Category: Expert’s perspective

For years, audience targeting has shaped how we plan media.

Marketers build segments, define profiles, and apply them across territories. It’s logical. It’s scalable.

But in a fragmented, post-ID world, that logic is starting to fall short.

Because what’s really behind those audience segments?

Too often, they’re pre-packaged, created by platforms or third-party providers, with little transparency into how they’re built or how recent the data is. You’re told you’re reaching “shoppers,” “intenders,” or “loyalists”, but you rarely know whether those behaviors are still relevant.

Even with custom audiences, we often rely on socio-demo proxies or outdated behavioral signals.

And with the disappearance of personal identifiers, many marketers are turning to contextual or cohort-based targeting, but with the same logic underneath: → Build a segment. Run it everywhere

Same audience. Same message. Every area.

It feels efficient. But it misses the point.

Because while your audience may be the same on paper, your brand challenges aren’t.

It’s not just who you reach → it’s where and why.

The real issue isn’t just who we target, it’s what we’re targeting for.

Audience segments are just a media response to a business objective. And those objectives can vary dramatically, even for the same brand, in the same country.

• Want to grow your customer base? You’ll look to reach new or underexposed segments.
• Looking to build loyalty? You’ll re-engage existing customers, with tailored creative.
• Facing aggressive competition? You’ll focus on brand switchers or competitor loyalists.

These scenarios require different strategies. Yet, many brands still deliver the same campaign everywhere.

One brand. Multiple local contexts. Different dynamics.

Local dynamics vary, and so do consumers. What works in Lyon may fail in Marseille. What performs in Brussels might flop in Antwerp. Milano and Roma don’t follow the same path to purchase.

Each local context has its own:

• Brand presence
• Shopper journey
• Competitive landscape
• Level of media saturation

So why apply a single targeting logic across all of them?

The Business Context Planning imperative

At Locala, we believe the next big shift in media isn’t just about better audiences, it’s about smarter planning. That’s the idea behind Business Context Planning.

The media planner’s role is no longer to chase IDs, but to orchestrate campaigns based on market-specific business signals.

That means understanding, for every geography:

• Your brand’s performance vs competitors
• Who you’re reaching, and who you’re not
• Where growth, loyalty, or conquest opportunities lie
• How to act on those signals across channels

Because media planning shouldn’t stop at insight, it should tell you what to do next.

Other platforms optimize audiences. We optimize brand outcomes.

From insight to action: Omni Planner

To make this vision real, we built Omni Planner: the first tool to operationalize business context planning at scale.

It doesn’t just show you where you’re strong or weak. It translates signals into actionable, local media strategies, by bridging online and offline signals for your brand and its competitors.

• In Chicago, you’re a category leader but engagement is soft → we deploy a consolidation strategy with high-frequency, upper-funnel formats.
• In Detroit, your competitor is gaining ground → we run a conquest strategy with broader reach and price-focused creative on mobile and Meta.
• In Cleveland, online traffic is high but footfall is low → we activate a drive-to-store mix using DOOH and geo-mobile.

Omni Planner helps marketers zoom in on the brand’s local context, assess audience relevance, and deploy tailored, scalable campaigns without media waste.

Rethinking campaign logic

In a world without IDs, your targeting logic becomes your strategic edge. You can’t afford to treat every audience the same, and every territory as equal.

At Locala, we help brands switch from generic targeting to context-driven media strategies, built on real signals, adapted to real-world dynamics.

If you’re done running the same campaign everywhere,

If you’re ready for your media to reflect your brand’s ambition in every local context,

If you want to know where and how to grow, not just who to reach…

Let’s explore how Business Context Planning could improve your brand performance.

 

The Rise of Attention Metrics 

When leveraging ad tech solutions and planning 2024 media strategies, staying ahead means constantly reevaluating the metrics that gauge campaign success. Traditional metrics like viewability and time in view, previously considered benchmarks, are now being supplemented with more comprehensive measures to truly grasp user engagement.

Enter Attention metrics. These metrics go beyond simply noting if an ad was viewed; they provide insights into the depth and quality of user interaction with the ad. This shift is not just theoretical but is being embraced by industry leaders. The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has acknowledged Attention metrics as a critical evolution in ad measurement. Several key factors are propelling this shift:

• Linking Campaigns to Business Outcomes: Attention metrics show a stronger correlation with business outcomes than other measurements, with evidence of a significant impact on brand lift, consideration, and sales uplift.
• Unlocking Creative Potential: Recognizing that 70% of advertising success is due to the creative, attention metrics are gaining interest for evaluating creative effectiveness.
• Optimizing for Channels: Attention measurement helps gauge the effectiveness of various channels, like CTV, where high viewer engagement is noted.
• Reducing Waste: Advertisers can reduce budgets wasted on ad creative and placements that do not secure sufficient attention. In an environment where budgets are tight, any saving is welcomed.

Locala’s Integration with DoubleVerify  

Locala’s integration with DoubleVerify places it at the vanguard of attention-based advertising. By combining advanced Attention metrics with Locala’s unique offerings like Dynamic Commerce Areas and precise audience segments, advertisers can significantly enhance their campaign performance and media quality. 

At DoubleVerify (DV), pioneers in this field, Attention measurement is a sophisticated process. DV has determined that the most effective method to assess attention involves evaluating various detailed data points at the individual impression level, which can be compiled into practical metrics. DV Authentic Attention®, a privacy-conscious and MRC-accredited attention measurement solution that operates independently of cookies, examines more than 50 data points related to a digital ad’s exposure and the user’s interaction with the ad and their device, doing so in real-time.

• In terms of exposure, DV evaluates the complete presentation of an ad, measuring its strength and visibility using metrics such as the time the ad is viewable, its proportion of the screen, the quality of the video presentation, and its audibility, among others.
• Regarding engagement, DV analyzes essential actions initiated by the user during the display of the ad creative. This includes interactions such as user taps, changes in the screen’s orientation, video playback, and adjustments in audio settings.

These metrics of Exposure and Engagement collectively contribute to the DV Attention Index, a comprehensive indicator of attention that offers vital insights into the effectiveness of a campaign.

Incorporating these sophisticated Attention metrics, Locala enhances its strategic offerings. Advertisers can now enjoy the benefits of campaigns that are not just targeted, but finely tuned to capture and hold consumer attention, leading to improved brand outcomes and ROAS. These metrics also aid in making informed decisions about channel mix, placement, creative, and format types, tailoring each aspect of the campaign for optimal engagement and visibility.

Conclusion

Attention metrics are more than a buzzword; they are essential tools for understanding and optimizing ad campaigns. Locala’s integration with DoubleVerify’s solutions exemplifies industry best practices, where quality of engagement trumps quantity. 

For media strategists and advertisers, these developments offer an exciting opportunity to refine their strategies for maximum impact. We encourage readers to explore further, using Locala’s case studies to see how these innovations can be applied to their advertising strategies.

Engage with us on LinkedIn | Learn more about Locala’s solutions

 “As an Insights & Analytics Lead at Locala, I’ve had the privilege of witnessing firsthand most of recent transformative shifts in the adtech landscape. One area that has seen significant evolution is Digital Out of Home (DOOH) advertising. Until recently, DOOH buying was largely influenced by the environment of the screens (whether they were located in malls, train stations, or other high-traffic areas..) and probable affinity to certain audiences based on traffic patterns at specific times of the day. While effective, this approach often missed the intricate nuances of local brand preferences”.

 

The Landscape of DOOH Buying

DOOH advertising has experienced rapid growth. According to Statista, the global digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising revenue is projected to grow by over 10 percent in 2023, reaching almost €16.48 billion. This significant increase in investment highlights the importance and potential of DOOH in the modern advertising mix. However, with increased investment comes the need for more sophisticated strategies.

The traditional approach, while effective in its own right, often missed the mark when it came to understanding and leveraging local brand affinities. Every region, city, and even neighborhood can have distinct brand preferences and shopping patterns, influenced by a myriad of factors from cultural nuances to economic conditions.

The Shift Towards Local Brand Affinity

Locala is proud to introduce a new planning capability that allows DOOH screen selection based on screen affinity with a chosen brand, a feature we call Dynamic Commerce Area (DCA). DCA is a revolutionary approach to DOOH advertising. It enables brands to select DOOH screens based on their affinity with specific brands, ensuring that the advertising message resonates with the local audience.

With DCA, brands can redefine the way they approach DOOH advertising. By focusing on local brand affinity, our partners can now craft more strategic and impactful campaigns, with data at its core. This approach not only ensures that the advertising message is relevant to the local audience but also maximizes the return on investment for advertisers.

Here’s why this approach is transformative:

• Performance-Driven Campaigns: By understanding where brand affinity is strongest, advertisers can ensure their messages resonate deeply with local audiences, leading to higher engagement and ROI. 
• Strategic Expansion: For brands that are already dominant in specific regions, targeting areas with lower brand affinity can be a strategic move to capture new market segments. 
• Competitive Conquesting: Knowledge of areas with high affinity to competitors provides an opportunity to deploy targeted campaigns aimed at swaying audiences and increasing market share.

Benefits for Advertisers

• Smarter, Data-Driven Investments: With insights from our Retail Analytics platform, advertisers can make informed decisions based on consumer shopping behaviors, both nationally and locally. This ensures that investments are not just vast but also strategic.

• Enhanced Ad Targeting: By understanding where brand affinity is strongest and combining it with foot traffic data and local demographics, campaigns can be crafted that deeply resonate with local audiences. 
• Optimized Inventory Selection: Our insights consider traffic patterns leading to specific stores, ensuring that the selected inventory is not only relevant but also timely. 
• Seamless Activation: Our solutions facilitate the seamless activation of DOOH campaigns fueled by mobility patterns, going beyond traditional geotargeting with custom media strategies tailored for each location.

The Bigger Picture

The trends in DOOH are clear: there’s a move towards more personalized, data-driven strategies and overall measurement. Media decisions fueled by local insights, and granular attribution capabilities are just a few of the innovations we’re seeing creating. In conclusion, as we’ll continue to invest and innovate in DOOH, it’s imperative to keep data at the center of our strategies.
DOOH planning isn’t just about reaching more people; it’s about reaching the right consumer with messaging that truly resonates. The future of DOOH lies in harnessing the power of local insights, and with Locala, that future is now.