The throne is a powerful place: Why bathroom media is a game-changer for OOH advertisers

You’re in a public bathroom, staring at the back of a toilet door or the urinal wall. Straight in front of you, there’s a poster, and what else is there to do? So, you give it a read. You’re a captive audience to the messages in that bathroom from anywhere between 1 to 2 minutes¹, and up to 12 minutes in a parent room¹.

If your product, service or message requires some explanation, or lives in the bathroom, keep reading. 

Enhanced recall rates 

Bathroom ads excel in this area with a minimum audience recall of 70%¹. The unique context - away from the daily bombardment of messages we face - means that people are more likely to remember your ad. This increased recall translates to greater engagement and, ultimately, a higher conversion rate.  

Amplifying multichannel campaigns 

Brands with consistent, effective multichannel marketing achieve a 9.5% increase in annual revenue on average, and have customer retention rates around 91% higher than those that don’t. Plus, integrating bathroom advertising into a broader multichannel strategy is proven to amplify the ROI of any digital campaign². This synergy between channels enriches the consumer’s experience of the brand, reinforcing the message across different touchpoints and driving higher overall campaign performance. 

Continuous exposure & attention 

Bathroom advertising offers exposure without the risk of being skipped, allowing your message to be fully absorbed. The setting of a bathroom ensures uninterrupted visibility; messages are placed in the natural line of sight whether you’re in a cubicle, or at a urinal, basin, or hand dryer. In a space where the audience is essentially captive, these ads are immune to the ad fatigue that plagues many digital platforms.  

Seamless customer journeys 

Interactive elements like QR codes connect physical ads to digital campaigns, creating a smooth, trackable user experience from offline to online engagement. 

Precision targeting 

Venues such as shopping centres, pubs and airports, can be selected based on the profile of their typical visitors (also based on location and gender), allowing for highly tailored campaigns that directly speak to the interests and needs of the audience. 

Recent research by The Advertising Council of Australia shows that high attention media channels were found to supercharge the effectiveness of strong creative by up to 75%. 

The report recommends that marketers and media buyers should prioritise attention over reach, complementing OMD research on the importance of active attention to ensure a brand is at the forefront of their audience’s mind in purchasing situations. 

The lessons are twofold: 1) active attention is a decisive factor positively influencing ad recall and behaviour change and 2) choosing a high attention media platform is a major factor in determining the effectiveness of a marketing campaign. 

In a world overloaded with digital content being thrown at us left right and centre; where we all have our mice hovering over that ‘skip’ button on every YouTube ad so we can click it as soon as the time is up, and we’re tapping past those Instagram story ads faster than you can say ‘impression’... out of home (OOH) advertising remains a marketing safehouse.

Learn about the proven synergy between OOH and digital advertising, and discover how integrating alternative types of advertising can amplify your campaigns.  

Access the report below to gain access to the most recent OOH research in one place:

References:
¹ CaptiVision and venue partner data 2022
² Analytic Partners; Collected Mix Models from The Leading Edge & Analytic Partners 2002-2018