Programmatic OOH gives brands and advertisers the agility to act fast, optimise, and make every impression count. As the industry heads into the all-important last quarter of 2025, Eoin Carroll offers some tips to advertisers for supercharging their campaigns.
As Q4 begins, retail enters its most intense and competitive season. With consumer attention at a premium, success depends on sharper, more thoughtful targeting. That means moving beyond generic audience profiles and tapping into what our clients already have – first-party data. These insights give us a clearer picture of real consumer behaviour, helping us make more informed decisions and design programmatic strategies that deliver greater impact with target audiences.
In our previous articles, we explored leveraging micro moments and how PROOH integrates into wider media strategies. Now, we are diving deeper into how brands’ first-party data, powered by Talon’s Optimise DSP, can unlock precision, performance, and measurable actions as we enter what many consider the most important quarter of the year.
Death of Demographics
In today’s world, identity is fluid and multifaceted – making traditional demographics less predictive than they once were. Too often, generational analysis relies on outdated stereotypes, and broad categories like age or income rarely explain why people act.
That’s why context matters: a consumer shopping for a gift will behave very differently from one making everyday purchases, and factors like weather or seasonality can subtly shape decisions in ways traditional targeting often overlooks.
The key to smarter targeting lies in data that is owned. CRM records, sales data, app analytics, loyalty programs, and email engagement data reveal patterns of motivation and behaviour, not just assumptions. Using Talon’s Optimise to apply these insights, we can deliver behaviour-led programmatic OOH strategies that are both smarter and more impactful.
Imagine the possibilities like re-engaging yesterday’s “competitor shopper” with tailored offers as they pass by your store or prompting lapsed app users with a timely message near a key retail location.
This is the shift from broad demographics to behaviour-led storytelling delivered in the right place, at the right moment.
The Q4 Opportunity
With retail spend peaking and consumer intent at its highest, this is the moment brands can truly win hearts, wallets, and market share. Recent data indicates a rebound in consumer confidence, with the latest spending report from Bank of Ireland suggesting that debit and credit card spend rose by 6.5% year-on-year. This uptick suggests a renewed optimism among Irish consumers as we approach the final quarter of the year. However, with so many voices competing for attention, relevance becomes your sharpest tool.
It’s at this intersection that first-party data and programmatic OOH deliver their full potential. Your customers are already telling you what they want through purchases, app activity, loyalty behaviour, and email engagement. By using these insights to fuel your programmatic strategy, you can deliver targeted, real-time messaging that speaks directly to their needs, moods, and moments.
Whether it’s loyalty card data used to identify high-value customers and serve personalised offers on digital screens near stores they frequent or viewing behaviour and subscription status used to retarget lapsed users with show recommendations.
It could also be membership status triggering renewal offers or class promotions in relevant neighbourhoods or customer lifecycle data prompting relevant products (e.g., mortgage ads for first-time buyers) in areas with high conversion potential.
Programmatic OOH gives you the agility to act fast, optimise, and make every impression count. Q4 is short but the opportunity is huge. Brands that activate their first-party data now and lean into precision will be the ones that stand out, convert, and outperform.
Eoin Carroll is Programmatic Lead at Talon
