Do outdoor advertisements have to be placed on city landmarks? Authoritative analysis of strategy selection

When people talk about outdoor advertising, what often comes to mind are the LED giant screens of Shanghai Zhendan Building, the trendy screens of Beijing Sanlitun, or the dazzling light boxes of Beijing Wangfujing Pedestrian Street. These city landmark advertisements are regarded by many as the "ultimate dream" of brand marketing due to their unparalleled exposure and topicality. However, a real and crucial question lies before all marketing decision-makers: must outdoor advertising be directed towards city landmarks?
For brands with sufficient budget and the intention of shaping a top tier image, this may be an option. But for the vast majority of companies pursuing real growth and return on investment (ROI), this is more like a strategic myth that needs to be rationally examined. This article will break away from the "landmark only theory" and provide you with a scientific decision-making framework to help you see the true value of landmark advertising and find the outdoor advertising path that truly suits you.

1、 The core value of urban landmark advertising: what lies beneath the halo?
Firstly, we must objectively acknowledge that advertising on top city landmarks does have unique value. These values are mainly reflected in:
Huge voice and brand endorsement: Landmark media is the city's business card, which can instantly push the brand to the focus of public opinion. The landmark itself is a powerful declaration, conveying the brand's strong strength and industry status to the market, partners, and the public.
High concentration target audience reach: Taking Sanlitun in Beijing as an example, its large screen daily reach is the most cutting-edge fashion consumers and young trendsetters. If your target audience is highly concentrated in that area, the accuracy of landmark advertising is extremely high.
Phenomenon level social communication potential: Highly creative landmark advertisements (such as naked eye 3D) are highly likely to trigger passersby to take photos and check in, and form secondary or even multiple spread on social media, achieving a "breaking circle" effect.
Establishing a high-end brand association: Deeply linking brand image with landmark image helps to quickly establish a high-end and international brand awareness.
2、 The Other Side of Halo: Limitations and Challenges of Urban Landmark Advertising
While looking up at the halo, one must be aware of the "shadow" behind it:
Extremely high cost barriers: Landmark advertisements are usually priced in seconds or weeks, with single advertising costs ranging from millions to tens of millions. For the vast majority of enterprises, this is an unbearable burden and ROI calculation is extremely challenging.
The "flash by" reach mode: The audience of landmark advertisements is mostly mobile people, and although the exposure is wide, the single contact time is extremely short, and the depth of information transmission is limited. It is more like a "salute" for brand momentum rather than a "battlefield" for continuous communication.
The effect is difficult to directly track and attribute: The direct sales conversion or leads brought by landmark advertising are difficult to accurately track and measure in data, and are more of a long-term accumulation of brand assets.
Possible brand mismatch risk: Not all brands are suitable for landmarks. If a mass consumer brand forcefully lands on top business landmarks, it may cause a mismatch between brand tone and environment, and even create a sense of distance among core customers.
3、 Rational decision-making framework: four steps to determine whether you "must" invest in landmarks
Faced with landmark advertisements, please use the following four questions to question your soul:
Step 1: Review the core marketing objectives
Is your core goal for this advertising campaign to ignite brand awareness and announce major events (such as going public or opening flagship stores) in the short term, or to have a long-term and sustained impact on specific audiences and drive stable sales?
Conclusion: If the goal is the former and the budget allows, landmarks can be one of the options. If the goal is the latter, the landmark is likely not the optimal solution.
Step 2: Evaluate the brand development stage and budget
Is your brand in the start-up/upgrade phase that requires "one battle to fame" or in the mature phase that requires "meticulous cultivation"?
What is the proportion of outdoor activities in your overall marketing budget? Will the cost of investing in landmarks seriously squeeze resources from other more effective channels?
Conclusion: Startup or regional brands that bet their entire budget on a single landmark carry extremely high risks. Mature brands can include it as part of their brand asset portfolio, rather than the entire portfolio.
Step 3: Analyze the flow and gathering places of the target customer group
Where do your customers live, work, and consume every day? Will they definitely pass through Lujiazui or Wangfujing?
Perhaps the community elevators, office buildings, frequently visited subway lines, or commercial parking lots have a greater impact on them.
Conclusion: If the target customer group is not a widely mobile population, but a precise group with fixed routes, "capillary" style community media or commuting media may have shorter and more direct reach efficiency and conversion paths.
Step 4: Think about the compatibility between creativity and media
Do you have enough impactful and landmark level creative content? A mediocre idea placed on a landmark is doubly wasteful.
Conclusion: If there is no top-notch creativity that can be achieved in one battle, perhaps more budget should be invested in creative production and wider coverage of locations.

4、 A cost-effective 'non landmark' golden strategy: spend money on the cutting edge
If your answer shows that it is not "necessary", congratulations, you can explore the following more cost-effective and effective strategies:
Capillary saturation permeation strategy:
Method: Abandon a sky high priced landmark location and allocate the budget to hundreds of community lightboxes, elevator frames, and parking lot barriers in the target customer's living circle.
Advantages: Achieve high-frequency, close range, and mandatory repeated outreach, deeply integrate into consumers' daily lives, and directly drive local consumption decisions.
Precision flow network coverage strategy:
Method: Study the commuting, business, and shopping routes of the target customer group, and deploy them in corresponding subway passages, bus bodies, office building lobbies, and elevator combinations.
Advantages: Like weaving a web, intercepting multiple scenarios where customers appear, establishing a three-dimensional brand awareness, and offering extremely high cost-effectiveness.
Regional "small landmark" occupation strategy:
Approach: Do not compete for city level landmarks, but occupy the core hub or iconic building media within the target area (such as a high-tech zone or a large residential area).
Advantages: Establishing an absolute voice advantage and brand leadership within the region, with controllable costs and concentrated effects.
Leverage strategy of "creativity+social":
Method: Use a relatively reasonable budget to execute highly creative interactive advertisements at non landmark locations with potential topics, such as characteristic neighborhoods and internet celebrity check-in points, and actively guide social media dissemination.
Advantage: Using creativity to compensate for the lack of media space, expanding from small to large, may yield unexpected dissemination effects.
5、 Common Misconceptions and Key Reminders
Misconception 1: Equating landmark advertising with all outdoor advertising.
Reminder: Outdoor advertising is a rich ecosystem. The landmark is the tip of the pyramid, while the tower body and base are composed of a massive amount of community, transportation, and building media, the latter of which is the basic foundation that supports most brands' daily marketing.
Misconception 2: Believing that "as long as you go to a landmark, the brand becomes".
Reminder: Brand building is a systematic project. One landmark exposure cannot solve fundamental problems such as product, channel, and reputation. It may be icing on the cake, but it rarely provides timely assistance.
Misconception 3: Blindly making decisions without communicating with professional institutions.
Reminder: Whether it's investing in landmarks or choosing other strategies, you should consult a professional outdoor advertising placement company like Tianci Media. They can objectively analyze the true value of landmark projects based on rich practical experience and data, or tailor more cost-effective integration solutions for you, avoiding the huge waste caused by "brainstorming" decisions.
Conclusion: Strategy matching is the highest level of media selection
Returning to the original question: Do outdoor advertisements have to be placed on city landmarks?
The answer is: by no means necessary.
The core wisdom of outdoor advertising lies not in pursuing the most expensive and shining single point, but in achieving a high degree of matching between media strategy and brand strategy goals, target customer behavior, and budget reality.
For a few giants who need to shape their national brand image and declare their industry leadership position, urban landmarks are a reasonable chapter in their brand narrative. But for the vast majority of growth and conversion oriented enterprises, scientifically allocating resources in a "scenario based" media network that can deeply reach customers, effectively influence decision-making, and track effects is the more rational and sustainable way to win.
In the world of outdoor advertising, the most suitable is always more powerful than the most expensive.