The holiday season is in full swing, marking a highly competitive and lucrative time for brands and choosing their advertising channels. 

A Guide to Seasonal Outdoor Advertising

Out-of-home (OOH) advertising is one such sector that more and more brands are turning to for their holiday ad needs, especially since this industry is less crowded amidst the chaos on digital platforms.

Digital advertising during the holiday season often results in unimpressed consumers and low click-through rates (CTR) as countless brands attempt to get their messages across.

OOH allows for bold messages that create unforgettable and hard-to-miss statements that entire populations, both local and passing, can see. This makes for the perfect advertising route for standing out this holiday season.

Billboards, bulletins, and other forms of OOH guarantee a substantial subset of views on a given message, but the holiday season comes with its own set of hurdles, so there are two vital principles to harness for a successful campaign.

When To Begin Advertising During the Holiday Season

This can seem tricky, but there is one correct answer: November. This is the month leading up to one of the most profitable holidays for brands and companies, Black Friday.

Consumers in the United States spent more than $41 billion in online shopping alone from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday in 2024. This is an incredible week for OOH ads, and advertisers should begin in early November to boost their profit.

According to consumer research, anything before November is too soon, so targeting the bulk of OOH ads to begin this month will allow potential viewers and customers to be primed for Black Friday sales. At this time, many are waiting to start shopping for Christmas and holidays, making it an ideal period.

Creating a Sense of Urgency

The holiday season can be highly stressful due to all of the swirling sales and the search to find the perfect gift for loved ones. Albeit a tad mischievous, creating a sense of urgency can result in massive success.

Starting with Black Friday, there are so many sales everywhere consumers look. This causes a rush to purchase before a seemingly amazing sale expires. The worst feeling is missing out on a sale for the perfect item due to hesitancy, so this psychologically based tactic works very well.

OOH can utilize this by implementing scarcity through various design elements such as countdown timers, highlighting a limited quantity of items, and phrases that rush consumers to complete an action before the time is up. 

The principle of urgency and scarcity allows OOH messages to gain immense power in driving viewers to do as they want, especially during the holidays when many scramble to find the perfect gift!

Time to Wrap It Up! (Pun Intended)

The holiday season is full of hustle and bustle, making it a hectic time to develop the perfect OOH campaign and hit major markets. When beginning advertising early, before the days of celebration, and combining it with urgency, any campaign is set for success.

It’s time to break away from the digital sphere and return to the physical world. Digital fatigue is at an all-time high, and to reach countless potential viewers and hit them with researched tactics, OOH is the way to go.

Happy holidays!