Out of Home Advertising Is Winning Votes This Election Season

WASHINGTON, June 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Armed with new digital technologies, the Out of Home advertising industry is seeing a significant increase in the use of billboards and transit displays for campaigns. "Out of Home advertising (OOH) is being recognized as the linchpin in successful media executions, connecting key components of an integrated strategy," said Jim Campbell, Vice President – Corporate Development for CBS Outdoor, a division of the CBS Corporation.

Political Strategist Anita Dunn said, "With new technologies and social media tie-ins, OOH is no longer just an outdoor lawn sign.  It has more to offer campaigns than ever before and can be used for persuasion and earned media as well."

The link to mobility is a game changer for out of home advertising. A new study by the Media Behavior Institute reveals that "Adding billboards to mobile campaigns increases reach by 300 percent." Campbell adds, "Billboards connect at the local level like no other mass media can. TV, Radio, the Web and even Mobile have off buttons. OOH is always on."

"More money is spent on television advertising than any other element of presidential campaigns, and yet it provides the worst return on investment," Mark McKinnon, the chief media adviser for Bush's presidential campaigns in 2000 and 2004 and an early adviser to McCain in 2008, told the Washington Post in a June 13th article titled: Presidential campaign ads are ubiquitous, but do they work? "I think you could take 90 percent of the spending on television ads and flush it and still have the same net impact."

"New digital billboards and interactive technologies are creating opportunities for candidates, issue based organizations and independent expenditure groups to tell their broader narrative; technologies that weren't available during the last election cycle. Displays embedded with audio/video capabilities allow voters to download content to their smart phones driving social interaction and earned media opportunities, providing instant communication to a highly mobile and increasingly tech savvy audience," Campbell said.

Kyle Roberts, President of Smart Media Group speaking at the American Association of Political Consultants meeting in Austin, Texas said, "The natural instinct of a campaign is to be very targeted." 

The OOH industry's newly released metrics include population origination statistics and demographics and can pinpoint voters where they live, play, work and vote.

"OOH can be a critical tool in a political campaign," Campbell concluded. "We expect its utilization to increase as more sophisticated, forward thinking campaign managers and advisors see the value of this viable, lower cost advertising medium and begin incorporating it into a campaign's overall messaging strategy."

About CBS Outdoor

CBS Outdoor, a division of CBS Corporation (CBS.A and CBS), is one of the largest out-of-home media companies in the Americas (United States, Canada, Mexico and South America), and has a major presence across Europe in the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and China. With both traditional outdoor and transit advertising properties, this division gives advertisers both breadth of coverage across vast geographies and depth of coverage, providing multiple media opportunities in key markets. For more information, visit https://www.cbsoutdoor.com/.

Media Contact:
Jim Campbell
[email protected]
212-297-6587

SOURCE CBS Outdoor