Once renowned for driving fame, today there’s so much more to OOH than static posters. We spoke with Mark Bucknell, Chief Commercial Officer, JC Decaux who told us that OOH is a data-led, digital and accountable channel that still delivers the public scale only real-world media can provide.
If you could change one thing in the industry, what would it be?
I would speed up the move from ‘panel first’ to ‘people first’ planning. We still spend a lot of time talking about formats and frames; we should spend more time on audiences, journeys and outcomes.
Concretely, that means standardising data, measurement and attribution across OOH so that agencies can compare it more easily with other channels and include it naturally in every omnichannel brief. OOH shouldn’t be a last minute add on, but a core part of the strategy.
How do you think advertising on OOH will change over the next three years?
OOH will become more dynamic and responsive. The growth of digital and programmatic DOOH means campaigns will be adapted in near real time; copy changing by location, audience segment, time of day or external signals like weather and sports results. Programmatic DOOH at scale presents a huge opportunity: buying audiences, moments and contexts rather than just panels. For advertisers, that means using OOH to bridge brand and performance: trusted public canvases, activated dynamically to drive both perception and action.
Measurement will get richer. We’re already seeing stronger links between OOH exposure and outcomes like store visits and online conversions. That will become standard, helping OOH play a bigger role in performance-oriented plans.
But what won’t change is the core strength of the medium: big, bold, public canvases that cut through digital noise and build long-term brand trust. The future is more data and more flexibility, sitting on top of that physical foundation.
