How Out of Home Can Help Drive Civic Engagement

Intersection Staff
IxN — The Intersection Blog
3 min readSep 21, 2020

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Participatory Budget campaign on LinkNYC

Traditionally, Out of Home (OOH) was the only major form of media that was not content driven. Whether a billboard, a bus shelter, or an urban panel, the space it occupied was meant for advertising and the occasional PSA. But with the accelerated deployment of digital screens in public spaces, that state of affairs has changed. With more inventory comes more opportunities, and responsibility by media owners, to provide useful and important information in the public right of way. And the same features that make OOH a powerful medium for advertising, make it just as powerful for civic engagement:

Brand Safety & Public Trust

Most OOH publishers work with their public partners, whether transit agencies or municipalities, to ensure that content is factual and safe. Unlike other forms of media, the content on OOH is also free from opinion and rhetoric. In fact, most content on OOH screens provide the kind of utility that people look for in public, like weather and transit updates, or local flavor, such as public art and free events. So it’s no surprise that research has shown that OOH is more trusted than any digital medium.

That’s why OOH can be an important tool for not just creating awareness of an important issue, but for fostering public interaction, which requires the highest level of trust. For example, our Link platform has both posted reminders for voter registration deadlines on its large displays and enabled people to register to vote right on the tablet. Same for Participatory Budgeting — the process that allows New York City residents to vote on how their neighborhood budgets get allocated. We posted facts and reminders about the relatively unknown process on the large screens to build awareness, and allowed people to participate right on the tablet.

When New York was the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic this past spring, we posted calls to action on Link screens looking for healthcare professionals and blood donations. The unique URLs included in the campaign saw nearly 1,300 visitors in less than 2 weeks; proving that OOH screens can provide an important way to mobilize our communities when we need it most.

Call for healthcare professionals during COVID-19

Location & Context

People have a stronger emotional connection to their neighborhood and physical surroundings than they do their phone screens or televisions. This context, combined with life-sized creative canvases, makes OOH a bold choice for reaching and connecting with residents on important issues. This year, we’re working with the U.S. Census to display and update neighborhood response rates to encourage people to participate and help secure important resources for their community.

2020 Census response rate by neighborhood on LinkNYC

Massive Audience Reach

Out of Home has maintained its massive audience while traditional alternatives like newspapers lost readers, local TV audiences fragmented, and local digital media startups have struggled to build significant reach. OOH now stands alone as the best media to reach local audiences at scale.

In New York, LinkNYC covers over 3,250 city blocks and intersects the city’s most trafficked streets and avenues. A message on LinkNYC can easily reach over 98.5% of New Yorkers. Expansive OOH networks, especially transit and street furniture, provide similar coverage in other markets. This reach is critical when the messages are critical.

Dynamic Capabilities

The same technology that powers a countdown clock advertisement for the Chicago Bulls is that same technology that can provide dynamic statistics, alerts, and calls to action. Digital OOH networks can pull data from any API, which means the public can stay informed with up-to-date reminders and messages.

Voter registration countdown clock on LinkNYC

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