Out-Of-Home’s Moment: Why Physical Presence Has Become One Of Advertising’s Most Valuable Assets
CANNES, France — Kantar’s annual ad receptivity research spans every generation from boomers to Gen Z. The finding that stood out at this year’s Beet.TV Leadership Summit with the OAAA at Cannes Lions: across all four demographics, out-of-home consistently ranks in the top five media where consumers are receptive to advertising. Social and CTV do not.
“Consumers like it, they consume it, they respond to it,” Dan Levi, evp and CMO at Clear Channel Outdoor, told the panel moderated by Esther Raphael, CMO of Intersection. “As Brian was getting to, you actually can now measure it and you can measure it integrated into the campaign as opposed to off to the side.”
That combination — genuine consumer receptivity plus improving measurement integration — is driving what panelists described as a meaningful shift in how brands think about physical presence in their media mix.
The unblockable medium
Brian Rappaport, founder and CEO of Quan Media Group, framed out-of-home’s core strength simply: brand legitimacy and unblockability. No ad blocker, no subscription tier, no skip button.
“The unblockable nature of the channel is so strong and so positive in terms of its growth and why we’re seeing all of these consecutive quarters of growth,” Rappaport said. “If I want to play devil’s advocate, it can be very targetable — put in front of the exact audience you want to reach between place, digital out-of-home, even large format. That’s the cherry on top of why out-of-home is starting to really see sustained growth.”
Proximity drives commerce intent
Scott Pawloski, CRO of GSTV, made the commerce connection explicit. A consumer who fuels up is statistically likely to spend five times more in the next one to two hours — making the gas station screen the last video ad before a significant purchase decision.
“Seeing that ad as the last video ad on your number one creative asset right before you decide to spend has a great ability to influence retail media,” Pawloski said.
Retail media networks have already recognized this, with major players expanding off-premise through mobile partnerships and connected TV acquisitions to extend their reach beyond the store.
Bringing the west to unexpected places
Samantha Fodrowski, SVP of Brand Marketing at Tecovas, described building a western brand in markets where cowboy boots have no cultural foothold — and finding out-of-home uniquely suited to the challenge.
“We want to bring the west to wherever the out-of-home campaign is. When we’re in a market that may have never heard of us before, like New York City, where you’re not expecting to see a western brand, it’s really important to have creative that makes you stop and makes you look,” Fodrowski said.
A New York store opening campaign spanning wall scapes, hand-painted murals, subway takeovers, and a Canal Street board created a cohesive visual narrative across the city — different creative executions sharing a through line that rewarded consumers who encountered the campaign multiple times.
Ideas over locations
The medium has evolved from location planning to audience, behavior, and moment planning. Clear Channel’s Radar platform enables brands to understand consumer mobility patterns, travel distances to stores, and how out-of-home exposure influences downstream behavior.
“We’re no longer talking about those audiences in silos. We’re talking about them incrementally,” Levi said. “The only way we’re going to get out of that 3% is to convince brands to spend less somewhere else and more over here. And the only way you’re going to do that is if you make more money by spending it over here.”
Rappaport cited Alex Earl’s Real Actives launch as an example of what happens when a brand treats a single out-of-home placement as an idea rather than a location. A blank magnetic wall in SoHo, puzzle pieces mailed to influencers, and a week-long collaborative reveal generated press and social amplification that a traditional media buy couldn’t have replicated.
“It’s one thing to put a billboard up and that does work, but it’s another thing to create an experience. It doesn’t necessarily mean you have to go out and drop five million dollars,” Rappaport said.
Measurement’s actual job
Levi pushed back on what he sees as a widespread misconception about what out-of-home measurement should prove. A case study involving an OTC pain medication brand found no measurable sales lift — but over 90% of households reached had never purchased the product or category before.
“Our job is not to prove that out-of-home works. Our job is to provide insights that help the marketer understand the value that out-of-home delivers,” Levi said. “We need to be thinking about starting with the needs of the customer and how we can answer those questions — as opposed to running around saying, ‘look, 150% lift,’ which nobody believes.”
For Fodrowski, that customer-first orientation extends beyond measurement into how Tecovas plans campaigns at all.
“Our customer is smart. We want to bring them along for it,” she said. “Sometimes I think as marketers, we think we’re smarter than the customer. Everyone says the customer comes first, but do they actually?”
CANNES, France — Kantar’s annual ad receptivity research spans every generation from boomers to Gen Z. The finding that stood out at this year’s Beet.TV Leadership Summit with the OAAA at Cannes Lions: across all four demographics, out-of-home consistently ranks in the top five media where consumers are receptive to advertising. Social and CTV do not.
“Consumers like it, they consume it, they respond to it,” Dan Levi, evp and CMO at Clear Channel Outdoor, told the panel moderated by Esther Raphael, CMO of Intersection. “As Brian was getting to, you actually can now measure it and you can measure it integrated into the campaign as opposed to off to the side.”
That combination — genuine consumer receptivity plus improving measurement integration — is driving what panelists described as a meaningful shift in how brands think about physical presence in their media mix.
The unblockable medium
Brian Rappaport, founder and CEO of Quan Media Group, framed out-of-home’s core strength simply: brand legitimacy and unblockability. No ad blocker, no subscription tier, no skip button.
“The unblockable nature of the channel is so strong and so positive in terms of its growth and why we’re seeing all of these consecutive quarters of growth,” Rappaport said. “If I want to play devil’s advocate, it can be very targetable — put in front of the exact audience you want to reach between place, digital out-of-home, even large format. That’s the cherry on top of why out-of-home is starting to really see sustained growth.”
Proximity drives commerce intent
Scott Pawloski, CRO of GSTV, made the commerce connection explicit. A consumer who fuels up is statistically likely to spend five times more in the next one to two hours — making the gas station screen the last video ad before a significant purchase decision.
“Seeing that ad as the last video ad on your number one creative asset right before you decide to spend has a great ability to influence retail media,” Pawloski said.
Retail media networks have already recognized this, with major players expanding off-premise through mobile partnerships and connected TV acquisitions to extend their reach beyond the store.
Bringing the west to unexpected places
Samantha Fodrowski, SVP of Brand Marketing at Tecovas, described building a western brand in markets where cowboy boots have no cultural foothold — and finding out-of-home uniquely suited to the challenge.
“We want to bring the west to wherever the out-of-home campaign is. When we’re in a market that may have never heard of us before, like New York City, where you’re not expecting to see a western brand, it’s really important to have creative that makes you stop and makes you look,” Fodrowski said.
A New York store opening campaign spanning wall scapes, hand-painted murals, subway takeovers, and a Canal Street board created a cohesive visual narrative across the city — different creative executions sharing a through line that rewarded consumers who encountered the campaign multiple times.
Ideas over locations
The medium has evolved from location planning to audience, behavior, and moment planning. Clear Channel’s Radar platform enables brands to understand consumer mobility patterns, travel distances to stores, and how out-of-home exposure influences downstream behavior.
“We’re no longer talking about those audiences in silos. We’re talking about them incrementally,” Levi said. “The only way we’re going to get out of that 3% is to convince brands to spend less somewhere else and more over here. And the only way you’re going to do that is if you make more money by spending it over here.”
Rappaport cited Alex Earl’s Real Actives launch as an example of what happens when a brand treats a single out-of-home placement as an idea rather than a location. A blank magnetic wall in SoHo, puzzle pieces mailed to influencers, and a week-long collaborative reveal generated press and social amplification that a traditional media buy couldn’t have replicated.
“It’s one thing to put a billboard up and that does work, but it’s another thing to create an experience. It doesn’t necessarily mean you have to go out and drop five million dollars,” Rappaport said.
Measurement’s actual job
Levi pushed back on what he sees as a widespread misconception about what out-of-home measurement should prove. A case study involving an OTC pain medication brand found no measurable sales lift — but over 90% of households reached had never purchased the product or category before.
“Our job is not to prove that out-of-home works. Our job is to provide insights that help the marketer understand the value that out-of-home delivers,” Levi said. “We need to be thinking about starting with the needs of the customer and how we can answer those questions — as opposed to running around saying, ‘look, 150% lift,’ which nobody believes.”
For Fodrowski, that customer-first orientation extends beyond measurement into how Tecovas plans campaigns at all.
“Our customer is smart. We want to bring them along for it,” she said. “Sometimes I think as marketers, we think we’re smarter than the customer. Everyone says the customer comes first, but do they actually?”
