Spotlight: Insights from Early Usage of Digital Out Of Home (DOOH)

Digital Out Of Home (DOOH) is emerging as a powerful complement to digital fundraising campaigns. While it plays a different role to directly attributable channels like paid social and search, our early campaigns show that it can be highly effective in amplifying reach, targeting potential donors, reinforcing creative, and building credibility at key campaign moments.

Last year we used DOOH across some of our Christmas appeals, including for long time client Sydney Dogs & Cats Home. This gave us an opportunity to test how digital billboards could support integrated fundraising campaigns, and resulted in the biggest Christmas appeals ever for our clients. 

Four early insights have emerged:

1. Amplifying emotional storytelling at scale

DOOH works best when paired with powerful human stories already proven in digital channels. When emotive creative (such as patient stories or urgent mission-led messaging) appears in high-traffic locations, it reinforces campaign salience and keeps the story top-of-mind beyond the social feed.

2. Strengthening campaign credibility

Large-scale screens in premium locations help elevate the perceived scale and importance of a campaign. For charities, this can help reinforce trust and legitimacy, particularly during high-stakes periods like Christmas appeals.

3. Extending reach beyond digital audiences

While digital platforms are critical for conversion, DOOH allows campaigns to reach audiences outside the online environment. This broader visibility helps build awareness and can prime audiences who later encounter the campaign online.

4. Leveraging increasingly sophisticated targeting

Modern DOOH is far more advanced than traditional out-of-home, with the ability to plan and optimise placements using rich audience data. Campaigns can be targeted based on location, time of day, audience movement patterns, and even contextual triggers like weather or events. This allows charities to deliver more relevant, timely messaging; for example, aligning creative to commuter peaks or high-footfall environments, ensuring campaigns are not just broad in reach, but strategically precise in who they reach and when.

Early testing suggests DOOH is most effective when integrated into an Always On digital strategy, where awareness, storytelling, and conversion channels work together. As we continue to test and optimise the channel, DOOH is showing strong potential as a strategic amplifier for major fundraising campaigns. If you’d like to chat to our team about how DOOH could be integrated into your fundraising strategy, get in touch via our website or email us to organise a call.