi data), Placed (mobile app using GPS location OK’s by users) and PlaceIQ (analytics), Clear Channel Outdoor RADAR overlays this data against the company’s U.S. inventory to create a comprehensive map of how specific audience segments are most effectively and efficiently reached via CCOA’s advertising.

“Clear Channel Outdoor RADAR is truly a next generation advertising solution, giving marketers an end-to-end solution that provides a more accurate way to understand and target specific audience segments, while maximizing the impact of their Clear Channel OOH media campaigns,” says Andy Stevens, SVP, Research & Insights, CCOA. “Clear ChannelOutdoor RADAR heralds a shift in how brands plan and buy OOH – from buying physical locations to buying precisely targeted audience segments in ways that are easily integrated into a brand’s mobile media strategy.”

The announcement notes how a well-known apparel brand used the service:

TOMS Shoes recently tapped RADAR to measure the impact of its OOH campaigns.  By way of geo-fenced billboards and secure mobile location data, RADAR provided TOMS with specific measurement analytics including awareness, consumption, ad recall and brand engagement.  RADAR- partner Placed provided aggregated, anonymous data that indicated if consumers were talking about the brand with friends, looking it up online or finding it in stores after exposure to TOMS’ OOH advertising.

Looking to increase awareness of its social mission and encourage consumer action among the 18 to 34 yr. old demographic, the philanthropic-minded shoe brand saw that those exposed to its Orlando campaign were 25 percent more aware of TOMS’ social mission. Further, those exposed to OOH showed a greater likelihood to engage with the brand including talking about it with friends (+122%), looking the brand up online (+43%), finding it in-store (+47%) and purchasing shoes or other products (+44%).

“Using state of the art digital measurement, Clear Channel was not only able to show that OOH ad recall was among the highest of any media channel, but also proved that the OOH drove significant increases in awareness of TOMS’ social mission, which was the primary campaign goal.  For us, the supporting data reinforced the power of our creative on the outdoor canvas and helped validate our media strategy,” says Jordan Glassberg, VP Business Development, TOMS.

Makes a ton of sense for any media company of brand to use the pile of data that’s anonymously available from the micro PCs we’re all walking around with these days. We’re seeing  third party companies like PeopleFlow and Aiselabs generating analytics from this data, and even research firms like Peoplecount offering it as a service.

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