Last Thursday night, at just after 8pm, the vast majority of the UK population emerged wide-eyed from their houses, most for the first time that day, to join together and applaud the heroes of the hour. It was heartfelt, it was emotional, and it served as a reminder, certainly to me, that we were all in this together.

At around the very same time, many Out-Of-Home (OOH) sites across the country shone a defiant blue in the dark of the night, with hospital-white words calling out, “Thank you to our amazing NHS staff” to be seen by key workers keeping the country running.

The physical backdrop to our lives

That is the unique nature of OOH: it has the capability to reach an entire community like no other media channel. It sits in the most public of spaces and places, there to be seen by you but also the stranger next to you. Our familiar pit-stops comprise their backdrop, which anchors its messaging within the physical world around us. Take the infamous ‘Your country needs you’ recruitment posters. No other channel would have worked as well for this message, as no other channel inextricably connects the implicit message to our tangible surroundings, targeting the individual within the context of his country.

Nor would any other channel offer the same physical stature needed for a message like that. After all, OOH is one of the oldest forms of advertising there is, derived from the Ancient Egyptians who carved public notices into steel. And though a lot has changed since then, OOH as a public information mouthpiece has not.

It’s all about body language

At times of crisis, we look for action from those above. Towering posters and soaring billboards illustrate a determined confidence like that of a leader talking to a crowd, through succinct instructions needed at times of disaster. Digital billboards across America warn of dangerous hurricanes, whilst closer to home we are instructed to get ready for Brexit.

And it is not just national crisis’. Remember the KFC ‘FCK’ up? An exemplary case of a brand’s crisis comms, KFC did not whisper an apology and slide away to wait until all was forgotten. On the contrary, KFC held their hands up for all to see, through a combination of print and OOH ads, channels that allow for a commanding type of brand behaviour that other more personal channels do not.

Let me whizz you over to the Colombian jungle where armed conflict between the government and communist guerrillas has raged for over 55 years. In 2010, one ad agency joined a communal effort to try and bring these guerrillas home, hanging a banner across several enormous trees, surrounded by LED lights which lit up when movement was detected. The banner read "If Christmas can come to the jungle, you can come home. Demobilise". And 331 guerrillas did just that. Whilst the message and the feeling it evoked was powerful, so too was the medium, a physical, shining reminder of what they had left behind.

The incomparable present

This is not to avoid the elephant in the room, or indeed, the fact that the entire nation is in the room, and crucially, not outside. The voice of OOH has been stifled by a lack of eyeballs in tumbleweed-filled streets, with many outdoor media owners revising their targets whilst share prices plummet. Meanwhile the other end of the seesaw rises, as consumers devour online content, watch video after TV show and tune in to radio and podcasts with greater ferocity than ever.

The focus of marketers’ efforts to wring out these channels has produced a flourishing of innovation and creativity. From Burger King’s ‘Quarantine Whopper’ and ‘Chipotle Together’ to Defected’s virtual festival, brands are recognising the communal need for positivity, working at breakneck speeds to turn around comms that achieve this. At present, the power does not lie in the hands of OOH but in distraction, connection and information that only at-home channels can offer the isolated masses.

A different kind of power

Before COVID-19 struck, the future of OOH as an industry shone as bright as London’s Piccadilly Lights. Programmatic, dynamic ads and the recently announced spot level ratings suggested a channel going from strength to strength.

So, despite the cancelled campaigns, the empty streets and the bleak media landscape reports, OOH’s return to power is simply a waiting game. Our motivations for staying in are fuelled by our imaginings of life when we are let out again. I have no doubt that consumers will come back to the streets with a vengeance, like horses out the gate, sick of screens, scrolling and being asked by our devices “are you still there?”

And while OOH waits on standby, it remains a positive influence in this crisis, using the empty ad space for good through campaigns such as our very own Mullenlowe’s ‘Stay Home,’ or the Outsmart initiative thanking key workers across the country. In fact, generosity and kindness underpin this channel, from pumping money back into the communities through local transport and councils, to JC Decaux’s social impact programme. And at times of crisis, generosity is often all the power we need.