I recently came across a positive article on AdStruck‘s blog article titled, “A Blueprint for OOH Engagement“.  In the article the author cites the key elements as Media, Activation, Contribution, and Measurement for an OOH campaign.

I agree with the author’s approach except I think there are two elements that are missing:

  1. A Pre-Ride of available OOH locations will assist the media planners in selecting the best possible locations that meet their target audience and quality standards.
  2. There is no proof of performance or post-buy audit component to the blueprint.  The best OOH plan/blueprint – even with exceptional creative and engagement tools – can be deficient and affect measurements if there  are performance issues.  In the event there is low or missing contribution from the audience, there is no way to determine all causes without the information collected during a post-buy audit of the media – either by the advertiser/agent or a third-party.  An audit will measure actual performance of the campaign that will in turn bring light to issues that affected the contribution, measurements, and overall effectiveness of  the campaign.

Carroll Media Services has provided both pre-ride evaluations and post buy audits since 1993 through our OutdoorAdTrak service. Our clients at Carroll Media Services understand that individual site selection and the monitoring of the post-buy process is an important key to insuring that all the locations – even with the best creative and engagement tools – are working for them.