With Out of Home playing a central role in major sporting events, the Six Nations provides a prime example of how brands can leverage OOH to engage fans at scale and in the moment, writes Aaron Poole.
This weekend, Ireland faces France in a high-stakes Six Nations penultimate round at the Aviva Stadium. The energy across Dublin will be palpable. Fans will flood the city’s streets – making their way from transit hubs to pubs, from pre-match gatherings to stadium entrances – all fuelled by a sense of national pride and anticipation. But they won’t be alone. Tournament sponsors are effectively “walking” with them, embedded in the experience through strategic, high impact Outdoor advertising. Giant portable screens will flash rallying messages, 48 sheets will guide the throngs along their journey, and dynamic digital displays will celebrate each try and tackle in real time.
In these moments, OOH isn’t just advertising on the sidelines – it’s part of the action, turning city streets into an extension of the stadium’s roar.
Major sporting events like the Six Nations present a perfect storm of opportunity for OOH advertising. For one, the audience is massive and highly engaged. Our latest Six Nations survey with Ipsos B&A reported that 79% of Dubliners plan to watch the tournament, soaring to 85% among 16–24 year-olds. This isn’t passive, sofa-bound viewership either – nearly 40% of fans will watch matches outside the home at a friend’s house, pub, or on the move. In other words, on game days almost half the audience is out and about, creating rich opportunities for brands to intercept fans on their journeys.
Just as importantly, sports fans are in the right frame of mind for advertisers. Rugby days put people in high spirits – excited, optimistic, and emotionally charged – and research shows that in these contexts’ consumers perceive advertising more positively. The Six Nations is as much a social ritual as a sporting contest, and brands that tap into that upbeat, communal atmosphere can ride a wave of goodwill. Our OCS study shows three in four rugby fans are interested in seeing digital OOH messages relevant to a live sporting event. They welcome contextually relevant ads – whether it’s a cheeky pre-match slogan or a celebratory message after a big win – as part of the fanfare. It feels less like advertising and more like participation in the shared experience.
But timing and context are everything – and the same can be said for any sport. The “Moments of Truth” UK study revealed that showing people the right content at the perfect moment – say, a triumphant ad on the final whistle or a rallying call just before kickoff – can supercharge impact. It led to an average +32% spike in brain response, ad recall, and even sales when digital OOH ads were tightly synced with key emotional moments.
In plain terms, fans remember and respond to ads that join the rhythm of the game. By being always-on and unmissable in the physical world, OOH becomes a natural amplifier of the excitement that major sports events generate, turning attention into genuine engagement.
Sponsorship Beyond Visibility
Sports sponsorship has evolved. Being a sponsor is no longer just about plastering your logo on jerseys or screens; it’s about integration into the fan experience. Circling back to the Six Nations – the tournament offers a cultural stage where brands can become part of the story rather than mere bystanders. When thousands of supporters trek across town on match day, a sponsor’s presence on billboards, bus shelters, and digital displays along the route can feel like a supportive companion on the journey. OOH campaigns are crafted to add value to those fever-pitch moments – energising fans, providing useful info, or sharing in the collective emotion. Real-time updates are powered by PML Group’s LIVEPOSTER platform enable brands to broadcast contextually relevant storytelling, moment by moment. The result is a campaign that doesn’t feel static or generic; it feels alive, like it’s cheering alongside the fans.
This strategy is paying off. PML Group research found that 8 in 10 Dubliners find live, event-based DOOH content informative, memorable, and effective. It makes sense – an ad that declares “Dublin 24 – 17 France: The road to victory is one match away” right after a big win is going to stick in people’s heads (and hearts) much more than a generic brand slogan. By syncing its messaging with the real emotions of each match, brands have the ability to embed themselves in the fabric of the fan experience. It’s no longer just a sponsor talking at fans; it’s part of the conversation. The city’s landmarks effectively become extensions of the stadium jumbotron, blurring the line between the live event and the public space.
This kind of real-time OOH activation amplifies the communal high of a win. Three-quarters of rugby fans say they appreciate these live-event DOOH updates, and it’s easy to see why – it turns an ordinary stroll to the post-match pub into a continuation of the spectacle.
Opel, the official car partner of the Six Nations, has taken a similarly immersive approach. Rather than limit its involvement to logos in brochures, Opel is positioning itself as the go-to ride for fans on the move. In the weeks of the tournament, the automaker’s branding is impossible to miss on Ireland’s roadways. Think large-format billboards on motorways and digital displays along key commuter routes, all bearing rugby-themed Opel creative. The idea is clever: every supporter driving to a friend’s house to watch the match, or catching a lift to the stadium, is reminded that Opel is literally along for the ride during this rugby journey.
This form of messaging ensures a brand is ever-present from the first kickoff to the final round. This “always-on” presence throughout a tournament pays dividends: marketing studies of major sports events have found that brands maintaining continuous visibility see significantly higher recall and consideration among consumers. In the case of Six Nations sponsors, it mirrors the playbook used by savvy sponsors in events like the World Cup or Olympics – stay visible throughout the event, not just around a single match, to truly ingrain the brand in fans’ minds.
It helps that the audience movement is so dynamic itself. Fans aren’t just glued to a TV at home; they’re commuting, socialising, and celebrating publicly. Widespread OOH push ensures that whether fans are driving on the M50 or commuting across Dublin, they’re greeted with reminders of the brand’s role in rugby fandom. Context matters here: creative displaying next to a stadium exit has to feel naturally fitting, not forced. It’s contextually resonant advertising that links the brand to the thrill and mobility of match day. The result is a sponsorship activation that drives home the brand’s relevance at every possible opportunity.
Amplifying Fan Engagement
One of OOH’s greatest strengths during events is its ability to amplify fan engagement in real time. Television and online ads might reach people when they’re watching the game, but OOH is what reaches them in those in-between moments – as they travel, celebrate, and congregate. It keeps the brand conversation going before, during, and after matches. With modern digital OOH, campaigns can be as agile as any social media feed or live broadcast. Brands are now setting up triggers so that when a critical moment happens on the pitch – a try, a send-off, a final score – content updates immediately on screens across the country. This real-time responsiveness makes advertising feel like a natural extension of the event itself.
We’ve already seen how sponsor campaigns fires on all cylinders with live updates. Guinness (the Six Nations title sponsor) has used OOH to blend seamlessly into fan rituals, fused its Instagram and Outdoor campaigns where digital screens were populated with results from an online poll. Other activations have seen digital formats shift as soon as Ireland clinched victory, lighting up the city with the final score and the message “Hope Rises” alongside its logo – effectively turning the city into a giant victory parade. Such tactics show how OOH can capture the zeitgeist of a sports moment in ways other channels simply can’t.
Location-based targeting is another ace up OOH’s sleeve. Brands tailor their OOH placements to hit fans where fan energy is highest: near stadiums, in entertainment districts, and along popular travel routes. During the Six Nations, a stroll through city centre might reveal a series of sequential ads that tell a mini-story (“Heading to the match? _____ has you covered for halftime snacks” followed by “Victory pints? Don’t forget _____ on the way home”). At transit stations, DOOH screens can greet incoming rival fans with playful banter or guide locals on which tram to catch to the big game. This tight geotargeting ensures the content always feels relevant to what fans are doing right then and there. It’s a level of contextual precision that makes the brand feel helpful and in-tune, rather than intrusive.
In essence, OOH bridges the gaps in the fan experience – when people aren’t actively watching rugby, OOH keeps them thinking about it (and by extension, about the brands entwined with it). It’s a 360-degree amplifier that surrounds fans with the sights and sounds of the tournament everywhere they go.
Lasting Impact
It’s no coincidence that brands are doubling down on OOH around major sporting events because the data backs its effectiveness. Nearly 80% of city residents watch the Six Nations, and a significant proportion do so in communal settings. With 50% of fans heading to pubs or bars, OOH ads are primed to hit large, engaged audiences at the right moment.
Sports audiences embrace relevant OOH messaging. A previous Six Nations study showed that 8 out of 10 respondents found event-related DOOH informative, and 70% believed these ads stood out.
Mobile billboards and digital screens on trucks or sponsorship buses move with the crowd, ensuring heightened impact. Nearly 40% of 16–34-year-olds recall seeing these moving ads frequently, associating them with the excitement of match days.
Tournaments like the Six Nations aren’t single moments; it’s a narrative spanning multiple cycles. This extended timeline is a gift to marketers savvy enough to use it. With each passing week, there’s new fodder for creative OOH campaigns: surprise underdog victories, record-breaking tries, shifting leaderboard positions, and the crescendo of an impending championship decider. Brands can thus plan a multi-phase campaign that unfolds in chapters, keeping their message fresh and fans guessing about what’s coming next.
For instance, a sponsor might start in Week 1 with broad, anticipatory messaging (“It Begins – Join the Roar”) to build excitement. By the final weekend, the ads can crescendo into full-on celebration or rallying cries (“One more to go – Let’s finish strong!”). Traditional media would struggle to adapt this quickly, but OOH – especially dynamic DOOH – was made for it. Content can be changed overnight or even in seconds, and because fans are continuously moving through public spaces, they’ll notice these evolutions.
This sustained storytelling is not just for show; it cements brand recall. Each successive exposure builds on the last, creating a cumulative impact greater than any single ad could achieve. And it pays long-term dividends. A brand that has been with the fans every step of the tournament earns a sort of halo effect – an association with the sport and its excitement that lingers well after the final trophy is lifted. In doing so, they don’t just advertise during the event – they become intertwined with the event.
Looking back at the tournament’s journey, it’s clear why OOH has been the unsung hero – the Most Valuable Player – of the tournament’s marketing. It captured attention at scale when everyone was buzzing about the upcoming match. It heightened emotion by delivering the right message at the perfect fan moment. It sustained a narrative and conversation beyond the 80 minutes of play each weekend. And perhaps most importantly, it forged an emotional connection between brands and the rugby faithful. A clever social media post might get a like; a TV ad might get muted. But a well-placed OOH ad became a fond memory of the tournament itself.
Those who made OOH a core pillar of their Six Nations strategy have scored a major win. And that impact doesn’t evaporate when the tournament ends. The positive impressions, the goodwill, and the heightened brand recognition will leave a lasting mark on fans long after the final match. Just as rugby fans remember great tries for years, they’ll remember which brands pumped them up on the way to the stadium or lit up the night sky in victory. In the grand tapestry of event-based marketing, OOH has proven itself a champion – the reliable workhorse that, when the pressure is on, carries the team (and the brand message) over the line.
