Unwrapping the Secret to Holiday Sales Success: Why Brand Marketers Should Consider OOH Media This Busy Travel Season

The holiday season is fast approaching, and with it comes a wave of eager travelers ready to embark on their festive journeys to see family, friends and vacation. As we gear up for the holidays, we’re anticipating a remarkable surge in anticipated holiday passenger numbers, indicating an opportunity for small and large businesses to reach traveling consumers. In this dynamic holiday travel landscape, out-of-home (OOH) advertising emerges as a powerful tool for businesses to connect with travelers.

Here are three key ways that activating OOH campaigns across airports and on busy roadsides can help brands drive holiday sales, as well as some ways brands can optimize their OOH buys:

1. This year, OOH will reach a larger traveling audience who will be out of home for longer.

In 2023, the number of holiday travelers is expected to surpass 2022, with an extraordinary boost in trip length. This season, a whopping 60 percent of holiday travelers plan to take to the skies, marking a significant increase in air travel. In urban areas with a population of 1 million or more, this number soars to 87 percent.

What's even more promising is nearly half of all holiday travelers are planning to extend their trips this year, a notable increase from just 31 percent in the previous year. As a result, the opportunities for businesses to reach these travelers with impactful advertising are substantial.

2. Motivated travelers = motivated audiences

Holiday travelers remain motivated to explore for a variety of reasons, with one in three individuals emphasizing the importance of holiday travel as an annual tradition, according to the latest OAAA-Harris Poll Research. Almost half express that traveling during the holidays positively affects their well-being. Additionally, nearly a quarter of travelers are eager to make up for missed trips during the pandemic, highlighting their determination to create memorable experiences.

In a remarkable shift, more than one-third of Gen Z travelers are open to considering international trips to celebrate the upcoming holiday season. This presents an exciting opportunity for businesses to target a younger, adventurous audience in airports.

3. Travel levels expected to surpass pre-pandemic records.

The 2023 holiday air travel season is set to surpass not only the 2022 figures, but also the levels seen in 2019. Recent data from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) reveals significant increases in passenger screenings. The Sunday after Thanksgiving in 2022 saw a record-breaking 2.56 million passengers screened at TSA checkpoints, marking the highest volume since the pandemic began.

During Christmas and New Year's 2022, TSA continued to screen a substantial number of passengers, with a peak of 2.3 million passengers screened on Dec. 22 and Jan. 2. An astounding 86 percent of holiday travelers have already expressed their intent to fly for one or both holidays this year. With airlines and travel booking sites encouraging early bookings due to surging demand, brands can take advantage of this trend to reach travelers during the planning phase.

Moreover, airports across the U.S. continue to invest in transforming their spaces into travel destinations so consumers can be immersed in the airport environment and enjoy a range of experiences, from premium lounges to new shops and restaurants. Airport advertising allows brands to directly interact with this captive audience and become a memorable part of their airport journey.

Strategies to Reach All Travelers Leaving Home This Holiday Season

This dynamic holiday travel landscape presents OOH advertising as a powerful tool for businesses to connect with travelers. Here are some things to consider to best leverage OOH advertising to your advantage:

• Interactive Campaigns: Consider dynamic, eye-catching creative that can be updated in real time to align with changing circumstances and keep travelers engaged. Dynamic digital billboards, for example, can be updated with real-time information or creative content, enhancing engagement.
• Data-Driven Insights: Utilize OOH data solutions to plan and measure your ad campaign with confidence — and with your own first-party data via data clean rooms. Understand consumer mobility and behavior to optimize your advertising strategy, not just at airports but in various outdoor settings.
• Mobile Amplification: OOH advertising primes travelers for mobile ad performance, enhancing your digital advertising efforts and driving better performance. An OOH campaign can complement your mobile marketing strategy.
• Proof of Performance: Benefit from new proof-of-performance solutions that offer transparency and efficiency in campaign reporting, providing real-time data and insights. Know exactly how your OOH ads are performing, whether they're placed in airports, malls or on city streets.
• Programmatic Efficiency: Explore the highly nimble programmatic digital out of home (pDOOH) to optimize campaigns and measure key digital goals. This isn't limited to airport advertising; it extends to various OOH placements for a comprehensive approach.

The bottom line is the dynamic OOH medium offers multiple new and exciting ways to help local and national advertisers stand out amidst the holiday hustle and bustle, making it a season to remember for both your business and your customers.

Andrew Marcus is senior vice president, research and insights, Clear Channel Outdoor, a media company at the forefront of driving innovation in the out-of-home (OOH) industry.