From Culture to Conversion: DOOH is Elevating Across Many Verticals
By: Ian Dallimore, VP of Digital Growth at Lamar Advertising Company
As Digital Out of Home continues its evolution from a high-impact awareness tool into a performance-driven powerhouse, its strategic value across industries is becoming increasingly apparent. Over the past few months, I’ve had the privilege of speaking at three key industry events, each showcasing how DOOH is not only shaping brand strategies but becoming an essential part of modern marketing. From community-rooted campaigns to CPG innovation and pharma’s embrace of omnichannel, the momentum is undeniable: DOOH is where culture meets conversion.
In early May, I joined industry leaders at StackAdapt’s Conversion Conference in Nashville, TN, for a fireside chat hosted at the iconic ACME Feed & Seed and moderated by StackAdapt’s Greg Joseph. The panel included Dave Etherington (Place Exchange), Cathy Muldowney (Clear Channel), and myself.
The discussion centered on how DOOH is delivering both creative breakthroughs and measurable results across national and hyperlocal campaigns. I opened the conversation by emphasizing how national brands can win with local relevance, whether it’s crawfish in the South or bagels in the North. We talked about how DOOH can surround consumers during cultural tentpoles like JazzFest, the 2026 Winter Olympics, and the World Cup, enabling brands to show up with timely precision and authenticity.
With fun, thought-provoking moments (like what we’d each display on a Times Square screen for five seconds), the session balanced insight with energy. The audience walked away with a clear message: DOOH isn’t just an awareness tool anymore; it’s a full-funnel force.
At this year’s OAAA Industry Conference in Boston, I had the honor of joining Jasmine Singer (AstraZeneca) and Faryn Brown (KINESSO) on the main stage for one of out-of-home’s major firsts.
This moment marked a significant turning point; the first time a pharma marketer headlined an OAAA session. We unpacked AstraZeneca’s strategic leap from traditional pharmaceutical advertising to a scalable, data-driven DOOH approach. Jasmine shared how they overcame compliance and creative barriers to launch one of their largest respiratory brands through a national programmatic DOOH campaign, with a substantial budget.
We discussed the power of culturally relevant creative, such as campaigns that connect with active patients through contextual moments like sports, including pickleball, and how DOOH’s precision, contextual targeting, and compliance make it uniquely suited to support both patient and HCP engagement. Through strategic partnerships, pharma brands are now able to drive innovation, and DOOH is successfully capturing new investment in the channel.
At the MediaPost CPG Summit in Nashville, the conversation turned to how consumer packaged goods brands are using bold creativity and data to connect with shoppers like never before. From Liquid Death’s viral moment framework to Stanley’s brand-as-lifestyle strategy, marketers shared how DOOH fits within fluid, omnichannel journeys.
I spoke about Lamar Advertising’s extensive DOOH network with over 5,000 digital billboards across the U.S. and how we’re enabling CPG brands to influence consumers near the point of purchase through retail media integrations and real-time targeting. As CPG brands navigate a fragmented media landscape, DOOH provides the bridge between physical and digital worlds, driving awareness, consideration, and conversion with precision and scale.
Across these three unique events, one insight rang true: DOOH has matured into an active, intelligent, and essential part of the modern media mix.
Whether it’s helping pharma brands engage patients through context-aware storytelling, empowering CPG marketers to influence behavior near the shelf, or enabling community-first brands to show up with cultural relevance, DOOH is no longer a supporting player. It’s a strategic driver that unites creativity and data in the real world. As digital and physical worlds continue to blend, the brands that win will be those that see DOOH not as an add-on, but as a core pillar of their omnichannel strategy.
I’m proud of how far we’ve come, and even more excited about where we’re headed.
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