- Originally published June 10 2019, updated September 8 2022. -

With the COVID-19 pandemic, there were behavioral restrictions and the rapid spread of work-from-home, and for a time the demand for ATL measures such as OOH and traffic advertising dropped sharply and significantly.
However, with the progress of vaccinations and the government's proposal to balance the control of re-spread of infection and socioeconomic activities, the demand for ATL measures seems to be gradually recovering now.

Especially popular advertising medias are: railways and subways or station ads (both poster and video), taxi video ads, and in the case of taxi advertisements, it seems that ad spaces are being filled for months to come.

So, we wanted to introduce you to the different OOH ad spaces good for B2B businesses.

What are the features of B2B OOH advertisements?

The most common way to travel around Tokyo is the complex train system. The railways and subways are very vast and not only used by business-people to travel, but by everyone in Tokyo. For that reason, advertising spaces and large digital signage in and around the stations and on the trains can be effective tools to raise brand or product awareness. But, depending on the target, you need to carefully decide on where and how to use the advertising mediums in order to be effective.

Another popular medium for B2B advertising is taxis. In the busy city of Tokyo, there are many business-people who use taxis to quickly navigate from place to place. This has recently become more popular because many taxis now feature monitors inside the car. And because they often move around in a smaller area than a train line, it is easier to narrow your target compared to other OOH mediums.

The above two are some of the most common OOH advertising mediums in Tokyo for B2B companies. But there are still a lot of options within those mediums that need to be decided.

Media

Large digital signage

・Shibuya Station’s OOH

The most famous crossing in Japan is the world renown Shibuya scramble crossing. While there are a lot of tourist in this area, on weekdays there are many businesspeople who use this crossing as well.
Shibuya is undergoing redevelopment, and office buildings are opening one after another in an area separate from the scramble crossing. These office buildings also house commercial and cultural facilities as tenants. Shibuya is now being transformed into a town that attracts not only shoppers and tourists, but also a large numbers of business people.

Many large digital signages are installed in new business office areas as well as buildings around intersections.
The area around Shibuya station is one of the best spots to install advertisements.

・ The digital signage of Shinagawa Station

Shinagawa Station, which also acts as a terminal for the famous bullet trains of Japan, is filled with business-people. Within the station, along the path to the business district of Shinagawa, there is a hallway with 44 monitors lining the walls all displaying the same advertisement. This provides a very stark visual. This advertising space is particularly popular with IT and technology companies.

Station advertisements

・Digital Signage

Recently, digital signage has been installed in stations all over Tokyo. Because they can be used for long periods of time to display one advertisement, they are often used for branding purposes. On top of this, it is also possible to display video advertisements on them. They look much cleaner and better than the standard and old fashion posters often seen in stations. You choose which station to advertise in depending on you target and requires some strategic thinking.

Train advertisements

・The digital signage of the train channelsbr />
Newer trains in the Tokyo rail system are now equipped with monitors that that are above the door and sometimes even above the seats. They are becoming more and more common as the different rail companies up updating their trains in preparation for the Tokyo Olympics. Although they do not project sound, using subtitles allows for effective messaging. If you are going for a strong impression, it is even possible to use all the signs in one car. This is a great tool for branding and PR.

Taxi Advertisements

・The taxi monitors

Have you ever seen a taxicab that has a monitor in the back seat? These taxicabs are becoming increasingly more common in Tokyo. The monitor is a touch panel and is not only for displaying your advertisement. It also allows those who are interested to touch the panel, taking them to your company’s website.

What do you think about the OOH advertisements of Tokyo?

While we introduced some different OOH mediums there are still many more examples and require careful strategizing and a knowledge of the many Tokyo neighbourhoods to make the best use of them. Bigbeat provides support with marketing and branding in a variety of different media! If you are interested in placing an ad onto one of the many OOH spaces in Tokyo, do not hesitate to consult with us!