What is OOH advertising, and where does mobile fit in?
Out of home advertising covers everything from a mall poster to a moving billboard. A plain guide to the formats available in Dubai and what each one is good at.
OOH stands for out of home: any advertising that reaches people while they are out rather than on a screen at home. In Dubai it is one of the strongest channels available, because so much of life here happens in a car.
The main formats
Fixed billboards
Large roadside sites, sold by location and duration. Strong for presence and prestige. You are buying one spot, so the audience is whoever passes it.
Mall and retail media
Screens, lightboxes and standees inside shopping centres. Close to the point of purchase, which makes them good for offers.
Transit advertising
Metro, taxis and public buses. Wide reach, limited control over exactly where and when your message appears.
Mobile billboards
Advertising carried on a vehicle you control. You choose the routes, the hours and the parking, and you can change any of them. This is where mobile truck advertising and bus advertising sit.
Why mobile is different
- You choose the route, so you choose the audience
- It covers several districts in one day
- It can park where your customers are, including outside your own store
- It can be re-routed if the campaign is not working
- It carries an experience, not only a message, when the vehicle opens up
Using them together
The strongest campaigns are not either-or. A fixed site builds presence over weeks; a mobile billboard pushes hard during the launch window and goes exactly where the fixed site cannot. If the budget only covers one, choose on the basis of time: short and sharp favours mobile, long and steady favours fixed.
