Brand Lift and brand impact in OOH: How out-of-home advertising drives results (even in other channels)

Brand impact in OOH is fundamentally about understanding how out-of-home advertising actually shifts awareness, attitude, and preference over time. In research and industry literature surrounding OOH measurement, the term Brand Lift is often used as an aggregate measure of how exposure to (D)OOH correlates with what people think and feel about a brand. To measure this, looking at reach and frequency is not enough; one must link exposure data to structured surveys within the target audience.

Measuring Brand Lift: Methodologies

A common approach is pre- and post-campaign measurement. This involves measuring brand awareness, ad recall, and specific attitudes before the campaign, launching the OOH campaign, and measuring again afterward. The difference between the baseline and the post-campaign measurement serves as a metric for Brand Lift. To get closer to the actual OOH effect, several sources—including AdRoll’s overview of measurement methods for DOOH—recommend using control groups or control areas where the campaign was not exposed, or utilizing statistical models that adjust for other concurrent media activity (AdRoll, “DOOH Measurement: Understanding DOOH Metrics”).

Impact of placement and environment

The placement of screens and displays in out-of-home advertising plays a major role in the outcome. A network of bus shelters and other street furniture creates numerous everyday contacts, while larger premium formats provide more of a “statement” effect. In their report on OOH measurement, Nielsen demonstrates that by combining traffic flows and exposure data per site with follow-up interviews, one can estimate the campaign’s impact by comparing individuals who frequently move through exposed environments with those who rarely do. Differences in awareness, recognition, or purchase intent can then be linked to the campaign. Data often shows that both broad reach and strategically placed “select” sites around key locations contribute to higher brand impact per invested krona (Nielsen, “Measuring Out-of-Home Impact,” 2024).

DOOH: Data-driven measurement

In DOOH, the approach becomes even more data-driven. Playback data from screens, reach and frequency models, and geographic audience targeting are used to define which individuals were likely exposed to the campaign. Their responses in a survey are then compared to a control group that was not exposed. Brand Lift is expressed as the percentage difference between the groups in metrics such as awareness, ad recall, or purchase intent—a methodology that AdRoll and several other industry players highlight as best practice for DOOH campaigns.

Creative activations and brand fame

Creative (D)OOH activations are measured similarly, but here it is often particularly interesting to track ad recall, perceived creativity, and the brand’s perceived uniqueness. In several documented (D)OOH case studies, we see that a few powerful, experience-based installations can amplify the effect of a broader network and create clear Brand Lift within priority target audiences. This is achieved by generating “buzz” and higher emotional impact in parallel with broad reach.

Optimizing toward objectives

To gain real value from these measurements, both Nielsen and AdRoll emphasize the importance of setting clear goals before the campaign starts:

• If the focus is spontaneous awareness: Both survey questions and the media plan should be optimized for reach.

• If the goal is to shift a specific attitude (e.g., “more innovative brand”): Formats, environments, pressure, and creative ideas should be designed to support that specific positioning.

By doing this, the brand impact measured by out-of-home advertising stops being something you just “measure after the fact.” Instead, it becomes an active management parameter during the planning, optimization, and evaluation phases—serving as a clear bridge between out-of-home advertising and other channels in the media mix.