Why is an outdoor campaign so important?

An outdoor campaign is advertising displayed in public space (on billboards, at bus stops, on public transport vehicles or on digital screens) and designed to capture attention within a few seconds. A well-planned one reaches the specific places and times of day where the brand's target group actually is.

An outdoor campaign is more than just billboards

Outdoor campaigns, that is, out-of-home advertising, remain one of the more effective ways of capturing consumers' attention, provided the advertising is catchy and interesting, because most people in the urban space today have their eyes fixed on a phone screen. It is no longer just billboards by the roadside, but also public transport vehicles branded with logos, advertising in bus shelters and on park benches, large-format structures on buildings and, increasingly, digital screens (DOOH, or digital out-of-home). Any location can work. What is needed above all is an idea that makes the brand stand out from its surroundings, not simply the size of the medium or the number of places where it appears.

How to create an effective outdoor advertising?

An outdoor campaign has to be thought through in detail so that it delivers results, not just costs. The key is to define the target group, that is, who the campaign is aimed at, and only then to choose a location to suit that group. Advertising in random places does not bring the desired results. For example, if the target group is young, health-conscious people, a location near a gym or a health food shop makes sense, not a random street on the other side of the city.

The second key issue is simplicity of message. An effective outdoor campaign must capture attention within a few seconds, which is on average all consumers give it as they pass the medium on foot, by car or from a bus window. Short, simple text and a striking image are the key to success. Outdoor campaigns should be unconventional and experimental if they are to be remembered. It is worth using non-standard techniques such as additional 3D elements on the medium, surprising materials or interaction with the surroundings, rather than just a flat banner with a slogan.

Planning an outdoor campaign step by step

1. Define the campaign goal. Building brand awareness requires a different media plan from promoting a specific offer with an expiry date.
2. Define the target audience and their routes. Not only who the audience is, but also where they physically move during the day – to work, to the gym, to the shopping centre.
3. Choose the type and location of media. Match the format (billboard, City Light, DOOH, city transport) to the place where the target audience spends time.
4. Design the message around the few-seconds rule. One sentence, one image, one clear next step for the audience.
5. Decide on the method of measurement before launch. A discount code, a dedicated web address or a brand awareness survey – planned before the campaign starts, not after it ends.
6. Uruchom i monitoruj w trakcie. Check midway through the exposure period that the media are in good condition and visible as planned – a damaged or obscured billboard delivers no effect at all.

Types of outdoor advertising media

• Billboardy i tablice wielkoformatowe – the classic medium by roads and on buildings, good for building broad reach.
• City Light i wiaty przystankowe – a smaller format, but closer contact with an audience waiting at a stop who has more time to read the content.
• Reklama na pojazdach (city transport) – buses, trams and taxis branded with the company logo, visible in motion at many points across the city at once.
• Digital out-of-home (DOOH) – digital screens that allow content to be changed in real time, e.g. depending on the time of day, weather or location.
• Formy niestandardowe – three-dimensional structures, inflatable advertising, installations engaging senses other than sight.

Location targeting in outdoor campaigns

Digital screens (DOOH) have given outdoor campaigns something a classic billboard never had: the ability to target precisely by time and place, similar to what is familiar from online advertising. The same screen network can show one piece of content in the morning near a metro station (people travelling to work) and another in the evening near a shopping centre (people shopping after work). Some systems also choose content according to the weather: umbrella ads on a rainy day, ice cream ads on a hot afternoon.

This approach is sometimes called "programmatic DOOH", and it combines the classic strength of outdoor advertising, a large format that is hard to ignore, with the flexibility familiar from online campaigns. The same rule still applies as with an ordinary billboard, however: without a clearly defined target group and campaign objective, even the most advanced technology will display a good creative in the wrong place.

Outdoor campaign - an example

Bus stops are a frequent site for outdoor advertising, and a good way of capturing the attention of a consumer waiting for a bus or tram. An interesting example of an unconventional approach is a bus shelter arranged as a piece of mountain landscape: walls lit by a photograph of mountains and, instead of a concrete floor, real grass beneath passengers' feet. Such advertising draws attention, makes the wait more pleasant and stands out from the typical concrete urban space. It is worth looking around your own city: there are more interesting outdoor campaign executions than you might think at first glance.

An outdoor campaign for e-commerce: does it make sense?

Outdoor campaigns can be a valuable tool even for companies that sell only online. An online shop has no shopfront on the street, but through billboards, advertising in public space or outdoor events it can reach a broad audience in places where it does not compete directly with social media advertising for the same attention. The key to effectiveness is matching the location intelligently to the business objective and building a message that captures attention while giving the viewer a clear pointer to where to look next: the brand name, a slogan that is easy to remember and search for, or a QR code leading to the website.

An example of such a campaign might be a billboard for an online sportswear shop placed near a gym, catching the eye of physically active people, or large-format posters for a natural cosmetics shop displayed in different parts of the city with a single, consistent slogan. Outdoor campaigns offer many opportunities for creative use of the urban space and complement online activity well rather than competing with it. For an online shop that normally competes mainly for a place in search results and on social media, a presence in physical space can also be an effective way to stand out: customers are less likely to associate the brand solely with a phone screen when they have also seen it on the streets of their own city.

The outdoor advertising market in Poland: scale and direction of change

Contrary to the impression that billboards are a thing of the past, the outdoor advertising market in Poland is growing. According to data from the OOHlife Outdoor Advertising Chamber of Commerce, the value of the OOH advertising market in Poland in 2025 was PLN 870.23 million, an increase of 7% year on year (published 22 April 2026). The digital segment is growing fastest:

The digital segment (DOOH) is growing more than twice as fast as classic media, which has practical significance: campaigns that change their content depending on the time of day, the weather or the location are becoming ever more accessible, without the need to physically replace a poster. For brands planning a budget, this is a real alternative: the same digital medium can serve several different campaigns one after another within a single month, which lowers the cost of reach per campaign compared with printing and installing a separate billboard for each of them.

How to measure the effect of an outdoor campaign

Outdoor advertising has no clicks or conversions in the sense that online advertising does, but it can still be measured if you plan for it before the campaign starts:

• Foot and road traffic around the medium: available as data from the advertising operator, it lets you estimate the number of potential contacts with the advertisement.
• An increase in website or search traffic after the campaign starts, compared with the period before launch, not with some arbitrary earlier month.
• A unique discount code or web address visible only on outdoor media, which lets you count genuine visits from that specific channel.
• Brand awareness measured by survey before and after the campaign among residents of the city covered by the campaign.

A coincidence in timing alone (a rise in sales in the week a billboard was up) is not yet proof of impact. It is worth comparing the result with a baseline period from before the campaign or, where possible, with a city in which no campaign was run. Only such a set-up lets you answer whether the increase stems from outdoor advertising or from another factor acting at the same time, for example seasonality in sales or a parallel campaign in another channel.

The most common mistakes in outdoor campaigns

• Too much text on the medium. The audience has a few seconds to read – a long sentence simply will not be read to the end.
• Lokalizacja niedopasowana do grupy docelowej. A billboard in a random place reaches random people, regardless of how good the graphic design itself is.
• No clear next step. An ad that does not say where to look next (an address, a search phrase, a QR code) ends at the mere memory of an image, with no translation into contact with the brand.
• Ignorowanie kontekstu miejsca. A medium that ignores what physically happens around it (traffic, lighting, viewing angle) easily gets lost in its surroundings.
• Brak pomiaru po kampanii. Without a method of measurement agreed in advance, it is hard to judge whether to repeat the same campaign or change the approach.

Outdoor campaigns: how Commplace helps

An outdoor campaign works best as part of a larger brand-building strategy, not as a single, isolated action. If you are planning outdoor advertising as part of a coherent effort to build brand recognition, see how we approach branding at Commplace.

The progress of work on the campaign, tasks and metrics are visible in real time in the dashboard Commwork®AI, alongside other marketing and image-building activities run for the same brand.

It is also worth reading: advertising media – an overview of channels, ATL marketing – co to jest and image campaign – how to plan one.

Short answers to frequently asked questions

How much does an outdoor campaign cost?

The cost depends on the type of medium, the location and the length of exposure: a billboard in the centre of a large city costs more than a bus shelter on a housing estate. Rather than estimating the cost off the top of your head, it is worth first setting a budget for the campaign's objective and choosing the number and type of media to fit it, not the other way round.

How long should an outdoor campaign last?

Standard exposure periods are usually two weeks or a month, depending on the media operator. Shorter campaigns work for specific dated events (a premiere, a promotion), and longer ones for building general brand awareness.

Does an outdoor campaign make sense for a small, local business?

Yes, provided you choose smaller, cheaper media close to the real target group, for example a bus shelter on the main shopping street of a given city rather than a billboard by the motorway, which people from outside the company's area of operation will see.

How does DOOH differ from a classic billboard?

DOOH (digital out-of-home) is a digital screen whose content can be changed remotely and adapted, for example, to the time of day or the weather. A classic billboard shows one fixed design throughout the exposure period.

How can you tell whether an outdoor campaign worked?

By comparing website traffic, the number of enquiries or sales during the campaign with the period before launch, ideally using a unique discount code or an address visible only on outdoor media.

Can an outdoor campaign be combined with online activity?

Yes, and it is one of the better solutions. A slogan and visual style from a billboard repeated in a social media campaign reinforce each other, and a QR code or a short, easy-to-remember address on the medium lets you carry interest straight to the website.

Sources: Outdoor Advertising Chamber of Commerce OOHlife, report on the outdoor advertising market in Poland for 2025 (market value, segment shares DOOH/classic OOH/city transport, published 22.04.2026); other information – compiled by the Commplace blog editorial team.