The attention economy: you’ve only got 2 seconds
To be truly memorable, you need to forget about blanket artwork, with a blanket media placement. Every placement must serve a purpose. Thinking contextually about the creative opportunity some of your Out of Home placements offer will deliver competitive advantage. We’ve seen it.
Out of Home is much more than “just an ad”. It can be an entertainer, educator, activist, disruptor, informer, storyteller… Realistically, it can be whatever you want it to be. 
But you need to do something different with outdoor advertising. Something to make your audience stop and make a connection to the work. You need to make them go “Huh?”. You have to grab their attention in the first two seconds. The narrative can then follow.
If you do that you’ve started a conversation. As the mind is forced to spend longer processing what it is seeing, the message becomes more memorable. This exploits the brain’s wish to find a pattern. The recognition comes first, as we interpret the cues and see what we expect to see. The surprise comes later.
Netflix want to disrupt our daily lives, to engage people, elicit an emotional response and begin relationships across the globe. They don't think of competition in a traditional sense. They are competing for your time – against reading, having dinner with your mates, surfing Facebook or Instagram. 

How we do it?
Some of the world’s most recognisable brands are grabbing the attention of consumers in fantastic ways in the APAC region. Here’s three examples:
1.    Netflix, Stranger Things 3, Thailand: using over 90 unique formats and contextual thinking, we intentionally avoided blanket artwork and blanket media placement. Every placement served a purpose. Thinking contextually about the creative opportunity some of those placements offered allowed us to connect with the audience and make them think. 

2.    Netflix, Lost in Space: This campaign involved city takeovers, and big, bold, unmissable experiences. A real-world invasion if you will. A pioneering, large-scale Out of Home campaign broadcast in target cities in Malaysia - spread across Kuala Lumpur and the Genting Highlands, in four strategic locations with more than 50 screens, with both print and digital Out of Home executions. From placements with trailers and motion posters to real-time weather and temperature displays incorporating climate-related show footage teased the wonders of the new world.

3.    McDonald’s, Follow the Arches campaign: It was the simplicity of the creativity, the smart use of the arches, the way it made audiences connect to the advert, and bringing something to the creative to give them that “Huh, I get it” moment. This really talks to the strength of their brand.  McDonald’s is a big spender in Out of Home but takes it a step further by linking Out of Home billboards with in-app advertising on Waze. Utilising 300+ billboards and geofencing technology, Waze were able to serve their users the Zero Speed Takeover, promoting menu items and directing people to their closest McDonald's restaurant. 

On behalf of our clients, we are partnering with the most progressive media owners on the planet. We include oOh!media ANZ in our portfolio of media innovators to exploit the 85% of the technology capabilities that are being under-utilised. That’s the opportunity we are exploring on behalf of the most forward-thinking brands and something you should investigate for your own brand.
It’s about seeing things differently. If you think about it, even classic billboards can have a digital component. Something you scan, something that can be brought to life. The opportunities are there to think like Netflix and look beyond the norms to really take your campaigns to the next level.

Marcus Foley is the Co-Founder and Chief Client Officer at Tommy, a global communications agency specialising in digital and Out of Home. He recently visited Australia as a guest of oOh!media to discuss just how Australia is positioned in the Out of Home media mix.