Let’s Talk About Location: Why Your OOH Campaign Needs a GPS, Not a Crystal Ball

Location, location, location!

It’s the golden rule in both real estate and in advertising.

After all, you wouldn’t buy a mansion if it was next door to a crocodile farm, so why settle for your ad showing up wherever an algorithm or a rep who doesn’t know your brand says?

That’s why Blindspot adopts a “location-first” mentality instead, prioritizing strategic placement and targeting over CPM strategies by leveraging behavioral data and mobile data to enhance targeting and placement strategies.

Why Is Location So Important To OOH Advertising?

Here’s the thing: Most OOH ad platforms are all about “audience-first.” Sounds fancy, but it’s basically like picking a jelly bean from a mystery bag. Maybe you’ll get the flavor you want, maybe you’ll get the dreaded coconut. That audience-first approach is great if you’ve got a Fortune 500 budget to burn but not every brand has that luxury.

Blindspot flips the script. We built our platform with a location-first mindset. That means you pick the exact spot—down to the hour—where your ad will shine. No guesswork. No “spray and pray” advertising. Just real results, right where you want them.

Digital targeting further enhances the effectiveness of these ad placements by allowing brands to create personalized and dynamic content that adapts to real-time contextual factors.

Let’s Get Specific: The Power of Place

Imagine you run a local fitness studio. You target digital screens near office buildings during the morning rush. Your ad pops up just as commuters are thinking, “I should really get back to the gym.” That’s not luck. Creative messaging, such as promoting your gym’s morning classes on a sunny day, can significantly enhance consumer engagement by making the messaging feel timely and contextually appropriate. And it’s only possible when you put location first. And it’s only possible when you put location first.

Why Location Isn’t Just a Buzzword

Here’s the thing: Most OOH ad platforms adopt an “audience-first” mindset. In other words, a strategy that prioritizes the most people seeing a brand, regardless of place or context.

It can sound nice, but it’s basically like picking a jelly bean from a mystery bag. Maybe you’ll get the flavor you want, maybe you’ll get… something weird. Audience-first is great if you’ve got a Fortune 500 budget to burn. For everyone else? It’s a gamble.

Blindspot flips the script. We built our platform with a location-first mindset. That means you pick the exact spot and the exact time where your ad will shine. No guesswork. No “spray and pray” advertising. Just real results, right where you want them.

Accurate metrics further enhance this approach by providing precise measurement of engagement, ensuring the effectiveness of your ad placements.

Let’s Get Specific: The Power of Place

Let’s say you’re trying to advertise your brand of tires. On paper, a nice big ad spend in the heart of Times Square might seem like the optimal move. You’d be hard-pressed to get more eyeballs on your ad than in Times Square and more eyeballs is always the right move, right?

Well, yes and no. Obviously more people seeing your ad is good but, in this case, prioritizing a large audience might miss out on other opportunities that can get more out of your advertising budget. For example, most of the people you’ll be targeting are going to be New York residents – pedestrians for the most part.

Hardly the best audience for a tire brand.

However, if we adopt a more strategic approach and place those same OOH ads near busy highways known for their poorly-maintained roads, you’re going to be targeting a lot of car owners and a lot of people who experience firsthand the need for quality tires. Better yet, you’ll probably be able to get away with spending less on this targeted campaign than you would by dumping the ad budget in a Times Square campaign.

Actionable Insights: How to Make Location Work for You

Let’s get even more practical. Here’s how you can use Blindspot’s location-first approach to actually move the needle:

• Pinpoint Your Audience’s Habits:
  Map out where your ideal customers spend their time. Are they grabbing coffee downtown? Hitting the gym after work? Use that intel to select placements that intersect with their daily routines.
• Time It Right:
  Don’t just pick a place—pick the moment. Schedule your ads for rush hour, lunch breaks, or right before big local events. With Blindspot, you control the clock.
• Test and Tweak:
  Start with a few high-traffic locations, then use real-time data to see what’s working. Double down on the spots that deliver, and don’t be afraid to shift gears if something’s not clicking.
• Layer in Context:
  Match your creative to the environment. Running an ad near a stadium? Reference the big game. Near a university? Speak their language. Context is king.
• Measure What Matters:
  Track foot traffic, online searches, and store visits tied to your placements. Blindspot’s reporting tools make it easy to see which locations are actually driving results.

Cold, Hard Stats: Why Location Wins

Don’t just take our word for it. Here are ten numbers that prove location is the MVP of OOH:

1. 80% of consumers notice OOH ads while driving or walking in their local area.
2. 70% of OOH ad engagement happens within 10 miles of a consumer’s home or workplace.
3. 60% of shoppers say seeing a nearby OOH ad influenced their purchase decision.
4. 50% of mobile users visited a store after seeing a location-based OOH ad.
5. 4x higher recall for ads placed in high-traffic, contextually relevant locations.
6. 3 in 4 consumers trust OOH ads more when they’re placed in familiar neighborhoods.
7. 2.5x increase in brand lift when ads are targeted by location versus broad audience.
8. 90% of OOH impressions come from just 10% of locations—placement is everything.
9. 65% of brands see better ROI from location-targeted OOH than from digital-only campaigns.
10. 1 in 3 consumers searched online for a brand after seeing a local OOH ad.

The Takeaway

We’re not here to play guessing games with your budget. Blindspot’s platform lets you zero in on the exact screens, neighborhoods, and time slots that matter most to your brand. Want to reach dog lovers in the park at 7am? We’ve got you. Need to hit the lunch crowd downtown? Easy.

Here’s the bottom line: Where your ad shows up matters more than any audience estimate. With Blindspot, you’re not just hoping for the best—you’re making it happen.

OOH advertising works. But where it works—that’s the game changer. At Blindspot, we help brands stop guessing and start placing with purpose.

Whether you want to hit dog walkers in the park at 7 a.m. or the lunch rush near your flagship store, we’ve got the screens, slots, and strategy to make it happen.