Outdoor advertising (OOH) is having a moment. And not just any moment. It’s evolving into one of the smartest, most creative tools in your marketing toolkit.
OOH is no longer just about visibility. It’s about relevance, precision, and creating brand experiences that actually connect.
In this article, you’ll find out how AI, sustainability, and smarter targeting will shape outdoor advertising in 2025, and how you can stay one step ahead.
AI to revolutionise how brands approach outdoor advertising
Forget guesswork. AI is now a serious tool in your outdoor advertising kit, and it’s changing how campaigns are planned, delivered, and optimised.
One example of AI in action? 75Media’s proprietary planning platform, BOB (Billboard Optioning & Booking System).
BOB lets advertisers explore real time availability across hundreds of digital and classic billboards and filter by audience criteria, such as nearby points of interest, location type, and audience flow.
It’s not just a booking tool. It’s a smarter way to plan, fuelled by data and shaped by intent. It reduces friction, helps you build better campaigns faster, and gives you a head start on targeting with purpose.
As AI becomes more deeply integrated across OOH, platforms like BOB are laying the groundwork for a future where outdoor ads are just as responsive and strategic as their digital counterparts, and that’s a big deal.
Brands will shift to audience-first strategies with outdoor advertising
Audience-first thinking isn’t new. But in 2025, it’s going to be the default, not the bonus. Your audience expects personalisation. They want relevance.
And with outdoor now tapping into richer, location based data, there’s no excuse for missing the mark.
Billboards are no longer just about hitting postcodes or hoping for footfall. You can now drill down into who is actually passing by, when they’re there, and what matters to them.
That data means you can adapt your creative and placement accordingly.
For example, a fitness brand promoting a new app could choose to run ads on high-footfall commuter routes during weekday mornings, targeting health conscious professionals on their way to work.
At the weekend? Shift the same spend to leisure zones near parks and gyms, with adjusted copy to suit.
This level of flexibility is becoming extremely popular, especially when combined with programmatic buying (more on that later).
But at the heart of it is a commitment to knowing who you’re talking to, and making every frame count.
Consumers to expect real, meaningful brand experiences
Audiences have never had more control. They skip, swipe, block and mute. So when someone gives their attention to your ad, even for a few seconds, it needs to do more than just show up.
OOH offers a rare thing in advertising: presence in the physical world. And in 2025, that presence needs to feel intentional.
People are drawn to campaigns that invite interaction, tell a story, or spark curiosity. They want experiences, not just messages.
Take Holy Moly Dips. Their recent nationwide campaign is a great example of how a well crafted creative can do more than raise awareness, it can build real brand love.
The campaign ran across our digital billboards in high-footfall areas, combining bold colours, playful copy, and instantly recognisable product visuals.
The creative was simple – “DAMN THAT’S GOOD GUAC!”.
It was confident, fun, and made people smile. That’s the point. When OOH is done right, it doesn’t just deliver impressions. It creates moments.
What made it powerful was consistency and reach.
The campaign launched in London, then expanded to screens across the country, supporting the brand’s wider goals, including helping supermarket shoppers recognise the product on shelves.
The outcome? A genuine uplift in in-store sales, driven by physical presence in the places where customers live, work, and shop.
This kind of experience-led thinking is what more brands are leaning into for 2025. It’s not about overcomplicating things.
It’s about being smart with creativity, clear with messaging, and bold enough to stand out.
And thanks to the growing availability of digital screens in regional towns, commuter zones and suburban high streets, you don’t need to be in central London to create a campaign that cuts through.
Whether it’s guacamole or global tech, the same rule applies: if you’re going to take up space, make it count.
Outdoor advertising to move towards a sustainable future
The out-of-home (OOH) advertising industry is stepping up, adopting eco-friendly practices that resonate with environmentally conscious brands and consumers.
A significant shift is occurring as the industry moves away from materials like PVC, opting instead for sustainable alternatives such as recycled papers and vegetable-based inks.
75Media is playing an active role in that shift, not just through operations, but through real, measurable partnerships that contribute to nature recovery and create positive social impact.
Through 75Media’s ongoing partnership with the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust, we have supported a wide range of impactful environmental projects since 2021, including:
- Woodland creation: Nearly 1,050 trees have been planted across the Dales to improve biodiversity, carbon capture, and habitat connectivity.
- Carbon capture: These trees are expected to 175 tonnes of CO₂ over the next 50 years, a meaningful contribution to the broader goal of climate resilience.
- Community engagement: 75Media’s involvement has helped support outreach programmes giving 60 vulnerable or marginalised people the opportunity to connect with nature, improve mental health, and build practical skills.
This isn’t just about ticking ESG boxes. It’s about long-term investment in the health of natural landscapes, something more advertisers are recognising as both an environmental responsibility and a brand-building opportunity.
More brands will leverage technology to deliver highly relevant messages through programmatic digital out-of-home advertising
With programmatic DOOH, you’re not just booking space.
You’re making decisions in real time. You’re using data to choose the right screen, at the right moment, with the right message. All while keeping control of your budget and goals.
And this isn’t just for the big players.
More small businesses and scale-ups are starting to tap into programmatic, especially as tools become more accessible and intuitive.
You’re able to target based on time of day, weather conditions, audience segments, or even live events.
Picture this: it’s pouring down at 5pm in Manchester. A digital billboard outside a major train station switches from showing iced coffee to warm winter coats.
That’s programmatic. It’s responsive, efficient, and incredibly effective.
It also helps with testing. You can trial multiple creatives, swap them out based on performance, and optimise without needing to rebook or reprint.
For marketers, that flexibility is gold.
At 75Media, we’re building the foundations for wider programmatic enablement across our network, with our planning platform BOB already giving brands a head start through smarter site selection and campaign logic.
As adoption grows, expect more dynamic capabilities to follow.
Key take-aways
Outdoor advertising is changing – fast. It’s becoming sharper, more intelligent, and more aligned with what today’s audiences actually want.
In 2025, the brands getting the most from OOH will be the ones leaning into tech, staying curious about their audience, and treating every billboard as a chance to connect, not just broadcast.
AI will drive smarter planning. Tools like BOB will simplify complex campaign builds. Sustainability will shift from option to expectation. And programmatic will unlock flexibility like never before.
This isn’t just the future of OOH. It’s already here. The question is, are you making the most of it?
