1/Talon is forecasting a record 2024 for UK Out of home with over £1bn bagged already. However, there is evidence that UK GDP has declined in the last quarter with consumer confidence down in the wake of tax increases and still high interest rates. How do you see OOH performing in 2025?

2024 was a successful year but it was hard fought, with the last quarter being particularly tough. Final numbers aren’t in, but estimations are that OOH will be up around nine percent versus 2023. The agency Groups seem to think OOH will continue to grow in 2025 and are talking around the six percent mark, however I want the channel pushing for more and would love to get to double digits.

There are of course some strong economic headwinds to contend with, but I remain optimistic because over the last few years we’ve seen that the advertising market and the wider economy aren’t as intertwined as they once were.

We are also seeing exceptional investment in the medium with the emergence of new spaces like Landsec’s Below The Lights and Outernet London. There was an excellent article recently by Jay Young (MD Grand Visual) in The Media Leader talking about how experiential marketing and creative OOH have transformed the way brands connect with people in public spaces which is well worth a read.

As a channel, we are no longer as reliant on the more traditional stable of stalwart brands. We are seeing a much broader range of brands and categories leaning in and giving OOH a go. I put a lot of this down to the media owners working more collaboratively together and presenting a more united front around research and sustainability initiatives.  We need to continue in this vein if we are to break through the five percent ad revenue share ceiling.  

2/Digital has been the main driver of growth in OOH, which has clearly benefited Ocean. In the greater scheme of things how has creativity, technology and the integration of DOOH and experiential driven sector success?

Creativity in OOH has always been there and it continues to flourish. It doesn’t always need technology, just a smart idea that is executed well.  That said, technology wise, DOOH continues to move at pace. And no one does tech like Ocean Labs with its suite of vehicle react, sound, AI, AR, gesture control and skeletal mapping capabilities. Every brand we bring to our Labs demo is blown away by the technology we can offer at scale.

Back to the crux of the question. A great example of how fusing creativity, digital technology and experiential leads to customer success would be L’Oréal’s recent “Worth it Experience”. This one of a kind activation transformed London’s Piccadilly Circus into a five day beauty destination, featuring live broadcast and 3D content on Piccadilly Lights while simultaneously hosting masterclasses and guest demonstrations Below The Lights in Landsec’s impressive new experiential space.

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We always talk about Beyond the Screen but Beyond the Event, L’Oréal’s 10 hour TikTok Shop achieved record sales during a Lights live stream, and the client secured an audience of 11 million on social media throughout the experiential activation which attracted close to 300 social influencers.

The brand takeover ended with a live stream from L’Oreal’s Paris Fashion Week runway show which was broadcast on Piccadilly Lights and watched by thousands. Most importantly, the campaign generated the best ever in-store sales week for L’Oréal Paris products in the Boots branch which sits directly below the big screen.

What a cracking endorsement of how OOH can deliver ROI.

3/We have recently seen a decline in the number of advertising holding company specialist OOH agencies with WPP’s Kinetic absorbed into GroupM and Posterscope into Dentsu. Does this mean that there are fewer planners and buyers fighting Out of Home’s corner? Is the industry doing enough to connect with giant media operations?

As with any integration we’ve seen a number of people leave the industry but fortunately in OOH we have an abundance of passionate, talented people who are now integrated deeper into the holding groups. One could argue this means they will have even more influence because previously they have been a step removed, but now have a seat at the table to fight the OOH corner harder.

As an industry we can always do more. And we are. We have, for example, seen the likes of Decaux, Clear Channel and Global teaming up with GroupM to show how the OOH impact on online sales has been underestimated. Last year, Ocean partnered with Ebiquity on a large-scale study which shows how greater investment in large format DOOH can effectively supplement the loss of linear TV audiences, and how TV and DOOH can complement each other both geographically and in driving ROI.

With so many layers and different OOH formats to get your head around, new research coming from Ocean in 2025 will provide an even deeper understanding of large format full motion effectiveness. The results will be out in the spring.  

4/Technology has enabled the creation of ever more digital screens and messages. To achieve stand out, what is your advice to advertisers when planning a high impact OOH campaign?

Here’s my run down:

OOH is a complex channel with a variety of formats and environments all of which do different jobs, so my first piece of advice is to speak to someone with OOH experience before planning your campaign.

Make sure you understand the capabilities of the screens on the plan  – what sort of dwell time do they have? Are they full motion or static? One of my biggest bug bears is the number of brands who still run static copy on full motion screens. It’s such a wasted opportunity given that full motion is proven to be 2.5x more effective than a static ad.

Get out there and see the sites you are planning because not all impacts are equal. This is especially relevant as programmatic becomes more prevalent. There is a saying we have at Ocean which is “It’s on the streets, not just the spreadsheets”.

Finally, keep the message simple, playful and include some form of interaction if you can.

5/Choose three campaigns that demonstrate the effectiveness of OOH in a crowded media marketplace. And what, in creative terms, would you like to see more of in 2025?

Paramount’s takeover of the BFI IMAX and Piccadilly Lights to mark the release of Gladiator II.  The IMAX was stunning in its simplicity, turning a unique site into the Colosseum. Piccadilly was more complex to execute as it saw Paramount alongside four other brands come together to turn Piccadilly Lights to stone. All hail DOOH.com and Wavemaker for the idea, and the five brands involved for their bravery and belief. It was an epic undertaking resulting in an awesome execution.

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Last year’s Paris 2024 fan zones. The way our Team GB and ParalympicsGB partners came together with clients, PR agencies and landlords in a collaboration of, well, Olympic proportions, attracted record outdoor audiences. We measured their effectiveness via consumer research which established that the fan zones not only brought new audiences into the various host destinations – but those experiences would also draw those people back again.

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The magnetism of well curated and managed outdoor audience experiences demonstrates the value to landlords and brand partners in turning what we call Spaces into Places™ for audiences who are looking for something different and will then recommend that experience to their friends.

With 2025 billed as the summer of women’s sport, we happily get to repeat the exercise as Official fan zone provider for the Women’s Rugby World Cup. Another milestone in our mission to improve access to sport at every level, and an incredible opportunity for brands too.

My third pick is You Belong Here, a really clever DeepScreen Alive recruitment campaign for Capita and the British Army. Created using Ocean Labs’ real-time 3D creation tool for photoreal visuals and immersive experiences, the work showed a group of soldiers delivering aid in intense hurricane conditions. As the scenario unfolded, an animated version of LSgt Natty Ngwenya, infantry and section commander of the Grenadier Guards, was seen running to the foreground, leaning out of the screen, beckoning passersby to get involved. The creative also deployed Ocean’s DeepScreen Alive technology, which allowed the advert to update live, matching the time of day in the animation as it changed in the vicinity where it was shown. The ad was placed to capitalise on the post-Christmas Day footfall passing through Westfield Stratford City to capture younger audiences who don’t watch the telly. Deserves a medal.

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More of all of this in 2025 please.