Brands know how big of an opportunity events can provide for improving success metrics throughout the full funnel from awareness to purchase and have long been taking advantage with sponsorships, partnerships, and localized advertising. Airport advertising is a key part of this strategy, with high-visibility advertising blanketing the gateways to event destinations. In a shift from the common strategy of targeted digital campaigns with brief flights surrounding event durations, some JCDecaux partners are turning to large-format static banners to increase the impact and awareness of their ambassadorial event associations.
Static Takeovers for Coachella and the Boston Marathon
Drawing 30,000 runners and 500,000 spectators on an annual basis, the Boston Marathon is one of the most popular and famous endurance sporting events in the world. Targeting participants and viewers, View Boston is taking advantage of the name recognition and tourism draw of the event with a month-long static installation at Boston Logan International Airport. Though the event only occurs over a single day and surrounding expo events are clustered into a single weekend, extended visibility in Boston’s gateway has many upsides for this local advertiser: appeal to tourists looking to fill their stay on marathon weekend and beyond and association with a highly recognizable event will lead to increased awareness and visitation to ‘Boston’s only observation deck’.
Heineken follows a similar strategy in Los Angeles International Airport; running over the course of a full month despite the festival’s two weekend duration allows them to extend their brand association with the premiere lineup beyond showtime. Their large format banners located in United Airlines’ key baggage claim guarantee high-visibility reach in this extended dwell time area. With both advertising and event/sponsorship spend making up a significant portion of marketing budgets (19-22% and 11-12% respectively, according to Salesforce), ad campaigns designed specifically to boost the effectiveness of event sponsorships is a good strategy to make marketing dollars work harder.
Future Event Partnership Possibilities with JCDecaux Airports
Opportunities abound for brands to follow suit, targeting events of all types. From business conventions in leading markets- including the convention capital Orlando, concerts and festivals, and major sporting events, advertisers can take advantage of our coast-to-coast coverage for events all year. Beyond the tactics of targeted digital flights and longer-term banner dominations, it’s never too late to activate for an event with programmatic DOOH capabilities- whether it’s a last-minute strategy switch up or extra money left in the budget to boost campaign effectiveness.
Our recent article showcases a full calendar of sporting events coming up in JCDecaux airport markets.