How Decathlon Drove a 46% Increase in Footfall with Programmatic DOOH

Decathlon, an international sporting goods retailer, launched a programmatic digital out-of-home campaign in the Netherlands in partnership with Talon NL and Broadsign to boost in-store footfall during the brand’s peak summer season.

Objective

The campaign's primary objective was to drive immediate, measurable foot traffic to Decathlon stores in major Dutch cities. A key goal was to demonstrate the value and effectiveness of programmatic DOOH by measuring the tangible footfall uplift in campaign locations compared to a non-exposed control group. By doing so, they aimed to prove that pDOOH could be a powerful tool for converting ad exposure into real-world consumer action.

Strategy

Talon NL developed a high-impact, three-week pDOOH campaign using Broadsign’s OutMoove DSP to target high-traffic urban locations. Activating across 218 digital screens near Decathlon stores, the strategy was designed to maximize visibility and influence consumers close to the point of purchase.

The campaign included a strategic test-and-learn component: media pressure was systematically varied between cities to evaluate how different levels of share of voice impacted store visits. The campaign achieved broad market reach while simultaneously generating data-backed insights to optimize future campaign investment and clearly demonstrate the measurable power of pDOOH.

Results

Significant Incremental Footfall Lift: The campaign generated a substantial 46% footfall lift across all Decathlon stores in the campaign group. While a notable 38% lift was observed in the control group due to seasonality and the time of year, the incremental 8 percentage point increase can be directly attributed to the impact of the programmatic DOOH campaign.

Higher frequency locations drove greater lift:

Media pressure was strategically varied across cities, which demonstrated a strong, direct correlation: higher campaign frequency and Share of Voice (SOV) resulted in greater foot traffic uplift. This validated the decision to invest more heavily in key markets:

Amsterdam: With high media investment resulting in 19% of ad inventory across 86 screens, this location delivered a massive 59% lift in store visits.

Rotterdam: With an average 12% share of voice across 77 screens, this location delivered a 48% overall lift in store visits.

Den Haag: Conversely, a lower exposure, corresponding to 8% of ad inventory across 51 screens, yielded a 26% lift in store visits.

How Decathlon Drove a 46% Increase in Footfall with Programmatic DOOH

Objective:

• Drive foot traffic to Decathlon stores during peak summer season.
• Gain insights on the relationship between media pressure and footfall to inform future strategy.

Strategy:

• Campaign Period: 3 weeks
• Execution: A programmatic DOOH campaign with strategically varied media pressure across locations.
• Agency: Talon NL
• DSP: OutMoove
• Locations: Netherlands: Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and The Hague
• Publisher: JCDecaux (218 screens)
• Venue types: Transport (train/bus/metro) and Street furniture

Results:

• Total Ad Plays: 874,799
• Total Impressions: 4,659,202
• Overall footfall lift: The campaign drove a 46% gross footfall lift for Decathlon stores, achieving an 8 percentage point incremental lift directly attributable to the pDOOH exposure.
• Top Performance Achieved: The highest exposure market, Amsterdam, drove an exceptional 59% store visit lift with a 19% SOV, significantly outpacing the 26% lift seen in lower-frequency areas.

“The results from this footfall study were outstanding. It provided the tangible evidence we needed, confirming our DOOH campaign drove a 8% incremental lift in store traffic during the peak season. This insight is now core to our budget planning.” - Bart Bouwmeester, Digital media, Decathlon Netherlands