Opportunity knocks for FMCG brands looking to the brand building power of premium Out of home (OOH) to elevate their multi-channel campaigns. When used together with TV, or as the central piece of work for wider digital campaigns, the opportunities to captivate and convert are boundless.

As with any marketing campaign, shopper insights help formulate the right approach and choose the best environment. At this point in the year, three trends are influencing consumer purchasing decisions, allowing us to pinpoint three specific Ocean opportunities.

Inflation

April 2024 saw the lowest inflation rate for groceries since Oct 2021 (2.4%), but is this affecting purchasing decisions? When inflation hits +3%, shoppers normally trade down, swapping high end brands for cheaper products and supermarket own-brands (source:Kantar).

Now that inflation is coming down, is there a shift the other way? Recovery in real income growth will help some households trade up to more premium ‘treat yourself’ ranges, but forecasts suggest many will continue to feel challenged by economic headwinds as we move into Q3 (source: Retail Week).

Price remains a battle ground. But that presents an opportunity for brands looking to build awareness with shoppers on the path to purchase, or those harnessing OOH to capture attention in high traffic environments with local offers, deals and promotions.

Ocean opportunity: Premium DOOH can be used to elevate even everyday brands.

Health

Consumers are eating more healthy food:

• 49% said they are eating better (source: Savanta Grocery Eye Report Q1 2024)
• 32% are feeling healthier than they did last year, up 7pp year on year
• There is a 4% increase in plant based food eaters – now up to 12%
• And a growing interest in super foods, boosting gut health etc

However, the cost of living remains a sticking point:

• Food prices are forcing people to eat less healthily, with 42% saying the cost of healthy food has led them to be less healthy
• 37% are now cooking from scratch

Ocean opportunity: DOOH can be used to target health-conscious consumers at key times of the day, for example during commuter hours when they may be planning their evening meal. And with most UK consumers travelling to and from work in their vehicles, roadside DOOH is key here.

Innovation

• 41% of UK consumers like to try new food or drinks once a month (Nielsen IQ)
• In high turnover categories like ‘impulse’ buys, a strong growth in both range and sales has been identified, including for premium lines (Nielsen IQ)
• There is more competition for supermarket listings in 2024

Ocean opportunity: New brands need to stay front of mind. DOOH is a ubiquitous medium, perfect for brand building through a combination of attention and frequency. It complements the other big brand building media channel – TV – and delivers stand out creativity to capture imagination.

Taste the difference

With FMCG spend on Out of home up 99.5 per cent year on year (source: Nielsen), here’s how some brands are embracing the smorgasbord of creative outdoor formats and possibilities to deliver some of the best category ads of the year.

Super-human – With the summer of sport in full swing, Müller Yogurt & Desserts continued its partnership with footballer Declan Rice. They launched an integrated campaign centred around a feast of special build billboards and digital assets created by VCCP and its content creation studio, Girl&Bear. In one scenario, the England midfielder lifts a 3D car above his head as he retrieves a football from the road.

Hungry for Adventure – ice cream brand Nuii placed six three metre high lollies along the 100 metre long living wall at Westfield London. The unmissable installation highlighted the brand’s adventure inspired flavours, with scent canons releasing aromas of its “hero flavours”, Nordic Berry and Australian Salted Caramel & Macadamia Nut. The special build was planned through The 7 Stars and Kinetic, and the work includes a wider OOH and TV campaign starring global brand ambassador Jason Momoa.

Made for pleasure seekers – Magnum collaborated with Mindshare, LOLA MullenLowe, DOOH.com and Kinetic to deliver a live-action 3D billboard. The Piccadilly Lights hero spot was built on the success of the ice cream brand’s latest advert – ‘The Pleasure Express’ – offering audiences an engaging blend of both the physical and digital worlds, immersing them in new flavours.

Squeaky clean – To launch a newly designed bottle for their “best ever body wash”, Dove’s 20 second DOOH spot combined animated DeepScreen® content created by Ocean Studio with shots from the brand’s TVC. The campaign was planned through Mindshare and Kinetic and ran in eight cities.

Irresisti-bel – Babybel launched a larger than life stunt at Pump Station, Westfield London, bringing its distinctive wax peel to life in an unexpected way. Conceptualised by BETC, the OOH activation featured an actor balanced on a ladder, peeling away the red top layer, recreating the satisfaction of unwrapping a mini cheese snack.

Where’s Wallie? – Wall’s ice cream’s new AR OOH campaign features augmented elements that can be viewed with the naked eye. The brand partnered with Mindshare, GroupM OOH and DOOH.com to transform two large format screens at Westfield Stratford City and in Manchester into ‘WinDOOHs’. Each location shows augmented 3D animations of Wallie (Wall’s ice cream freezer) and the Cornetto and Twister products. What makes this campaign stand out from traditional AR OOH executions is that it does not require viewers to use mobile devices to see the interactive elements.

Ridiculously good: Kraft Heinz launched a new wave of its successful, multi-award-winning pasta sauces campaign in partnership with Wunderman Thompson Spain. The multimedia campaign included a hero TV spot, live across streaming platforms and digital, social and premium OOH, led by Piccadilly Lights. The campaign drove home Heinz’s ‘Ridiculously Good’ messaging previously seen in their pasta sauce campaigns with the brand’s trademark humour.