{"id":774020,"date":"2026-07-07T05:54:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T12:54:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=wherenext&#038;p=774020"},"modified":"2026-07-07T05:54:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T12:54:13","slug":"tactile-billboard","status":"publish","type":"wherenext","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/publications\/wherenext\/tactile-billboard","title":{"rendered":"A New Billboard Longs for Human Touch"},"author":501,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","transcript_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","castos_file_data":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[],"tags":[278722,6811,493544,387072,238001],"department":[476812],"wherenext-category":[],"industry":[],"class_list":["post-774020","wherenext","type-wherenext","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-advertising","tag-market-planning","tag-ooh","tag-psychographics","tag-site-selection","department-business-growth"],"acf":{"short_description":"In Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Los Angeles, pedestrians can enjoy the feel of cashmere by sidling up to a new billboard. ","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"If a picture is worth a thousand words, a touch may be worth more.\r\n\r\nClothing label Intimissimi <a href=\"https:\/\/bmoutdoor.com\/info\/Intimissimi-Feel-the-Billboard\">put that idea to the test<\/a> with a street\u2011level billboard that brings touch into the brand experience. Installed across neighborhoods in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Los Angeles, the billboards embed real cashmere swatches into the display, tempting passersby to stop and engage with the material."},{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Left","content":"<strong>Snapshot<\/strong>: A new billboard invites passersby to feel a clothier\u2019s cashmere, reminding us that the art of connecting with customers has plenty of science behind it.","snippet":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"While tactile installations may be a novel idea, billboards sit at the center of a growing market, with US <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/publications\/wherenext\/out-of-home-advertising-and-location-intelligence\">out-of-home (OOH) advertising<\/a> drawing a record <a href=\"https:\/\/oaaa.org\/news\/out-of-home-advertising-revenue-reaches-record-9-46-billion\/\">$9.46 billion in revenue in 2025<\/a>. A significant portion of the market\u2019s growth is driven by interactive digital signage that can rotate content and measure performance.\r\n\r\nNo matter how a billboard looks\u2014or feels\u2014its impact comes down to location. To find the best places to share a brand\u2019s message with specific audiences, media owners rely on human movement data and analysis from geographic information system (GIS) technology.\r\n<h3><strong>Wisdom of the Crowd<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/publications\/wherenext\/flow-maps-human-movement\">Human movement data<\/a> is typically drawn from anonymized mobile device signals\u2014a vast collection of time stamps, location coordinates, and ZIP codes. Once these signals are aggregated, filtered, and mapped, useful patterns emerge.\r\n\r\nWhere do commuters travel on weekday morning routes? Which retail districts draw <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/publications\/wherenext\/nexttech-to-close-or-not-to-close-this-store-your-gis-analyst-has-ideas\">high\u2011net-worth shoppers<\/a>? What are the most common pathways baseball fans take to and from a game?"},{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Right","content":"<strong>Related Read:<\/strong>\r\n\r\n\/\/ Advertisers discuss <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/publications\/wherenext\/advertising-effectiveness\">audience<\/a>","snippet":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Market analysts translate these patterns into psychographic profiles\u2014inferences about a group\u2019s values, motivations, and likely brand preferences. Ad buyers and creative teams analyze where trend-driven urban consumers, value-oriented savers, and other psychographic groups work and shop before deciding where to place out-of-home ads and how to tailor their messages.\r\n\r\nConsider Manhattan\u2019s Times Square, through which as many as 330,000 pedestrians pass in a day. The crowd includes residents, daily commuters, and visitors from around the world. An ad campaign aimed at visitors could focus on specific needs, like where to shop, where to dine, or how to experience the city.\r\n\r\nA <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/publications\/wherenext\/nexttech-who-visited-times-square-in-summer-2025\">recent GIS analysis<\/a> revealed the five US cities that sent the most visitors to Times Square, and the psychographic makeup of each one. Visitors from San Diego included high-earning, fitness-loving married couples, while the Miami crowd included online-shopping singles who tend to live alone.\r\n\r\nMedia owners use this insight to give advertisers a clear account of how many people see an ad\u2014and who they are. Marketers, in turn, can tailor their messages and buy placements with greater confidence.\r\n<h3><strong>Driving Traffic from a Moving Vehicle<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nCompanies that place billboards in fixed locations rely on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/publications\/wherenext\/psychographics-inside-story\">psychographic insight<\/a> to reach the right consumers. For companies with ads on the move, the challenge is more complex.\r\n\r\nFor decades, the nation\u2019s third\u2011largest beverage distributor wrapped its trucks in vinyl ads, turning its delivery fleet into rolling billboards. More recently, the company digitized its truck panels to offer ad campaigns that keep pace with fast\u2011changing consumer tastes.\r\n\r\nThe signage needed to appeal to buyers who expect accountability across channels\u2014clear estimates of an ad\u2019s reach, frequency, and performance. That posed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/publications\/wherenext\/distributing-beer-beverages-and-industry-changing-innovation\">a challenge<\/a>. The company\u2019s delivery routes averaged 40 miles over highways and through neighborhoods of varying makeup.\r\n\r\nTo understand who was seeing the ads, GIS analysts mapped the company\u2019s delivery routes and identified areas within view of the rolling billboards. Once they\u2019d analyzed human movement data from those areas, they could estimate not only ad impressions but also the psychographic profile of each audience.\r\n\r\nWhether ads are fixed to a wall, outfitted with fabric, or mounted on a moving vehicle, their effectiveness depends on understanding how people move through the world. By making sense of human movement data, GIS gives companies a clear understanding of who and where audiences are. In a crowded media landscape, that precision is what helps brands stand out\u2014and stay relevant."}],"references":null},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A New Billboard Seeks a Human Touch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Traditionally, billboards were meant to be seen, not touched. 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