Sankofa Square, Toronto, Canada, bustling with crowds and featuring large out-of-home advertising driving both interest in the square and captivating consumer attention.

With more channels than ever before for brands to reach consumers, marketers are having to make important choices about where and how they spend their money. That means getting laser-focused on impact: not just reach, but relevance, recall and return. Increasingly, brands are recognizing out-of-home as one of the most adaptable, creative, and data-powered tools available – and are seeing its value as a powerful performance and results channel.

OOH has traditionally been viewed as a top-of-funnel channel, great for awareness but harder to integrate or quantify. But that perception is no longer accurate. “We’ve run thousands of campaigns proving that OOH can drive full-funnel performance,” says Scott Mitchell, Vistar Media’s managing director in Canada.

Andaz Hotel placed- based advertising on a major highway capturing attention with striking colours, bold animals taking their audience to exotic destinations.

Its evolution is driven by three major forces: data integration, automation and creative innovation. OOH campaigns today can leverage audience segments, trigger ads dynamically, and measure real-world actions like store visits and brand lift. Mitchell notes that many advertisers may not be aware of the technological advancements that have modernized the space.

Still, success depends on how the medium is used. So what are some of the common pitfalls when it comes to OOH? Not fully understanding the canvas, according to Mitchell. “In the world of DOOH advertising, a gap can sometimes exist between advertising creatives and media buyers. These two disciplines complement each other but often operate independently,” he says. “Creative teams produce beautiful designs that inspire consumers to take action, yet can be unaware of the full capabilities of DOOH, resulting in ads that don’t fully take advantage of the medium. On the other hand, media buyers are extremely talented at knowing precisely how and where to reach an audience but may not bring creative teams into the conversation until the end of the planning cycle, thereby sacrificing creativity in the name of speed.”

Sephora branded takeover of Sankofa Square, Toronto, Canada, showcasing dynamic 3D imagery of gifts for the brand’s campaign playfully spilling over messaging.

OOH offers countless ways to bring data to life alongside compelling creative. This could mean placing ads strategically within one kilometre of a brand’s retail location, developing competitive messaging, incorporating live features like sports scores or countdowns, or adapting bold, immersive creative to thrive across DOOH formats. 

Take Hyatt’s Andaz Hotels. For its first DOOH campaign, the luxury brand collaborated with Vistar to reach affluent, experience-driven travellers: the strategy combined high-impact creative, precise targeting and premium placements across key urban markets. Vistar adapted Andaz’s visuals for digital screens in airports, billboards, bus shelters and urban panels, integrating with Andaz’s broader omnichannel campaign. To reach the right audience, Vistar used LiveRamp data to target high-income diners, hotel guests and shoppers. The results included significant brand lift: +37% in awareness and consideration, +26% in intent to visit and +48% in luxury brand association.

Reaching the right audience is one piece of the puzzle. The next is delivering the right message at the right moment. OOH’s ability to merge creative ambition with strategic precision lies in its growing use of dynamic creative: real-time, data-triggered content designed to shift as conditions change.

Andaz Hotel place-based advertising showcasing a playful take on the brand message within one of the hotel rooms leaning into humour to increase recall.

Mitchell points to dynamic creative as a powerful way to boost both engagement and relevance: “like a weather-triggered promotion for an airline that offered discounts based on how cold it was or a banking campaign highlighting changing mortgage rates to first-time homebuyers” These timely, adaptive executions help brands stay current, local and emotionally resonant at scale.

Kia brought dynamic creative to life using vehicle-recognition AI at charging stations to identify Kia and non-Kia EV drivers. Custom messaging followed: conquest ads for non-Kia owners and retention messages for existing customers. The campaign yielded a 517% lift in unaided awareness and an 8% increase in vehicle sales.

For a long time, measurement was a barrier to OOH’s adoption in performance-driven plans. That’s no longer the case. Data now powers not just targeting, but accountability. OOH campaigns can be evaluated just as rigorously as other channels. Vistar deploys a variety of measurement tools, including brand lift studies, positive purchase intent tracking and control and exposed group comparisons. “If clients have a budget that allows, there are in-depth measurement and brand studies,” says Mitchell. “Our goal is to understand the true impact OOH is having on a targeted audience, whether that’s captured attention, brand recognition, or campaign performance.” 

Kia’s dynamic digital OOH ad outside a grocery store, leveraging location and real-time targeting to engage EV drivers with custom messaging.

OOH delivers dynamic formats, smart targeting, real-time triggers and performance data to back it all up. “Our aim is to make every interaction in OOH more meaningful – driving results for brands,” says Mitchell. “That means connecting data with creativity, automation with agility and budgets with better outcomes. Because while it’s easy to scroll past social ads without a second thought, OOH stakes its claim in everyday surroundings, making it impossible to ignore.” 

For marketers looking to reach people in real places, in real moments – and prove the ROI while they’re at it – it’s time to move OOH to the centre of the media mix.

Click here to learn more about opportunities with Vistar Media.