Reviews
Part of When to trust out of home advertising reviews and when to verify instead
An out of home advertising selection checklist that survives scrutiny
An out of home advertising selection checklist for UK buyers: compliance, campaign fit, audience evidence and a worked budget example before sign-off.
What to take away
- Decide first what the buy must provereach, context or response. The checklist changes with that answer.
- Check creative and claims against the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 before artwork goes to print.
- Confirm who owns each site, who sells it and what evidence sits behind any audience figure you are quoted.
- Treat any supplier review as a starting point, not a verdict.
- Budget for production, installation and duration separately from the space rate, or the numbers will mislead you.
Stage one: compliance and content checks
Advertising codes and sanctions
Out of home creative is public, permanent for its flight and easy for a regulator to photograph. Before booking, check the sanction ladder for non-compliant advertisers: an ad alert, a withdrawal request, and a referral to the CAP compliance team, as set out on the sanctions available to the ASA page.
Compliance and content checks
- Read ASA sanctions for non-compliant advertisers
- Substantiate every price and comparison claim
- Keep evidence file with booking sheet
- Rewrite or drop unproven claims
A ruling can force withdrawal mid-flight, and that cost falls on the buyer, not the site owner. A withdrawn campaign still consumes the flight and production budget, while the site owner keeps the rent.
Consumer protection and claim substantiation
Every price, comparison and availability claim on a poster needs substantiation. The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 set the baseline for misleading actions and omissions, and apply to outdoor copy as they do online.
Keep the evidence file with the booking sheet. If a claim cannot be evidenced in the same week it is written, rewrite it or drop it.
If you are still assembling the shortlist, the method in out of home advertising: reviews and comparison methods shows how to score suppliers on the same criteria rather than on presentation quality.
Stage two: fit and evidence checks
Campaign type and channel mix
Out of home rarely works alone. Review the campaign types in Google Ads Help so you can describe how the outdoor burst supports or duplicates digital activity. Write down which formats you are buying and which you are only considering, so nobody assumes the outdoor spend replaces paid search.
Fit and evidence checks
- Describe how outdoor supports digital activity
- List formats buying versus considering
- Ask source, date and geography of audience data
- Mark unverified figures and weight accordingly
- Establish whether seller is owner or reseller
- Check legal name against public register
Audience evidence and site data
Ask for the source, date and geography behind every audience number. Route is the UK industry currency for out of home audience measurement, so ask for the Route data behind any figure. If a supplier such as JCDecaux or Clear Channel cannot say when a figure was produced or what area it covers, mark it unverified.
Ownership and contracting
Establish whether you are buying from a site owner, a media owner or a reseller. The contracting entity determines who is liable when a site goes dark, and it changes your bargaining position on price. Ask for the legal name of the seller and check it against the public register where the sums are material.
Stage three: money, proof and sign-off
A worked budget example
Say a six-sheet campaign runs for four weeks at an illustrative £400 per site per month. Six sites for one month is £2,400 in space. Add a labelled £600 for print and installation and a £250 contingency, giving £3,250 total. Per site, that is £400 space plus £100 print and installation plus £41.67 contingency, so £541.67 per site.
A second quote might offer space at £350 per site per month but charge £900 for print and installation, with no contingency listed. That gives £2,100 space plus £900 production, so £3,000 total, or £500 per site. Compare the per-site figures and the evidence behind them, not just the bottom line.
What to record before you commit
| Check | Evidence to hold | Pass | Fail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Compliance | Signed-off copy and substantiation file | ||
| Audience | Source, date, geography | ||
| Contract | Named entity, liability terms | ||
| Cost | Space, production, contingency, separated |
For agency-side checks, out of home advertising agency reviews in England explains what a credible review record should contain before you rely on it.
Sign-off discipline
One named person should own the go or no-go decision, and the out of home advertising selection checklist should be signed before the first site is reserved. If a supplier pushes for a deposit before the evidence pack is complete, that is itself a finding.
Common questions
How many suppliers should the checklist cover?
Three is usually enough to test the market without stalling the process. Score each on the same criteria so the comparison holds up when someone challenges it.
Does the checklist change for digital out of home?
Yes, in two places. Add checks on playback reporting and on how quickly creative can be pulled if a claim is queried.
What if the audience data is estimated?
Label it as an estimate in your own paperwork. Estimated figures are usable for ranking sites, but not for promising a client a specific number of impressions.
When should the checklist be revisited?
Before each new flight, and whenever the site, the seller or the creative claim changes. A checklist signed last quarter does not cover this quarter's buy.
