An increasing number of brands are combining social media and outdoor to support customers along their decision-making process, points out William Grobel, a senior consultant in Deloitte's marketing effectiveness team.
"Outdoor could become a major supporter or disrupter along the customer journey - supportive by delivering one brand's message and disruptive by interrupting a predicted journey of another brand's customer journey," he says. "A greater integration with social media and mobile technology would facilitate this change."
Satellite navigation brand Garmin is one company that has been working hard to interrupt the customer journey in a bid to communicate the wider reach of its portfolio "beyond satnavs".
This included its 'Give a Garmin' campaign in the run-up to Christmas, with radio ads, online and billboards. Working with Limited Space, there was also focused activity within shopping malls with lift interiors wrapped with 360 degree vinyls along with large digital HD screens which ran audible full-motion ads all promoting the wider product range. All the artwork was tagged with the Garmin URL to encourage further search and investigation.
Chris Merrell, head of Garmin EMEA marketing communications, says: "With outdoor advertising so close to the point of purchase, we have a real chance to mix up the customer journey. We don't have colossal budgets so we have to be targeted. We also have to be sure that if we interrupt people's journeys, we help them on their new path. That's why we also dedicate substantial efforts towards online and social media to help and inform consumers who have been 'disrupted' by us."
This correlation between an enhanced desire to find out more about a company on the back of outdoor advertising was picked up in OMC's research, with 41% of the 2,000 people questioned wanting to learn more about a company after seeing an outdoor ad.
This means marketers often have to think in "a more sophisticated way about media and its place in their overall plan", says Mark Hodge, head of brand at McCain Foods.
He adds: "A lot of brands are lazy with outdoor, using it as an extension of TV. They don't understand the context of outdoor and the various states of mind that different sites can bring. Really great outdoor activity comes when you understand the consumer's likely emotional state when consuming that media."
Last month, McCain ran a campaign with JCDecaux in which bus shelters pumped out the scent of oven-baked jacket potatoes and dispensed discount vouchers. Part of a 1.4m campaign to promote its new Ready Baked Jackets, the plan was to "interrupt a captive audience" using touch, smell and sight, and then provide "the final nudge" towards purchase with the coupons. Hodge claims the new technology enabled McCain to increase the pace of the consumers' journey to purchase.
Premier Foods recently dispensed cakes from poster sites to promote the 'on the go' snap pack format for its Mr Kipling brand. Marketing controller Mary Young says it was a great way to get the product straight into the hands of consumers and affect their purchase path.
The tools available to marketers today may be plentiful and constantly evolving, but MasterCard UK and Ireland head of marketing Paul Trueman cautions: "The fragmentation of the customer journey means we have to work a lot harder. Everyone now wants both scale and personalisation.
"In the old days, you could start with a piece of creative and work your way back. Now you need to start with the consumer, look at where they are on their journey and how you want to influence and disrupt that journey. That is a major shift but there is an opportunity to win bigger and better and to engage deeper with consumers."
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