Digital out-of-home advertising is increasingly being used for more than conventional brand messages. Lamar Advertising is putting that idea into practice with a nationwide Grandparents’ Day initiative that lets families submit grandparents’ photos for display on Lamar digital billboards, turning its DOOH network into a participatory media platform.

Lamar Uses DOOH Network to Let Families Put Grandparents on Digital Billboards

Digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising has traditionally been associated with brands competing for attention on high-traffic roads, in shopping districts and other public spaces. Lamar Advertising is using the same infrastructure for something considerably more personal: letting families put their grandparents on a billboard.

Ahead of Grandparents’ Day on September 13, Lamar has launched LamarGrandparentsDay.com, where people can submit a photograph to be considered for display on one of the company’s digital billboards across the U.S. Accepted submissions will run from September 9 through September 16, rotating alongside the regular advertising inventory.

Participants receive an email showing nearby digital billboard locations where their tribute may appear, along with a virtual mockup of the submitted creative. The company is also planning to feature selected submissions on its social media channels.

The initiative offers an interesting example of how digital out-of-home advertising technology can make traditionally one-way media more interactive.

Rather than simply selling billboard impressions to advertisers, Lamar is temporarily turning portions of its digital inventory into user-generated media. For families, the proposition is straightforward: submit a photo, identify a nearby billboard and potentially see a personal message displayed in a highly visible public location.

For the DOOH industry, however, the campaign highlights a broader capability of digital billboard networks: programmable physical media can be updated, localized and repurposed much faster than traditional static outdoor advertising.

Digital Inventory Creates New Possibilities for Participatory Advertising

The technical advantage of digital billboards is flexibility.

Static outdoor advertising requires physical production, printing and installation. Digital displays can instead cycle through multiple pieces of content according to predetermined schedules. That allows operators to sell or allocate inventory for different audiences, campaigns and moments without physically changing the billboard.

Lamar’s Grandparents’ Day campaign is an example of using that flexibility for a nontraditional content strategy.

The submitted photos are not replacing Lamar’s commercial advertising inventory entirely. They will rotate among the usual advertisements during the campaign period. That distinction is important for advertisers because it demonstrates how digital inventory can accommodate special initiatives while maintaining the underlying commercial model.

The campaign also introduces a localized element. Participants are being given maps showing where their tribute can be viewed, creating a direct connection between an individual’s digital submission and a physical media location.

That model resembles some of the audience-participation strategies already emerging across DOOH, where advertisers use dynamic creative, real-time triggers, social content and location data to make physical advertising more responsive.

Lamar’s Campaign Shows Why DOOH Is Becoming More Flexible

Lamar operates one of the largest outdoor advertising networks in the U.S., with digital displays forming an increasingly important component of modern billboard infrastructure.

The broader DOOH market is benefiting from the shift away from purely static inventory toward digitally managed screens. Advertisers can increasingly use software-driven systems to schedule creative, manage multiple campaigns and tailor messages according to factors such as location, time and audience context.

That creates opportunities that are difficult to replicate with conventional billboards.

A retailer, for example, could use a digital screen to promote a nearby store during specific hours. A sports advertiser could change creative around a live event. A national brand could distribute different messages across markets without producing separate physical billboard installations.

Lamar’s Grandparents’ Day initiative applies that same underlying flexibility to consumer participation rather than commercial targeting.

The campaign also illustrates an important distinction between DOOH as an advertising format and DOOH as a programmable media platform. Once billboard networks become digital and centrally managed, the screens can accommodate a much wider range of content strategies.

Moderation Becomes Part of the Media Workflow

Opening premium physical advertising inventory to public submissions also introduces a challenge that conventional commercial campaigns do not face to the same degree: content moderation.

Lamar is limiting submissions to five thousand accepted entries per day and has established restrictions on what can appear. Submissions containing company or business names and logos, political messages or inappropriate content will not be accepted.

That makes moderation a critical component of the campaign’s operating model.

For DOOH operators considering similar user-generated campaigns, the lesson is that digital flexibility does not eliminate media governance. It adds another layer to it. Public participation requires submission screening, content policies and operational processes capable of handling potentially thousands of assets.

The campaign therefore sits at an interesting intersection of DOOH, digital creative management, social media and user-generated content.

What It Means for Advertisers

For advertisers, the larger takeaway is not necessarily the Grandparents’ Day promotion itself. It is the demonstration of what programmable outdoor inventory can support.

Digital billboard networks can increasingly function as flexible content infrastructure rather than fixed advertising surfaces. That gives media owners more ways to package inventory while giving brands opportunities to experiment with localized, event-driven and participatory campaigns.

The challenge will be maintaining that flexibility without reducing the value or predictability of paid advertising inventory.

Lamar’s initiative provides a relatively low-risk example of the concept. By limiting the campaign to a defined period and rotating tributes with normal advertising, the company can experiment with participatory content while keeping its commercial network operating.

As DOOH adoption expands, similar approaches could become more common—particularly around holidays, sporting events, cultural moments and location-specific campaigns.

The billboard, in other words, is becoming less like a printed poster and more like a programmable screen. Lamar’s Grandparents’ Day campaign is a simple demonstration of what that shift makes possible.

Market Landscape

The DOOH advertising market is evolving around three major capabilities: programmability, dynamic creative and audience/location targeting.

Lamar’s campaign demonstrates another application: participatory DOOH, where members of the public can contribute content that becomes part of a physical media network.

That creates potential opportunities for:

• Media owners: More flexible ways to package unused or promotional inventory.
• Advertisers: New formats for community engagement and experiential campaigns.
• Agencies: Campaign concepts that connect digital participation with physical-world media.
• Consumers: Opportunities to see personalized or community-generated messages in public spaces.
• DOOH platforms: Greater demand for content management, scheduling, moderation and measurement infrastructure.

The model could become particularly interesting as DOOH networks become increasingly connected to programmatic buying platforms. The same infrastructure that allows advertisers to automate commercial creative can also support event-triggered or community-oriented content.

Top Insights

• Lamar is opening digital billboard inventory to family-submitted photos, demonstrating how programmable DOOH networks can support participatory campaigns beyond conventional advertising.
• The campaign connects online submissions with physical billboard locations, giving consumers a direct bridge between digital participation and real-world media experiences.
• Digital billboard flexibility allows Lamar to insert Grandparents’ Day tributes alongside normal advertisements without physically replacing existing creative or infrastructure.
• Content moderation becomes essential when public submissions enter commercial DOOH networks, highlighting new operational requirements for media owners experimenting with user-generated content.
• The initiative illustrates how DOOH is evolving from static signage into programmable media infrastructure capable of supporting localized, event-driven and interactive experiences.

Get in touch with our Adtech experts