How Advertising Matters: Outdoor Media Strategies for Increased Engagement with Creative Climate Change Messages

Maxwell Boykoff , Harsha Gangadharbatla , Beth Osnes-Stoedefalke

Amid many communication strategies in 2025, creative advertising approaches are clearly powerful tools. Yet, out-of-home (OOH) or outdoor media (OM) often receives little attention in advertising research, particularly when used in the context of climate change, sustainability and environmental issues. This research helps to bridge the gap with experimentation and analysis OOH or OM in the context of environmental messages by exploring how size, type (static versus mobile), placement, and content on advertisement engagement may shape engagement with climate change messages. We use data collected in a real-world field experiment (measured through QR codes) in 2022-2023, garnered through two waves of data collection using QR codes and clickthrough rates on mobile smartphones. We found that larger advertisements outperformed (in terms of engagement) smaller ones with the same message, yet that exterior bus advertisements garnered more engagement than interior advertisements, and static billboards were more engaging in terms of QR code scans than the transit or bus advertisements with the same messages. Furthermore, we found that general climate change advertisements and messaging gained more engagement than more specific sustainable fashion advertising and messages that linked to climate change. Overall, we found that creative advertising through OOH/OM can be very powerful and effective in raising awareness and garnering engagement or even persuading people to take action. This experimental research has been designed and executed in order to help provide insights for ongoing campaigns for enhanced climate, environment and sustainability awareness and action. In the context of ongoing research to understand the utility of advertising – by carbon-based industry, by groups seeking to inspire greater pro-environmental behavior – our experimental work provides insights and implications for academics and practitioners who seek to shape and influence pro-climate awareness and behavioral action.