Out-of-Home Advertising: Content or Context?
(A2025-130277)

AUTHORS

Veronica Burbulea, University of Groningen; TAMMO BIJMOLT, University of Groningen; Maarten Gijsenberg, University of Groningen

ABSTRACT

Out-of-home (OOH) advertising is widely used by practitioners for its cost-efficiency and broad reach. However, how do an ad’s content and context shape OOH advertising effectiveness? We investigate how ad content (message and design) influences ad recall and ad recognition. We also focus on the interactions between ad content and its context, expressed through message and design congruency. The study uses a survey dataset that mimics real-world exposures to OOH advertisements, involving 4,295 participants, featuring 72 brands and 84 ads. The results of mixed-effects logistic regressions show that informativeness, emotionality, divergence, design complexity and brand in- text mention reduce advertising effects. Relevance, brand identifiability, and feature complexity have a positive impact on memory measures. These effects are further amplified or diminished depending on the ad’s context, and in some cases, effects are reversed.