DOOH Start-up Issues Creative Awards Based On Insights From Anonymous Audience Analytics

January 18, 2021 by Dave Haynes

My start in digital signage and digital OOH came in elevators, 22 years ago, and I still have this weird habit of walking into office tower elevator cabs and looking at where a screen might go. So I am always curious to see how the medium and technology have evolved over two decades.

Vertical Impression, a Canadian startup based in Edmonton, puts screens in the elevators of office towers and residential blocks. The company competes on the commercial side with Captivate and Pattison, and have grown in part by going into markets not covered by those more well-established media companies.

I don’t normally write about awards a company hands out to its circle of clients/customers, but what Vertical Impression is doing with its awards is interesting, different and has some science about it, whereas a lot of vendor awards to customers seem a bit dubious. As in, you spent $$$$$, so you get an award, and you get an award, etc …

In this case, the Vertical Impression awards are based on computer vision data. The company has a camera associated with the in-cab display, and the algorithm measures which ads work and which ones don’t, in terms of attracting and holding attention.

The analytics data is fully anonymized and adheres to the Privacy By Design criteria suggested for these kinds of AI/ML audience measurement systems.

I don’t think the winners list is terribly interesting to anyone but existing and potential advertisers, but creatives might be intrigued by the campaign samples, which could hold some clues on design and messaging choices that seem effective.

Attention time is, of course, just one metric. Advertisers are also after things like high recall levels, and perhaps more than anything, conversion. But the ads that gain the most attention is certainly a start.

?List of winners and ad samples here …

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