How our Climate March DOOH messaging went from a simple idea to live on screens in two hours

September 27, 2019Samantha Brault

The Climate March is happening today right outside our Montreal and Toronto offices, and with walking shoes in hand, the Broadsign team was ready to go. But with an early-morning creative spark, one Broadsigner thought we could do a little more: why not use outdoor screens to further promote the cause?

The Challenge

We had only a few hours before people started to head downtown for the march, but other than an exciting idea, we had nothing ready…no creative concept, no messaging, no screen time booked. So with rushed 8 AM phone calls and a Slack channel that wouldn’t stop buzzing, we set to work! 

The solution 

For rushed campaigns, social media is usually the way to go. But what many don’t realize is that programmatic DOOH can have a very similar result.

So once the marketing team had our creatives ready, we logged into the Broadsign Ads (formerly Campsite) DSP to check out what inventory was available. At this point, we only had about 20 minutes until we wanted the messaging to go live. 

By comparing screen locations with the demonstration routes on both Montreal and Toronto, we booked every screen from publishers who had available inventory along the Climate March path. 

The Results

With an estimated 300,000 people taking part in the march, the message definitely had decent reach. We’re pleased to have been able to execute the campaign in time to support the marchers who showed up for this important cause.

But there’s an extra reason we’re really excited about this campaign: this is what programmatic DOOH is all about. 

From concept to execution, launching a DOOH campaign doesn’t need to be a laborious task. Instead, it can be a nimble and flexible process, resulting in timely and creative campaigns – even when an idea sparks with nearly no time to spare.

Our product owner, Matthew Mercuri, posing with the final result of his bright idea!