Six months on from the launch of Talon’s Pulse Brandtracker measurement panel, Caroline Decourcy reveals some of the key learnings challenge some conventional assumptions.
Over the first six months of 2026, Talon’s Pulse Brand Tracker, our proprietary OOH measurement panel, developed in partnership with research specialists Opinions, tracked the performance of OOH campaigns across 13 cycles, 12 categories and more than 4,000 Irish adults aged 18-54.
The objective was to understand what is driving OOH effectiveness in Ireland today and identify the factors separating good campaigns from great ones.
The results challenge some common assumptions. While awareness remains strong, the biggest gains came from campaigns that matched environments to audience mindsets, ultimately driving consideration, brand perception and commercial intent.
For brands and agencies, the findings reinforce the fact that OOH effectiveness is not simply about being seen. It is about showing up in the right place, at the right moment and in the right context to influence decisions across the full brand funnel.
Using Attention Effectively
We already know OOH gets noticed. The more interesting finding from H1 is that effectiveness wasn’t driven by visibility alone.
Across Pulse Brand Tracker, average spontaneous awareness reached 35%, demonstrating consistent cut-through across categories. More importantly, the channel delivered for a wider range of objectives, from new product launches to long-term brand building and lower-funnel activation.
For brands and agencies, this reinforces OOH’s versatility. The strongest campaigns weren’t simply using OOH for build awareness; they were using it to support different business objectives throughout the funnel.
Matching Audiences to Mindsets
This was perhaps the clearest lesson from H1.
Campaigns planned across multiple environments consistently outperformed single-format executions, benefiting from greater reach, repetition, and contextual relevance. In fact, campaigns incorporating transport formats were particularly strong, achieving significantly higher recall levels (+42%), demonstrating the value of reaching audiences during high-attention commuter moments.
But Pulse Brand Tracker also highlighted the distinct role different formats play within the OOH ecosystem.
Retail Digital Out of Home (DOOH) and classic retail environments consistently delivered strong results for FMCG and health and beauty brands, benefiting from their proximity to purchase. These categories recorded some of their strongest brand equity scores in retail settings, reinforcing the value of being visible when consumers are already in a buying mindset.
Digital OOH formats on high street and city centre locations proved effective at building standout, quality associations and cultural presence. This made them especially valuable for campaigns seeking visibility in high-attention urban and lifestyle environments.
Large-format classic and DOOH played a different role, delivering scale, fame, and broad visibility. When combined with other formats as part of a wider multi-environment strategy, they helped brands feel bigger, more culturally relevant and more present in consumers’ everyday lives.
Environment Matters
The tracker highlights that environments are not interchangeable. Different locations reach audiences in different moments, with different levels of attention, need and intent. Transport environments, for example, proved particularly effective for reaching commuter audiences and driving recall and commercial intent.
Shopping centres and retail environments connect brands with audiences in a purchasing mindset, placing messages close to the buying decision. This was especially clear for FMCG and health and beauty brands, which consistently recorded strong brand equity scores in retail contexts.
Dublin city centre and other key urban locations act as high-impact brand canvases, helping advertisers build lifestyle, entertainment and premium associations. These environments are particularly powerful for launches, cultural moments and brands seeking broad reach in a quality context.
OOH Works Beyond Awareness
While awareness remains a core strength of OOH, the strongest evidence from the Pulse Brand Tracker is that its impacts extends far beyond visibility.
Across tracked campaigns, brand positivity improved consistently, OOH did not just generate recall; it helped shape perception, associating brands with qualities such as relevance, quality and modernity.
Entertainment campaigns were particularly effective at generating anticipation and excitement, demonstrating OOH’s ability to create emotional engagement as well as reach. In other categories, campaigns strengthened brand credentials, increased emotional pull and helped position brands as the preferred choice within their market.
Most importantly, multiple campaigns drove measurable commercial intent. Across the study, OOH consistently moved audiences from awareness towards action, whether through purchase intent, visit intent or enquiry intent. Grocery and entertainment brands proved particularly strong performers, while campaigns in food, beer, lager and cider also demonstrated meaningful commercial impact.
Five Key Learnings
The findings from our Pulse Brand Tracker point to five principles that consistently separate the strongest-performing campaigns from the rest.
Context Matters. The most effective campaigns matched formats to audience moments. Format fit is the foundation of OOH effectiveness. Transport formats excelled at reaching commuter audiences, retail digital proved particularly powerful close to purchase, while large-format OOH delivered the scale and fame needed to build broader brand presence.
Simplicity Wins. Campaigns built around a single clear message consistently outperformed those trying to communicate too much at once. The strongest creative distilled messages down to one compelling takeaway that audiences could easily recall and remember.
Location remains one of OOH’s greatest strengths. Different environments attract different audiences in different mindsets. The more closely the location matches the audience moment, the more effective the campaign becomes.
Emotion still matters. The best performing campaigns did more than generate awareness. They left audiences feeling informed, intrigued, or excited, helping brands build stronger associations and more positive perceptions over time.
And finally, show up where people are. Ireland remains a highly mobile nation, particularly throughout the summer months. When audiences are on the move shopping, commuting, socialising, their attention is available — and OOH is uniquely placed to capture it.
Caroline Decourcy is Effectiveness Director with Talon Ireland
(Through Pulse Brand Tracker, developed in partnership with Opinions, Talon can benchmark campaign performance across awareness, recall, consideration, brand equity and commercial impact. To learn more about Talon’s effectiveness offering and how your campaigns compare against H1 norms, get in touch with caroline.decourcy@talonooh.com)
