Out of Home Media: Nationwide Platform for Political Expression

Out of home (OOH) media is a prime platform for political expression, across the spectrum. Democrats — again — are leveraging the OOH platform to communicate their paid political messages nationwide.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) bought billboards in 20 states to thank President Biden and Democratic senators for supporting Biden’s recent $1.9 trillion Covid-relief package, and to call out Republican senators who opposed the plan.

Regardless of political opinion, here is what we can learn from this buy:

  • This 20-state buy shows an aggressive messaging strategy by Democrats, to take credit for legislation and to criticize opponents.
  • The current national Democratic buy builds on the DNC’s multi-million-dollar outreach via multiple out of home formats in battleground states in the 2020 election (aerial, wall projections, sidewalk chalk, billboards, place-based, and more).
  • Political advertising is a growth category for out of home media, up 64 percent in 2020 compared to the prior presidential year (2016), according to Kantar media tracking.

 Current billboards sponsored by the Democratic National Committee — red, white, and blue — are localized by state. In this Florida example, the “HELP IS HERE” billboard thanks President Biden for stimulus relief and criticizes Florida GOP Senators Rick Scott and Marco Rubio for voting against the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill.

Similarly, in Pennsylvania, the billboard creative thanked Biden and Democratic Senator Bob Casey and said “no thanks” to Republican Senator Pat Toomey. (Click here for Toomey’s statement on the bill, which he criticized as wasteful and partisan.)

In New Hampshire, the billboard copy praised Biden and Democratic Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan.

The Democratic National Committee is led by Jaime Harrison from South Carolina. Harrison is no stranger to OOH having used billboards in his 2020 Senate campaign, challenging Senator Lindsey Graham, R-SC.

OAAA Disclaimer: The Out of Home Advertising Association of America holds no opinion or political affiliation to any party. Our content serves to educate our members on industry news, research and/or insights gleaned from campaigns across the industry.

Modified: 6 months

Published: April 6, 2021