How brands can grow using Out of Home advertising
Ready to rethink reach
to unlock growth?
As growth is increasingly driven by a brand’s mental availability and broad reach, Out of Home (OOH) advertising gives brands a powerful way to reach more potential customers, especially those all-important light category buyers.
Why reach drives brand growth
Brand growth doesn’t come from speaking more often to your loyal customers. It comes from reaching more potential buyers, particularly the many who purchase infrequently, also known as your category light buyers.
This is where OOH advertising can helps brands reach these people. As a broadcast medium with high weekly audience exposure, it helps brands build:
- Mental availability
- Category salience
- Awareness and fame
- Future sales potential
This aligns directly with the principles outlined in How Brands Grow by Professor Byron Sharp — where reach, not frequency, is the core of sustainable growth.
Why light buyers matter
Light buyers make up the majority of most categories because they purchase occasionally, represent large volumes of incremental sales and are essential for increasing penetration. They have the potential to drive the biggest share gains when activated effectively.
Byron Sharp’s Law of Double Jeopardy shows that brands grow by adding more buyers, not necessarily by increasing loyalty. It’s easier to get someone to buy once or twice than to persuade an existing customer to increase their frequency.
OOH ensures your brand remains visible, memorable and front-of-mind, especially for those buyers who are hardest to reach through other media channels.
OOH reaches light buyers at scale
OOH advertising is proven to deliver strong weekly reach among light buyers across multiple sectors, including FMCG and alcohol categories, and our research shows that OOH delivers high levels of weekly reach across all age groups, including 18–34 audiences.
When combined with other broadcast channels such as TV, OOH amplifies total campaign reach and significantly increases the number of light buyers exposed to your brand.
Planning with the Laws of Growth
The Laws of Growth, established by Byron Sharp and theEhrenberg-Bass Institute, are scientifically proven to help brands grow byincreasing market penetration.
Alongside Double Jeopardy, below are two other Laws where OOH is well placed to help brands grow.
1. User bases seldom vary
Successful brands share similar customer bases with the wider category. If your brand only appeals to a niche audience, growth becomes limited.
OOH helps expand your reach across the entire category, ensuring your buyer base reflects realworld demand, not just a small subset of loyal fans.
2. Duplication of purchase
Every brand shares customers with its competitors. The greater a competitor’s market penetration, the more buyers you share. Understanding these overlaps helps you:
- Identify the biggest opportunities for growth
- Understand why buyers choose other brands
- Pinpoint the Category Entry Points (CEPs) competitors own
With all this information you can use OOH to target those light buyers more effectively.
Grow your brand with OOH
With its ability to deliver broad, consistent reach, OOH remains one of the most effective ways to drive:
- Higher penetration
- Increased mental availability
- Longterm brand growth
Want to find out more?
If you want to find out more about how to use OOH to help grow your brand, fill out the form and we'll be in touch!
FAQs
Research shows that market share growth is driven primarily by increasing penetration — reaching more buyers — rather than increasing loyalty among existing customers.
Light buyers are category consumers who purchase infrequently. They make up the majority of most markets and represent the biggest opportunity for brand growth.
OOH builds consistent, high-visibility presence in everyday environments, strengthening memory structures and linking brands to Category Entry Points.
CEPs are the buying situations or cues that trigger category purchases — such as “a drink to relax” or “something refreshing on a hot day.”
Longer campaign duration increases cumulative reach and mental availability. Sustained presence is more effective than short bursts when aiming to grow penetration.