Go where the people are: The Great British OOH Road Trip invites media planners to explore the real UK

“Lots of people double down on London, which means that you’ve got greater opportunity when you push outside of the capital,” he adds.

Beyond the capital, people live at different paces, in different places, with different priorities. Their commutes aren’t all on the Central line. Their cultural touchpoints aren’t all in Soho. Their spending power isn’t confined to a few London postcodes. And if a media plan doesn’t reflect that, marketers are missing a trick.

The Great British OOH Road Trip

That’s the starting point for The Great British OOH Road Trip – a three-part video series from The Drum and Bauer Media Outdoor, exploring what life really looks like beyond the London bubble, and what that means for out-of-home (OOH).

Studio-based but nationally minded, the series digs into how people move, feel and spend across the country. Powered by Bauer Media Outdoor research and brought to life through the experience of three brand and agency leaders including Habib, alongside James Parnum, head of planning at EssenceMediaCom and Emily Westworth, head of media at Samsung Electronics UK.

Across three short, snackable episodes, we explore why OOH isn’t just the only medium with true nationwide reach – it’s also one of the most trusted, thanks to its public, unskippable presence in the heart of communities.

Episode 1: Feeling the nation

We kick things off with mood: how people feel about where they live, and why that emotional context should shape how brands show up.

From a Yorkshire “now then” greeting, to Suffolk’s laid-back “alright, buh” and the quietly smug “… actually” rivalry on the south coast, those phrases reflect something more than regional in-jokes – they’re shorthand for pride, character and community.

Layered over that, Bauer’s data shows audiences outside London often over-index on happiness, excitement and optimism – with regions like the East Midlands and North West standing out.

So what does that mean for planning? Our contributors talk about the importance of s tarting with real human insight and matching that mood with the right creative and format, which Parnum describes as “a potent kind of planning superpower”.

Episode 2: Mapping how the UK really moves

The second leg of our road trip tackles movement – how people actually get around the UK, and why that should make roadside OOH every planner’s obsession.

The myth we’re busting: that the UK moves like London. Bauer’s research shows that most people outside the capital commute via roadside methods, and a higher proportion are back in the workplace five days a week – which means repeated, habitual contact with billboards, six-sheets and large-format sites as part of everyday life.

Our guests swap stories of guessing cityscapes and – crucially – noticing how much more stand-out there is once you leave the capital’s ad clutter behind. For advertisers, that’s pure opportunity: fewer competing messages, more mental availability.

On formats and innovation, they highlight blends of large-format and digital six-sheets to balance reach with relevance, dynamic OOH that taps into time of day, weather, location or platform, so the message fits the moment and high-impact takeovers around big cultural events where brands become truly unmissable in a city.

Episode 3: Spending power in surprising places

Finally, we follow the money – and challenge the idea that serious spending power is a London-only story.

When we ask our guests to guess what proportion of people beyond London are planning a big-ticket purchase in the next three months, the answers are all high – and with good reason. Bauer’s research reveals that intent to spend on major items is just as strong beyond the capital, with regions over-indexing on culture, entertainment and home improvements.

The conversation moves from electric cars and John Lewis dining chairs to the role of OOH near supermarkets, shopping centers and high streets. Westworth, for example, notes that “there ’s a natural bias towards planning sites that [media planners and buyers are] and that “[spending power] could be a significant variable that could affect the out-of-home plan and how that looks.”

The advice to marketers is: don’t just map where people are, map what they can afford and intend to buy, use geo, behavioral and spending power data together to build smarter OOH plans, and take advantage of less clutter but just as much demand.

The Great British OOH Road Trip helps marketers see the bigger picture – and plan for the whole country, not just the capital. Watch the full episodes above.