Programmatic advertising is hardly a new concept for Montreal-based agency Fidelitix. Founded in 2015, Fidelitix works with brands and advertisers to manage all aspects of their digital advertising strategy, from paid SEM campaigns to conversion tracking. As a member of 360.Agency, the company leverages programmatic advertising with data insights to create effective campaigns that reach audiences with the right message at the right time.
To help bridge the gap between online and offline advertising, Fidelitix began introducing DOOH into its programmatic offering. We spoke with Cynthia Belanger, Director of Product Development at Fidelitix to learn more about expanding into the world of DOOH and the role Broadsign Ads (formerly Campsite) plays in client media strategies.
Why expand into DOOH?
As an agency that focuses on data and technology advancements, expanding into the world of PDOOH was a natural step in continuing to meet the needs of clients. With more brands and agencies adopting omnichannel marketing strategies to reach consumers, Fidelitix began incorporating programmatic DOOH as part of clients’ cross-media campaigns.
OOH in general is a completely new realm for many of the agency’s clients, many of which are smaller brands, agencies, and car dealerships. More familiar with digital, newspaper, and radio advertising, many of Fidelitix’s clients held the assumption that billboard advertising was out of reach. According to Cynthia, these brands and agencies typically associate OOH with significant investments, which is not necessarily true with programmatic advertising. As Cynthia explains, demonstrating how client campaigns can be optimized with DOOH is a key factor in getting clients to adopt the medium. “DOOH is such a natural extension to any campaign execution,” she says – and there are many benefits to convey.
DOOH offers prime visibility thanks to its brand awareness and mass reach capabilities, as many of the agency’s clients use the medium to optimize full-funnel journeys. For others, like Fidelitix’s car dealership client base, DOOH is a way to promote sales, oftentimes running in conjunction with digital campaigns. Cynthia gives the example of a brand running ads through Spotify: a potential consumer could be listening to a podcast via their mobile device and get served Spotify ads. Thanks to mobile geofencing capabilities, that same consumer can then be retargeted with DOOH ads for the same brand as they go about their day.
There are also financial benefits to incorporating DOOH in an omnichannel campaign. In terms of CPMs, DOOH is a cost-effective medium, a benefit for clients who plan advertising budgets on a month-to-month basis. It’s also easier for smaller advertisers to adapt the creatives used online to be formatted for DOOH, making it more accessible for clients who have limited budgets or resources to create multiple creatives for each channel.
The power of programmatic advertising
With programmatic DOOH, Fidelitix’s clients can optimize and extend the reach of any digital campaign quickly and effectively. As Cynthia tells us, PDOOH enables many advertisers to access inventory at more reasonable costs compared to other forms of advertising like radio, TV, and print. Brands and agencies are utilizing programmatic capabilities like mobile geo-fencing to run display campaigns within certain targeted areas, so adding another type of media like DOOH allows them to reach audiences with more contextual targeting capabilities. In fact, one car dealership working with the agency was able to create a highly-contextual campaign using location-based targeting to reach audiences around DMV locations.
“Our clients love how contextual they can be with DOOH. It’s a lot of fun to create these strategies with them”, says Cynthia. “They also value how tangible DOOH is compared to online impressions. There’s something unique and exciting about seeing your brand on a billboard.”
For automotive dealerships, DOOH presents an opportunity to stand out as traffic returns and consumers spend more time in their cars.
“DOOH is a great way to create brand awareness while enhancing the storytelling opportunities of automotive dealerships. Dealerships need to be involved in the communities to win, and DOOH is a great way to get the message out and be an active member in helping the community shine. It’s also a great way to get our client involved with the creatives and messaging of each campaign that goes live on the big screen.”
Mike Chalut, Media Director at 360 Agency
The Broadsign Ads experience
Fidelitix aims to make programmatic advertising accessible to clients who would normally find it intimidating or out of reach. As a programmatic digital agency, introducing clients to the world of PDOOH is simple and straightforward thanks to Broadsign Ads. For Cynthia, Broadsign Ads’ power-user at Fidelitix, finding new technology to help clients get their message out is a primary focus. Broadsign Ads assists in the day-to-day process of planning client campaigns, uploading creatives and generating proposals for brands and agencies.
First, Cynthia builds the campaign proposal and shares the link directly with the client or advertiser. The client can then personalize and customize it to their needs, like selecting specific locations and billboards. “We really enjoy how the tool allows you to save proposals for your campaigns and share the link with clients,” she says. “Clients can look at everything you’ve included in their strategy and pick what they want in terms of the location while excluding the screens that are not within a primary market area.” Once the client is happy and signs off on the proposal, the user can directly convert the proposal to a campaign, upload creatives, and be live within minutes.
Fidelitix also works with clients to run through strategies like dayparting and budget planning, adapting campaigns based on time of day or other data triggers. For example, a brand may decide to maximize its budget by only running a billboard campaign during morning and afternoon rush hours. With Broadsign Ads, the user simply inputs their parameters and can instantly launch flexible, tailored campaigns. The agency runs both online and offline strategies in parallel, using DV360 for digital display advertising and Broadsign Ads to run DOOH campaigns with the same creatives that have been adapted for the medium.
As far as usability goes, Cynthia and the team at Fidelitix appreciate the fact that Broadsign Ads is a self-serve platform with a workflow that was built with DOOH in mind first. The entire process from planning to execution is flawless and very similar to online ad platforms.
“We love that we can log into Broadsign Ads, set parameters, change campaigns, and play around with the platform completely on our own while having Broadsign Ads support available if we have any questions. It’s completely independent and easy to use.”
Cynthia Belanger, Director of Product Development at Fidelitix.
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