Building Your Campaign Brand with OOH

What if you aren't the incumbent? Or the front-runner? Or you're new to politics? Or your ballot measure hasn't received much press (yet)? Many candidates are not already well-known, but branding is mission-critical to success at the polls.

Everyone needs to know who you are, what you stand for and what you plan to do for them. That starts with name and face familiarity — your brand.

Nothing matches the reach and frequency you can achieve with out-of-home advertising (especially when you pair it with online ads, so it is ideal for establishing and reinforcing your brand. The more often people see your message, the more comfortable they will be with your candidacy — unless, of course, they simply don't agree with you.

But you know not everyone will vote your way, so your goal is to build relationships with those who already support you or are open-minded.

Meet them face to face, wherever they are

OOH offers a wealth of opportunities to put your messaging right where voters are, no matter where that is — at home watching a live-streamed program, out in the backyard checking their social media, at the store, headed to work or shopping or a night on the town.

Even on their way to the airport for a little out-of-town R&R.

You can speak to them with content on:

• Billboards and smaller posters, street banners and wild postings
• Street furniture (benches, bus stops, waste receptacles, etc.)
• Transit ads on buses, trains, subway cars, taxis and rideshares (both on the exterior and inside)
• Your own "transit" in the form of LED trucks or wrapped vehicles

OOH is right at home outdoors but also inside buildings of all types.

You can display content in a static format, or use digital OOH media to display video and other moving images. With prominent placements in high-traffic locations, everywhere they turn, there you are again.

In other words, OOH offers almost limitless ways to build — and build on — your brand, repeatedly reaching the maximum number of voters throughout your campaign area.

Happily, consumers trust out-of-home advertising more than online ads, and that trust extends to brands that use OOH. As you're building your campaign brand, you are also building credibility and trust that are critical in an election.

As the verbal representation of your brand, your campaign slogan must be:

• Snappy
• Short
• Easily memorable

These factors also happen to be the essence of exceptional out-of-home advertising. OOH, especially billboards, is all about building and reinforcing brand awareness.

Beyond your brand

For some voters, name familiarity is all it takes for them to mark your name on the ballot. Most, however, want some reason to vote for you. Or donate their time of money to your campaign.

OOH ads designed to build basic awareness can also build connections with calls to action that make it easy for viewers to contact you. Although the best content for static OOH ads is brief and bold, be sure to add a QR code, short URL or invitation to join you on social media.

Dynamic content on digital OOH allows even more creative design and messaging.

Exponential brand-building

OOH coordinates with other campaign marketing, not just in an omni-channel advertising way but on a broader level.

For example, if you have branded merchandise to sell (or give away, for that matter), create an outdoor campaign showing someone wearing it with an invitation to "get your own" and a way to do that. You're branding and selling at the same time, and every person who gets your merchandise and wears it will be doing the same thing.

However, there is another way to accomplish this that will save your campaign time and money and greatly enhance voter engagement.

• Instead of designing, ordering and selling items you have to inventory, get out of the retail business.
• Create a killer design and then partner with an online DIY branded merchandise purveyor.
• Use your OOH promotion to direct voters to the purveyor’s site to create their own customized tee or cap.

This opens the door for more photos and social media sharing as people show their friends "look what I got!"

You might want to share that photo yourself on a billboard.

Make a name for yourself in the real world

Out-of-home is essential for campaign branding that reaches voters wherever they are. But where to start? OOH can feel overwhelming, especially for harried campaign marketing teams. OneScreen.ai is here to make your life easier with our free, one-stop marketplace for all things OOH.

Have an upcoming political campaign that you are looking to enhance with OOH? Download Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 of our new political playbook series to help keep you ahead of your competition.