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Market Voice 13 Feb 2023 - 3 min read

Outdoor plus data plus digital = success. How JCDecaux, Yahoo, Spark Foundry drove 380% NRMA Auto Club growth, massive brand boost for SIXT

By Brad Palmer - National Programmatic Director, JCDecaux | Partner Content

The distinction between Out-of-Home and online audiences is rapidly becoming a thing of the past, writes Brad Palmer, National Programmatic Director at JCDecaux

A data-powered omnichannel campaign using programmatic and traditional Out-of-Home plus TV, social and broader digital channels drove huge results for NRMA-owned car rental company SIXT. Brad Palmer, National Programmatic Director at JCDecaux, unpacks a campaign that went beyond its component parts.

The distinction between Out-of-Home and online audiences is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. Advancements in data, mobile and Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) advertising are converging to create a unified, omnichannel approach to marketing. Programmatic media buying technologies are at the forefront of this change, giving marketers the flexibility to adapt to evolving consumer behaviour and contexts.

By using DOOH in conjunction with other programmatic channels, advertisers can reach a wider audience and gain valuable insights through audience data capabilities. This allows them to optimise their campaigns across multiple touchpoints and make real-time adjustments to meet their goals. Out-of-Home is no longer a standalone strategy, but rather an integral component of an integrated, data-driven approach to marketing.

Our recent campaign with car rental company SIXT, in partnership with Spark Foundry and Yahoo, showcases how Out-of-Home can be used as part of a true omnichannel campaign. It achieved stunning results, boosting brand awareness and growing its Auto Club membership by 380 per cent in just five months. People who saw the ads were 35 per cent more likely to visit a SIXT location – an incredible achievement for a new market entrant.

So how did we get there? Two powerful strategies created the magic:


1. Multichannel mix propels SIXT into the fast lane

As part of the NRMA Group, SIXT Australia entered as a new brand in the Australian market in 2021 with ambitious goals to establish itself as a leading car rental business. SIXT Australia had a big job to build brand recognition in a highly competitive market; having previously operated under a different brand, it recognised the importance of brand awareness in a homogenous industry like car rental.  

“There were already several well-known, long-term players in the industry and SIXT started with an unprompted awareness of only one per cent when entering the market” says Louise Looi, Head of Marketing for SIXT. Furthermore, it was “really important to let existing customers know about the brand change and prompt a new behaviour, so that they thought of SIXT when they thought car rental."

SIXT wanted to ensure it broadly reached customers as it built brand presence and that members of the Australian Auto Clubs (with which it had a partnership) knew that they were eligible for a car rental discount. This involved an omnichannel strategy, using multiple above and below-the-line channels at a high frequency.

Out-of-Home has an extremely high impact because it catches people on their day-to-day routines. For this campaign, a mixture of media was chosen, including both public and private screens, to amplify and build brand awareness and promote conversion further down the sales funnel.

Alongside the Out-of-Home campaign, SIXT ran TV and digital across YouTube, social and in-app advertising, as well as programmatic digital. SIXT used the same creative across all channels so that there was consistency and brand salience.

2. Cutting-edge data strategy delivers deep consumer insights

JCDecaux is the only Out-of-Home media owner with Adobe DMP (Audience Manager) which enables advertisers to connect seed audiences across multiple channels. This meant Out-of-Home planning could happen in tandem with digital channels, eliminating silos and connecting the online and offline worlds.

Using JCDecaux data, SIXT was able to build new audiences without compromising the effectiveness and efficiency of the campaign. However, connecting JCDecaux and Yahoo's consumer first party data is what really set the campaign apart. To tie the campaign together with reengagement, measurement and insights, two key strategies were adopted.

The first was matching JCDecaux’s Out-of-Home audience with Yahoo first party data to get a deeper understanding of SIXT’s consumers. SIXT then activated these offline audiences across their digital activity.

The second approach was directly activating on this audience, which helped SIXT manage the consumer journey after Out-of-Home exposure. The audience had already been seen in proximity to the outdoor network, so we knew who they were and their everyday journeys. This made it seamless to reach them across their day.

It was also possible to test the influence of a behavioural audience against those exposed to the digital Out-of-Home advertisement. This was particularly insightful as we were able to see how the digital Out-of-Home audiences responded in a trackable environment.

Traditional + Programmatic Digital Out-of-Home: a powerful combination

Partnering with Yahoo meant SIXT could be more targeted with its advertising and engage with customers online as well as when they were out and about. The traditional Out-of-Home campaign played an amplification role, while the programmatic element supported the conversion further down the funnel.

To amplify the private screen activity on the public screen, JCDecaux began with geography and where the audience was. The SIXT audience was first identified using our proprietary geospatial tool, JCDecaux ORBIT, and was then isolated and segmented within Adobe Audience Manager to be sent across to Yahoo for activation. This narrowed down on the audience and only activated across panels that indexed for the target audience.

Thinking “beyond the billboard” sees spectacular success

SIXT saw a six per cent lift in unprompted awareness in the six months since the campaign began. The company was able to grow its Auto Club segment by a huge 380 per cent from February to June. Awareness of SIXT’s exclusive car rental discount increased by 8 per cent by campaign end.

Using Yahoo’s omnichannel measurement solution Near, the company was also able to understand the impact from a footfall and website perspective. The results were impressive; the exposed audience was 35 per cent more likely to visit a SIXT location compared to the control audience.

Interestingly, analysis found that different audiences responded differently to each channel. The JCDecaux audience saw stronger completion rates across 15 and 30-second video, whilst retargeting the exposed audience saw the second strongest efficiency in driving clicks, making it one of the top two performing audiences.

The SIXT campaign is a successful example of how to “think beyond the billboard” and invest in the entire performance of a campaign. SIXT’s success clearly demonstrates how outdoor and digital not only complement but also amplify one another. Combining strategies made it possible to target the audience whether they were on or offline, ultimately creating a truly seamless customer experience.

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