OOH Today: GSTV Drives +12% Lift in Store Traffic for Major QSR

Campaign was 7.8x more efficient than the Placed digital media benchmark 

GSTV, the national digital video network, recently presented the results of a campaign for a major QSR brand, advertising a new value menu and season limited time offer aimed at driving visitation.

The success of the campaign is widely applicable to QSR’s seeking new and better alternatives in their broadcast and digital marketing mix. The results demonstrate clearly that advertising through GSTV’s network can drive consumers to store.

“This case shows how impactful GSTV can be in driving visitation, efficiency, conversion and a host of highly relevant KPI’s,” said Sean McCaffrey, President and CEO at GSTV. “Our network is now national broadcast scale with digital targeting and attribution in the moment of consumer choice.  Simply put, we’re delivering when consumers are hungry and we prove results.”

APPROACH

During the month-long campaign, GSTV worked closely with the research team at Placed, a leading foot traffic attribution company, to evaluate the incremental impact of the advertising on GSTV’s network. Leveraging its privacy compliant, opt-in consumer panel of 3.5 million mobile device users, Placed analyzed the post-exposure behaviors of GSTV viewers in order to assess visitation to the advertised QSR.

After establishing a link between the advertising on GSTV and restaurant visitation, Placed then compared this conversion rate to a matched control group to quantify the incremental contribution of the GSTV campaign.

RESULTS

Placed found that 14% of impressions delivered on GSTV were followed by a visit to the advertised QSR, yielding 10.5 million restaurant visits.  The visitation rate was +12.1% greater than that of the matched control group, meaning 1.3 million restaurant visits were incremental and thus directly attributable to the GSTV campaign.

Of particular interest to the advertiser was the efficiency of the GSTV campaign.  When weighing the size of the media investment against the incremental restaurant traffic, Placed found that the cost per incremental visit was just pennies on the dollar, or nearly 8x more efficient than a typical digital QSR ad.

“These results are consistent with what we’ve seen over the past couple years in the quick-serve and casual dining categories,” said Eric Z. Sherman, SVP Insights & Analytics at GSTV.  “The GSTV viewer is naturally predisposed to convenient dining options, and compelling video advertising moments before a meal decision can be highly effective at influencing consumer choice.”

Adweek: What McDonald’s Acquisition of Dynamic Yield Means for DOOH and Personalization

Brands are able to target their consumers are every touchpoint feasible

By Sean McCaffrey | Adweek

Last month, McDonald’s announced its largest acquisition in 20 years. Yet the $300 million purchase of Dynamic Yield was notable for another reason: It legitimizes outdoor as a two-way medium for ad messages and delivers personalization at scale.

Simply put, McDonald’s, long a leader in outdoor advertising, has signaled that the space will be used for creating a dialogue between consumers and brands. The purchase lets McDonald’s vary its electronic display of items and DOOH network for walk-up or drive-thru customers based on the weather or consumer demand. For any franchisee who has ever mused that a product or service would be a perfect day for certain promotions then this purchase gives hope that they might be able to switch to promoting ice cold drinks when the temperature rises or hot chocolate on inclement days. But more importantly, it also connects that in-the-moment message to all other data-driven consumer engagements in both paid media and in-store messaging.

Too often we miss the true value of innovation in the moment and only grasp more foundational shifts in hindsight. It’s those brands and agencies that execute on such tectonic shifts that can accelerate their growth and gain share even in mature markets. With this acquisition, we’re seeing that singularity, the moment that will most matter in years to come, right now with DOOH and its impact on marketing strategy and investment outcomes.

The evolution of DOOH is clearly more than signs becoming screens. The marketer’s goal of presenting the right message to the right person at the right time is now in reach. DOOH networks have broadcast-level scale and bring added benefits of location-based context, dynamic creative and sequential messaging on the literal consumer journey. Such an objective has long been elusive for the $8 billion U.S. out-of-home market but now appears to be imminent. As with previous advertising innovations, marketers who embrace the technology first will reap the rewards.

It’s time to consider the truly available digital audience nature of the classic OOH channel.

Such promise is one reason why digital out-of-home spending has continued to outpace all other buying methods and is a bright spot in the menu of advertising options. This is bigger than dynamic screens; it’s the birth of digitally-enabled communication between brands and shoppers. It’s time to consider the truly available digital audience nature of the classic OOH channel.

But let’s face it: OOH has traditionally suffered from the one-way nature of its communications. A billboard can’t hear or recognize you, so the consumer has a natural advantage over it. Or, alternatively, it’s been judged only by physical placement. But what if OOH is now considered more broadly as every consumer touchpoint outside the home including in-restaurant placements? The location and physical context still matters that’s OOH’s most core value.

Current state-of-the-art technology can already vary messaging based on the time of day or the weather, but now, connected audience data drives true convergence of mobile, location-based and addressable audience marketing inclusive of DOOH.

Such sentient displays inject consumer intelligence into even routine interactions so a store rep can suggest a new or offbeat menu item that a shopper might like because it’s based on knowledge of their buying patterns. Suggesting the right offer, news, entertainment or insight to a targeted group of consumers in real-time drives results.

Imagine how such technology would work if adapted to pretty much every consumer. It would know better than to promote a new drink to someone who never varies from his standard purchase but could reap incremental sales from someone who’s open to such a suggestion. That’s the promise of cognizant out-of-home: It’s an intelligent system that knows both the store’s selection and the frame of mind of the visitors at moments in time.

Of course, such types of listening can be abused, but ideally it augments a human staffer who merely sizes up a consumer based on their age, sex and other signs of purchase intent to make a well-thought-out recommendation.

The best marketers have always understood the power of OOH. It offers massive canvases, broadcast scale, location-based targeting, unavoidable messaging and truly special creative opportunity. The past several years of Cannes Lions OOH winners have shown the new promise of the medium such as Google, Twitter and others. But many have also ignored the medium due to perceived limitations like targeting, measurement, attribution and true integration with overall media and creative strategy in the digital age.

The potential magic in this acquisition is the realization that all consumer touchpoints are an opportunity to personalize at scale.

Such is the evolution of DOOH, which can bridge the gap between out-of-home brand communication and a consumer’s personal profile. In the process, OOH is meeting consumers in the digital audience age.

AdExchanger: Meet Consumers in the Moments that Matter – at Gas Stations

It turns out fueling up can predict more about consumer behavior than marketers might expect.  

A recent study produced by Mastercard and GSTV revealed fueling up leads to significant patterns in consumer spending. After analyzing nearly a year’s worth of aggregated, anonymized transaction data on Mastercard’s network, the study found consumers spend 1.7x more in the first three hours following a fuel transaction than those who haven’t just fueled up. Across select purchase categories – such as quick service restaurants (QSR) – the likelihood to spend after fueling up rises even higher. In fact, consumers were 2.8x more likely to spend at a QSR after fueling, with an average transaction size of $10.48 in the category.

The results confirmed GSTV’s long-standing belief that consumers don’t just fuel up and go home – fueling is actually part of a larger trip, which often includes shopping.

"This new data from Mastercard validates our fundamental hypothesis of the GSTV audience – they're mobile, spending more in key categories at the most valuable moments of the consumer journey, and hence creating a natural opportunity for authentic brand engagement with measurable outcomes," said Sean McCaffrey, President and CEO at GSTV.

Within the QSR category, Mastercard found that breakfast experienced the largest lift in sales following a fuel up, while dinner purchases accounted for the most spent per transaction – averaging $13.23. Other high-frequency, post-fuel shopping destinations included big box stores, grocery stores, drug stores and casual dining chains.

So what lessons can these new consumer insights offer to marketers looking to maximize the impact of their ad spend?

Eric Z. Sherman, SVP, Insights and Analytics at GSTV, believes the data suggest that recency-of-exposure is an underutilized media tactic for influencing consumer behavior.

“It’s well-established that consumers are far more likely to purchase brands that are top-of-mind,” said Sherman. “The challenge for advertisers has been getting in front of shoppers right before they’re about to make a purchase. This new research from Mastercard identifies the fuel station as a critical juncture on the path to purchase for a number of different categories.”

“A fuel transaction precedes significantly elevated consumer spending, and represents an opportunity to influence behavior while the customer is in a shopping mindset, at a moment that is both physically and temporally close to a purchase decision,” Sherman added.

Working with publishers who can provide access to these highly valuable locations – while identifying the moments when consumers are most receptive to different product messages – is a proven way to strengthen return on advertising spend. According to ongoing GSTV research in collaboration with Placed, a best-in-class foot-traffic attribution provider, ad campaigns on GSTV typically produce a 15-20% lift in retail store visitation versus a matched control group.

As marketers seek to better understand their customers, this kind of data-driven, holistic view of the consumer has become increasingly valuable – particularly when tied to hard metrics like credit card spending.

“GSTV is unique in the media landscape in that the customer experience is defined by a transaction,” Sherman said. “This gives us an especially rich data set to work with, tied directly to what advertisers care about most – consumer spending.”

Equipped with a complete view of their consumers – both pre and post ad impression – marketers are empowered to develop media strategies that span the entire customer lifecycle and enhance consumer experiences at every touchpoint along the way.

QSR Brands: Digital Video Can Work Harder to Reach Your Customers

By Sean McCaffrey, President and CEO of GSTV

As hungry consumers hit the road this summer, QSR brands are spending big on digital video, particularly mobile, with high expectations of heavy foot traffic to match their spend.

According to a recent study by IAB, 59% of marketers’ digital ad budgets are allocated to digital video already and more than half of buyers plan to increase spending by 53% during the next year.

I’m amazed at how often I hear brands discuss with confidence their strategic media plans for reaching travelers. Often, they over-index on digital video, particularly via mobile, as the solution.

Millions of dollars later, the question remains: Are consumers seeing your videos in the context that best serves your restaurants? There’s a good chance they won’t be in the right place at the right time— or in the right mindset— to make your ROAS the best it could be.

Consider that some 70% of mobile device usage now takes place in the home, and those that do watch on-the-go are 17% more likely to skip mobile video ads (source: Pew; Magna and IPG Media Lab).

Though we may be experiencing the so-called Golden Age of Television, Millennials — who spend more money eating out than any other generation — aren’t watching when it needs to count for your QSR. Reporting from Restaurant Marketing Labs shows that trend will only balloon as the mobile-first, short(er) attention span Generation Z will surpass Millennials to become the most influential market by 2020.

So, where does that leave mobile video in terms of reaching on-the-go consumers? Rather than try to motivate a consumer to get off their couch for your new green juice or breakfast sandwich, it’s easier to tempt them on-the-go. But not necessarily always on their phones.

We set out to understand the habits of these consumers through a third-party study by MasterCard and Placed examining the consumer journey following a fuel transaction. Analysis found that within an hour of filling up, fuel customers transact 54% more and spend 46% more at QSR (vs. non-fuel buyers). QSR campaigns on GSTV have driven double-digit incremental lift in store visitation.

Digital video is clearly still popular with consumers, it just isn’t increasing the total time your consumer spends engaged with your brand. Location-targeted ads are the single most effective display advertising strategy for QSRs across online and mobile, according to Mobile Marketer. That study showed consumers were three times more likely to visit an advertiser’s store when they were served a geo-fenced ad nearby.

I always enjoyed marketing expert and author Tom Goodwin’s take on mobile, which is that it’s a behavior, not a channel. Behaviors are highly complex and difficult to track, making mobile video anything but the panacea many believe it to be. It’s an ever-evolving advertising puzzle for QSR. The key is to stay as nimble as your consumers.

QSRs need a more focused model for reaching an increasingly elusive and frenetic target audience. In my view, the best digital video campaigns for the industry will reach key consumers when they’re active, more likely to spend and — most importantly — when they are hungry.