How OOH Is Reclaiming Its Place in the Holiday Media Mix

As brands finalize their 2025 holiday marketing strategies, out-of-home (OOH) media is emerging as a critical lever for achieving both brand and business results. Once seen as a secondary channel, OOH is now being redefined as a full-funnel storytelling platform, offering scale, flexibility, and cultural relevance during the busiest time of year. Looking ahead to the holiday season, there are a few strategic considerations for OOH and DOOH investments worth keeping in mind. 

Top-tier OOH placements, including those in Times Square and SoHo, LA’s Sunset Boulevard and Hollywood, or Miami’s Design District and the Chicago Gold Coast, are selling out earlier each year. With high demand for both large-format takeovers and premium digital networks, early commitments have become essential.

But it’s not just about reserving space. Marketers are taking a more strategic approach to OOH, leveraging its unique ability to deliver national reach while reflecting regional nuances. Contextual messaging, location-based creative, and experiential activations are helping brands deepen engagement across diverse consumer segments. OOH also provides brands with a way to connect with consumers in the real world, creating tangible interactions that can’t be replicated in digital-only environments.

The holiday season of 2025 is expected to see increased investment in experiential activations, ranging from branded storefronts and pop-ups to interactive installations. These experiences create tangible brand moments that cut through seasonal noise, drive earned media, and extend campaign visibility across platforms through creator partnerships and social amplification.

OOH also plays a key role in enhancing mobile engagement. More marketers are integrating QR codes that lead directly to curated gift guides, add-to-cart journeys, or personalized offers. These shoppable touchpoints add agility and measurability to environments that were previously focused solely on awareness.

DOOH continues to evolve quickly. Real-time data feeds now enable dynamic creative, showing rotating products, price updates, local countdowns, or weather-triggered promotions. Programmatic buying offers flexibility for short-term campaigns, while AI-driven creative optimizes messaging based on audience or context.

New creative executions—including DOOH placements with shoppable integrations, such as live feeds from product detail pages and QR-to-cart functionality—are changing how consumers interact with advertising in public spaces, blurring the line between brand and performance.

OOH’s increasing importance is partly driven by changes in consumer behavior. In 2025, holiday shoppers will make more purposeful purchases as they look for value, meaning, and personalized experiences. While early shopping continues to grow, last-minute buying remains a key behavior, especially among travelers and highly mobile audiences.

Transit, airport, and retail-adjacent media placements provide timely chances to influence decisions while on the move. Creative content that adjusts based on audience profiles or purchasing intent, such as “Gifts Under $25” or “Stocking Stuffers for Him,” makes brand messaging more immediate, relevant, and actionable.

With media inflation and rising CPMs in digital channels, OOH is proving to be a cost-effective alternative, especially at scale. Advanced targeting, foot traffic attribution, and mobile retargeting capabilities enable marketers to justify their investment with clear results.

At the same time, OOH complements investments in retail media and influencer marketing. By serving as a launchpad for creator-led activations or by extending campaign reach through cultural placements, it supports both brand equity and business performance goals.