Most OOH and experiential campaigns are purchased on instinct and justified with impressions, which is why finance cuts them first when budgets shrink. We design measurement into the buy before launch – geo-lift tests, promo code attribution, CRM capture – so within one flight, you know whether a market deserves to scale. That is the distinction between a brand exercise and a channel you can genuinely manage.
The Challenge
The attribution gap eliminates the budget before it is approved
In a market where every other channel reports on a dashboard, OOH shows up with reach and impressions and nothing tying spend to revenue. Finance asks what it actually drove, marketing can't answer, and the line item gets cut in the next budget review. The team loses the ability to test the channel again for a full cycle, and OOH gets permanently filed under 'brand' instead of growth.
Media buys chosen by instinct rather than aligned with where digital already performs
Too many DTC brands book a subway line or a billboard because a founder liked the location, not because the geography lines up with markets where paid social and search are already converting efficiently. That is money spent building awareness with no funnel underneath it to catch the demand. Sales in that market do not move, the campaign gets quietly relabeled a 'brand play,' and the next OOH conversation starts from zero credibility.
Pop-ups draw a crowd but create nothing that lasts beyond it
An activation draws a line, produces some UGC, maybe a local press hit, and then the team packs up with no email list, no promo code redemptions tied to CRM, and no way to retarget anyone who showed up. The experiential budget ends up functioning as an event cost, not a marketing investment, because nothing captured at the door survives past the weekend. Six months later nobody can say whether it moved a single incremental order.
Agencies place media and label it strategy
Most OOH shops are transactional: they place the boards, run the pop-up logistics, and send a wrap report full of impressions and foot traffic estimates. What they will not do is tie the buy to your paid media calendar, your promo codes, or your CRM, because that is not their business model. OOH sits disconnected from the rest of the growth stack, gets judged on vibes, and eventually gets cut when someone finally asks for numbers nobody built the infrastructure to produce.
How We Support You
We begin with an assessment, not a mood board. We review the previous 12-18 months of paid and organic performance by market, pinpoint where CAC is already efficient, where brand search is increasing, and where your retail or fulfillment infrastructure can handle a regional demand spike. That map shows us where OOH and experiential can create real leverage rather than guessing which city looks attractive on a media plan.
From there, we develop the strategy around your acquisition math, not a template. If a transit takeover or pop-up cannot be connected to an incremental lift test, trackable promo code, or CRM capture mechanism before launch, we will not recommend it.
For execution, we manage the buy and all activation logistics as an operator, not a vendor.
Measurement is what most OOH vendors overlook, so it is what we design first. When volume allows, we run geo-lift tests – comparing a matched market with a holdout – to isolate incremental site traffic and orders.
We also ensure the buy does not operate separately from the rest of your marketing. When your brand appears on a billboard in a market, your paid social and search budgets in that market are adjusted to capture the demand spike, while CRM segments are created to receive anyone who engages with the activation.
We work fractionally and embed with your team, rather than operating as a separate agency retainer off to the side. The person leading your OOH and experiential work joins your Slack, weekly marketing meeting, and reporting cadence, and is measured against the same numbers as your paid and lifecycle teams. There is no standalone wrap deck using its own metrics that nobody cross-references with the broader business.
What we deliver
- Market prioritization model built from existing paid and organic performance and CAC efficiency
- OOH and experiential media plan with placement, timing, and budget by market
- Format-specific creative production for transit, billboard, and pop-up build-out
- Geo-lift test design and readout where market volume supports it
- Promo code, QR, and landing page attribution instrumentation tied to CRM
- Post-activation follow-up sequence and CRM segment build
- Monthly performance readout tied to incremental site traffic and orders
An OOH buy lacking a geo-lift test or trackable promo code is not a marketing channel; it is a founder's opinion attached to a media budget.
Our Methodology
The first 30 days focus on assessment and design: we analyze performance data by market, create the prioritization model, and develop the measurement approach – geo-lift where the market can support it, code and QR attribution everywhere else – before booking a single placement. Nothing launches unless measurement is already built in.
Days 31 through 60 focus on buying and building: media is negotiated and secured, creative is developed for the specific format, and when there is a physical activation, we manage the logistics – staffing, data capture setup, follow-up sequence – so the first day of the activation is not when we determine how to capture a lead.
Days 61 through 90 cover launch and readout: the campaign goes live, and we track lift and redemption in real time, allowing a market to be paused or scaled mid-flight rather than waiting for a post-mortem. We then provide a readout tied to incremental traffic and orders, not impressions. This is how we differ from a traditional OOH media agency – they deliver a wrap report afterward; we create the ability to adjust the campaign while it remains live.
Our Working Model
Engagements use the 30/60/90 structure outlined above: a 30-day assessment and measurement design stage, a 30-day buy-and-build stage, and the first live readout by day 90. Most clients test one market as a proof point before expanding the model into two or three more markets, which extends a typical engagement to 3-6 months.
The team is intentionally small and senior: a fractional lead who owns strategy and participates in your weekly marketing meeting, supported by a media and production specialist handling the buy and creative build-out. You will not be passed to an account coordinator who was absent when the strategy was developed.
The cadence is weekly throughout the buy and activation stages, shifting to biweekly after a market goes live and the reporting rhythm is in place. Wherever possible, reporting lives within your current dashboards and CRM views rather than in a standalone OOH-only report that nobody reads.
Because the model is designed to demonstrate results one market at a time, budget commitment grows with performance – we do not request a year-long national commitment for the initial engagement. Validate the model in one market, then determine whether it has earned the next.
- A clear read on whether OOH and experiential spend drove incremental site traffic and orders in a given market
- A reusable market prioritization framework for future expansion decisions
- Attribution infrastructure – promo codes, QR paths, CRM segments – that outlives the campaign
- A defensible case for or against scaling OOH budget, backed by data instead of opinion
- Tighter coordination between OOH and experiential timing and paid media and CRM activity in the same market
If your dtc / ecomm company needs ooh & experiential leadership, we should talk.
Expand your marketing team output with our experts
Let us take a custom approach to your growth goals by assembling and leading the best-in-class marketing team to support your next stage.
Frequently asked questions
What does an OOH and experiential engagement with Winston Francois cost?
Cost varies based on the number of markets, whether the scope involves a physical activation build-out, and the amount of creative production required. Our fractional strategy and management fee is scoped by engagement following the initial assessment and is separate from the media spend, which remains under your direct control.
When will we begin seeing results from an OOH or experiential campaign?
By day 90, you will have a live campaign with attribution instrumentation established, plus an initial readout on incremental lift or redemption after the campaign has run long enough to produce a meaningful sample within that market. Physical media such as transit and billboards generally require a minimum flight window before a geo-lift test contains enough data to be dependable.
How will your team work with our current marketing team?
We operate within your channels – Slack, weekly marketing meetings, and reporting tools – as an embedded fractional resource rather than a separate agency that sends decks. The person responsible for OOH and experiential coordinates directly with the owners of your paid media and CRM, because the model is built around channels communicating with one another instead of operating in parallel.
What makes this different from working with a traditional OOH media agency?
A traditional OOH agency buys media and delivers a wrap report packed with impressions and estimated foot traffic. We establish the measurement approach before booking anything, connect the buy to your current paid and CRM performance data, and remain accountable for incremental traffic and orders rather than reach figures.
How do you measure ROI from out-of-home in practice?
When the market and budget allow, we conduct geo-lift tests that compare a matched market with a holdout to isolate incremental site traffic and orders. When volume is insufficient for a clean lift test, we set up promo codes, unique landing pages, and QR paths that feed directly into your CRM and paid platforms, allowing market spend to connect to a specific redemption or lead record rather than an estimate.
What type of company is the right fit for this?
This model is best suited to Series A/B or growth-stage DTC and ecommerce brands with $5 million to $100 million in ARR that already possess paid and organic performance data for market prioritization, along with the fulfillment or retail infrastructure needed to handle a regional demand spike. If baseline paid performance data is not yet available, we would begin there before pursuing an OOH engagement, since there would be nothing against which to geo-match the buy.
