New Research from System1 and JCDecaux Offers Creative Guidance to Optimise Out-of-Home Effectiveness

Sep. 15, 2025

System1, The Creative Effectiveness Platform and JCDecaux UK, the leading Out-of-Home (OOH) company, today released a new study connecting creative quality in OOH advertising with real commercial impact. The Double Take study was conducted in 7 markets and found that when OOH creative sparks emotion and is clearly branded, it delivers twice the commercial impact.

Double Take draws on System1's predictive testing of 1000+ OOH campaigns with 180,000 consumers in Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Spain, UK and USA - using its Test Your Ad platform. For the first time, a subset of these results have been linked to JCDecaux's campaign performance data to reveal how emotion and branding drive brand and commercial effects in one of the world's most powerful media channels. It also showcases five creative behaviours that drive effectiveness, making OOH campaigns work harder, faster, and smarter.

Andrew Tindall, SVP of Global Partnerships, System1 said:

"Being seen and remembered is key for brands. This global playbook is a first-of-its-kind analysis of the creative decisions and features that can be leveraged in Out-of-Home to earn lasting impact and drive real business outcomes."

 

Chris Felton Director of Commercial Marketing at JCDecaux UK said:

"This is exciting research for brands, showing how clients can supercharge their results on Out-of-Home by optimising the effectiveness of their creative work. Out-of-Home is now the big reach medium, providing a powerful and trusted platform for marketing communication that delivers real outcomes for clients.”

 

The key findings include:

• Creative quality delivers twice the commercial impact (conversion, store visit or website visit): OOH creative with high Star Ratings (from 'Good' to 'Exceptional' long­ term brand-building potential) drive twice the business impact as 1-and 2-Star ads ('Low' and Modest' potential).
• Creative quality boosts attention and memory. Well-branded campaigns were over 50% more likely to be remembered compared to the least Fluent (recognisable) campaigns.
• Positive emotion is the single biggest driver of OOH impact. Campaigns that elicit positive emotions like happiness or surprise drive a +52% increase in commercial action.
• Fluent branding drives 2x higher recall. When campaigns use familiar characters, colours or tone across the media mix, recognition increases significantly.
• Only 2 in 5 campaigns create branded emotional impact. Brands should leverage the opportunity to brand more clearly, to elicit emotional engagement and drive results.

To download the research, visit system1 group.com/out-of-home or download here at JCDecaux UK.