While digital advertising continues to grow, street-level promotional services are reporting incredible stability, bucking some predictions.
When digital advertising first arrived on the scene, many analysts predicted that a seismic shift would occur, leading to the gradual death of out-of-home advertising as attention shifted more and more toward the online landscape. Despite this, however, the medium remained a reliable source of impressions, and has even seen some growth in recent years. Now, it seems that the markets are following a similar pattern, this time with street-level advertising at the center of the conversation.
SIMAA is the leading street-level marketing distributor in the Bay Area, and they have worked with many of San Francisco’s most beloved theater organizations to promote shows, events, and pop-ups.
They have been offering their services throughout the Bay Area for 26 years, and have seen a massive shift in the way events are marketed in that time. However, despite the rise of social media as a primary promotional channel, they explain that the value of a physical flyer and word-of-mouth communication has not diminished.
In fact, it seems that in the golden age of digital advertising, the type of promotion that SIMAA offers may even be more effective than social media campaigns, despite what some commentators have predicted. Perhaps unsurprisingly, much of the doom-saying comes from digital agencies attempting to adjust the narrative to promote their services, though market reports do offer additional insights.
While some point to the explosive 18.7% growth rate achieved by the SEO industry in 2024 as a sign that street-level marketing is on its way out, one must instead look at the rock-steady growth of out-of-home advertising - consistently hovering around 4% for the past 7 years •as a sign that the medium remains a reliable resource for local and national businesses alike.
For example, an article published by Yelp suggests that street-level marketing can be a powerful tool to establish a given company or organization as a member of the local community, thereby fostering a deeper connection to their target market, a sentiment echoed by the businesses who rely on street-level advertising to promote their services.
SIMAA’s strategy focuses on high-traffic areas and direct engagement tactics such as hand-to-hand and door-to-door advertising. They frequent campuses, coffee shops, libraries, restaurants, and other pedestrian hotspots to ensure their clients can maximize attendance at their events.
More information about their services can be found here.
