Every month, OAAA’s marketing team sits down with a brand marketer to discuss creativity in OOH, the role OOH plays in the media mix, and their perspective on the future of advertising
Read Grace’s Q&A in The Drum.
What role does out of home play in your media mix?
Out of home is one of the few channels that delivers both scale and context, so I see its role in our mix as much bigger than awareness alone. I think of it as a high‑impact amplifier: it elevates the brand, reinforces key messages in the real world, and helps us show up with creative that is simple, memorable, and grounded in people’s daily lives. It reaches people as they move through their day, which makes the message feel more immediate and less intrusive than a lot of other formats.
What makes OOH especially valuable for Sharp is the range it gives us. It can support broad brand building when we need mass reach, but it also allows for more targeted, location‑based messaging that complements our digital, retail, and other upper‑funnel efforts. That balance matters because our categories are often considered thoughtfully rather than impulsively. OOH helps us stay visible over time, build credibility, and connect our innovation to real‑life moments in a way that feels relevant and human.
How do you approach creativity in OOH advertising across formats?
My view is that great OOH starts with a strong idea, then adapts to the canvas. The best OOH creative is simple, quick to understand, and built around one clear takeaway, because the format rarely gives you more than a few seconds to form an impression.
I also think the format should influence the creative. A roadside billboard, a transit panel, a digital screen in a retail environment, and a special build all have different strengths, so the message should fit the context rather than be mechanically resized across placements.
At Sharp, I try to make the work feel smart and true to the product, without being overcomplicated. OOH is most powerful when it distills the brand into a bold visual, a concise line, and a message that people can grasp instantly and remember later.
What challenges do you face in balancing creativity and data in marketing?
The real challenge is that data can tell you what is working, but creativity is often what creates the work worth measuring in the first place. If you lean too far into data, you risk making advertising efficient but forgettable; if you lean too far into creativity without discipline, you may create something interesting that does not move the business.
My approach is to use data to sharpen the brief, define the audience, and choose the right markets, but then give the creative team room to solve the problem in a way that feels distinctive and appropriate for the placement. In OOH especially, the strongest campaigns usually come from a clear audience insight paired with a simple, emotionally resonant idea.
A good marketer won’t choose between creativity and data. They will use data to make the creative more relevant, and they will use creativity to make the data matter to people.
How do you see the future of advertising evolving?
Advertising is moving toward a more connected model, where media, commerce, data, and creativity are increasingly integrated. The brands that win will be the ones that can create ideas that travel across channels, but still feel tailored to the moment and the audience.
AI will absolutely accelerate that shift. It’s already changing how we plan, optimize, personalize, and develop creative, but I don’t think it replaces the fundamentals of great marketing. It makes the process faster and smarter, and it helps us make better decisions at scale, but the brands that stand out will still be the ones built on a compelling human insight and powerful creative.
OOH’s role in advertising will continue to evolve as it becomes more measurable, dynamic, and connected to the broader marketing ecosystem. This will increase its value not just as an awareness driver, but as an enabler for discovery, engagement, and conversion.
So yeah, lots of evolution. But it will not change what works. Winners in advertising will still be the brands that keep the human element intact. Technology will keep improving targeting and optimization, but the ads that break through will still be the ones that feel emotionally clear, visually distinctive, and genuinely useful or interesting to the audience.
Published: May 28, 2026