Technology And Out-of-Home

While technological innovation is widely regarded as an important driver of change in the advertising business, assessing the

likely impact of new technologies is difficult and often confusing. At a minimum, evaluation of developments requires a sound

understanding of the communications system in question and the role of various technologies within it.

The out-of-home channel encompasses an array of media that exploit the presence of people in public places to deliver

commercial messages, often leveraging the physical and social contours of the environments in which these messages are

received.

Until late in the 20th century, static signs of various sizes and formats were the most prevalent of these. While storefronts and

other forms of on-premise signage have long been used by businesses to promote the services or products they sell, the out-

of-home media industry emerged to offer them opportunities to advertise on signs away from their places of business. These

media functioned primarily as a one-to-many broadcast channel, leveraging people's habitual movements and behaviors in

order to provide recurrent delivery of messages to large audiences. Such "outdoor media" was treated separately from other

channels that reach audiences outside of the home – like radio – for a variety of reasons which included different suppliers,

communications formats, and business interests.

Out-of-home is regarded as the oldest advertising medium, but this back-handed compliment can conceal technological

ageism. It is true that the basic value proposition of the channel has changed little over time. Certainly its technological

backbone has been not been as directly affected as others (e.g. radio, television or print) by the brazen paradigm shift

provoked by online media. However, the panoply of technological innovations that has contributed to the evolution of the

channel should not be ignored. For instance, the use of illumination (whether neon, front- or back-lighting) is as much a symbol

of progress in out-of-home media as it is of the growth of modern urban centers. Over time, hand-painted signs were replaced

by materials printed at mass scale, which over time became cheaper and more durable. As new transportation technologies

emerged, audiences came to constitute themselves in novel ways – first as rail commuters, then as automobile passengers

and air travelers. More recently, digital displays have introduced sound and motion to out-of-home

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