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New and enhanced search tools allow subscribers to look for alternative, traditional & digital out-of-home media properties using specific criteria such as geography (set of DMAs, nationwide, search within a proximity to a location – to name a few), product category, venue and even target audience. Looking to reach female beachgoers this summer in their 20s who make between $25,000-75,000? Just enter your search criteria and click “search.” Plus, search results filters put the user in control of finding the media products they need by allowing them to uncheck any unnecessary criteria.

Also introduced with DOfind, Product Profiles feature key information such as Network at a Glance (digital OOH properties only), planning rates, contract terms, audience demographics, impressions, coverage areas, and art/production specs. Subscribers can then dig deeper for location-specific information found in the Asset Detail Profiles. DOfind is set up to be as detailed or as vague as the agency or advertiser needs it to be, which is why we created the ability to find products based on demographic stats like age, ethnicity, gender and household income. To appear in these targeted searches, media providers need only list all of their information within their profiles. It clearly takes two to tango, doesn’t it?

We are extremely excited about the potential of this sleek, new subscription directory, as are the many agencies and advertisers who provided all the great feedback we needed to get the tool where it is today. And after all the long hours put into the development of DOfind, it’s satisfying to know others in the industry are keeping a close eye on our activities. Several highly reputed online publications including Digital Signage Today and DailyDOOH have featured articles about the announcement of DOfind.

See what all the fuss is about… request your free trial today!

Since the earthquake in Haiti, DOOH has really stepped up to the plate and proved its worth the past couple weeks. In the aftermath of a tragedy felt around the world, everyone knew something needed to be done–but what? And we all wanted to help–but how? A single, unified message had to be created and made available to the masses. Quick, effective and capable of reaching millions of people worldwide.

So when Matthew Stoudt, CEO of Outcast, rang up the presidents of Zoom Media, TargetCast Networks, CBS Outernet, PumpTopTV, Premier Retail Networks, Captivate Network, AdSpace Networks and IndoorDIRECT, it wasn’t as a competitor but as a fellow industry leader trying to take action. With combined efforts and the help of the Red Cross, the group is now running “Text ‘Haiti’ to 90999″ ads across thousands of screens in malls, grocery stores, gyms, doctors’ offices and much more. By running the message across all of the biggest digital screen networks (40,000+ screens to be exact), the donation effort will reach about 100 million Americans each month.

Originally, the Ad Council worked with the Red Cross to develop a digital image to distribute across OOH screens. From there, it was picked up and distributed through OAAA. Lamar, Clear Channel, Health Media Network and Zoom Media have all picked up these ads as well. Some of the Ad Council messages include Michelle Obama or Bill Clinton and George Bush asking for donations. Some companies, such as iDklic Digital Signage and Narrowcasting in Belgium, put together their own ads and began running them across all of their networks. RAMVISION is also running a 2-week campaign for the Disaster Emergency Committee, broadcasting across their Shopping Centre Network.

Interested in joining the effort but don’t have the time or resources to put a spot together? The Preset Group has you covered. They’ve put together PSAs for use by anyone in the digital out-of-home community. For more info, click here.

Luckily, no one bought (or drank) a bottle of Dirty Water, but many were compelled to donate to this meaningful cause by inserting bills and change directly into the machine.  The campaign also allowed people to donate with their phone by texting TAP to 864233 (UNICEF) – another great example of alternative media and SMS text messaging integration.

Props to the creative folks at Casanova Pendrill for coming up with this campaign and donating their time too.  Great work!

Recently, Orange Barrel added another visually tantalizing advertisement to one of Easton Town Center’s exterior walls. The new wallscape features Ohio-based avitae energy water. And they actually mean energy water: purified water and natural caffeine. Period. And who better to go to when trying to promote a new product in a huge way? Orange Barrel, of course. The outcome: a gigantic, impossible to miss wallscape located in one of Ohio’s most visited tourist attractions (about 21 million people/year according to a recent press release). The ad shows a huge avitae bottle splashing pure, blue energy water down the wall and into a pipe. Just looking at it makes me thirsty.

After seeing everything they’ve done before, I can’t wait to see what Orange Barrel comes up with next. And I definitely can’t wait to try this water and finally ditch the daily coffee . . . and soda . . . and Red Bull.

As many already know, this week marks the 56th Annual Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, the largest competition for advertising creativity in the world. And new this year: judges are focusing more on actual business results of the entries instead of relying on creativity alone.

This week, a trend revealed itself among the Outdoor Lions winners, a trend that appears to represent the out-of-home industry as a whole. In past years, traditional out-of-home–such as billboards and street furniture–has dominated the winner’s pedestal. But the times are changing.

Out-of-home advertising used to refer mainly to one type: traditional forms. But that’s before the introduction of digital screens and internet access for the masses. If this year’s Outdoor Lions revealed anything, it’s that out-of-home isn’t what it used to be. What was once limited to a static, one-way message is continuously evolving into an interactive experience that not only targets an audience, but involves them as well.

The Outdoor Grand Prix runner-up (that only lost by 1 vote), the “Dig Out Your Soul” campaign promoting Oasis’ new CD, included street musicians performing some of the album’s unreleased tracks in the subway stations of NYC. It was creative, innovative, and got people’s attention. By utilizing the outdoor space like they did, the campaign grew exponentially when passersby began taking pictures and videos, later posting them on the internet and sharing them with friends and family.

Another interesting entry was HBO’s Big Love interactive billboard which won a Gold Lion. According to the entry’s presentation board,

“Everyone has something to hide. HBO’s show Big Love is about a large polygamous family leading complex lives full of deception and lies. To promote it, we developed interactive audio billboards featuring everyday people (not characters from the show) with jacks built into their heads. You could use your headphones (or ones handed out by our street teams) to plug in and hear their secret thoughts. These ranged from alcoholism to gambling addiction to an overweight man who wears a slimming girdle to a woman who secretly hates her baby and what it’s done to her life. The boards also featured a jack by the logo with a promo of the clips from the new season.”

What used to be an industry centered around billboards with one-way messaging has now become one in which limitations have all but dissolved. This year’s Cannes Lions winners & runners-up redefine out-of-home as we know it by developing innovative campaigns capable of interacting with consumers.

McDonald’s had a strong advertising campaign, winning two separate awards for both their “Always Fresh Coffee” and “Fresh Daily Eggs” billboards.  The first of the two shown high above Time’s Square, a spout continuously pouring fresh coffee into a cup several stories below (I wonder where all the coffee goes after making its big NYC debut . . . ).  The second involved a large egg that cracked open at 6:00 a.m.–when they begin serving breakfast–to reveal an over-easy egg, but closed again at 11:00 a.m. when breakfast ends. Between the two billboards, Leo Burnett Chicago took home two “Individual Execution- Traditional Billboard” awards as well as recognition for their Special F/X.

Another interesting use of out-of-home came from BBDO New York & Proximity Canada for Gillette Fusion Power, which took home the OBIE Award for “Individual Execution- Street Furniture / Transit / Alternative.”  As seen in the pic below, the agencies made creative use of a zamboni by attaching a larger-than-life Gillette razor to the back of it as it swept across the ice.

One of the more interactive campaigns came from Leo Burnett Toronto for James Ready Beer who vows to try to keep their prices at $1 a beer.  To do so, they needed to lower billboard costs and decided to look to their consumers for help.  By offering up their billboards, consumers became “celebrities for the day” by sending in pictures to be posted on the giant signs.  Underneath the images read, “Thanks ____ for keeping J.R. a Buck.”  Consumers and judges alike loved the campaign, awarding them “Best of Show” and “International.”  Click here to see the YouTube video.

All of this year’s award winners show that creativity and innovation in the out-of-home advertising industry are still on the rise.  To find more information on the rest of this year’s OBIE Award winners, go to the OAAA website at http://www.oaaa.org/awards/obieawards.aspx.

Nothing else can put a smile on your face quite like a mob flash dance made of several hundred strangers when you’re least expecting it.  On January 15th, London’s Liverpool Street Station was transformed into a massive dance floor thanks to T-Mobile.

The tagline, “Life’s for Sharing,” is exactly how you feel after watching the YouTube video that was shot with hidden cameras.  What begins with a handful of people quickly molds into an entire train station gettin’ down (grandmas and mohawk rockers alike) to the upbeat music blaring overhead.  Intrigued onlookers—no doubt questioning their sanity—filmed the whole event via cell phones to later share with family and friends.

Kudos to T-Mobile, and agency Saatchi & Saatchi, for giving us something to laugh at and talk about . . . which was probably the point.  I also love that they thought outside the silos (is it online . . . guerrilla . . . out of home?) and instead focused on building a connection between the experience and the brand, using all the relevant tools at their disposal.

Although many people are criticizing T-Mobile and Saatchi & Saatchi for using regurgitated material, I say anything that brings huge numbers of people together in a way that makes us all feel good just by watching it is a success.  After all, the very message here is that T-Mobile makes it possible for you to share any meaningful moment with the people that matter most.

And so, through a lot of creative thinking, sweat equity and some amazingly talented Aarrow Ads sign spinners (check out the video we shot), DO was everywhere. In attendees’ hotel rooms on their “DO not disturb” doorhangers and in their special gift packages. On the floor leading from the hotel to the meeting rooms (thank you Street Blimps!). On the free pins we were passing out and on super-special, light-up bouncing balls. After two solid days of DO everywhere, we certainly got people’s attention.

But more importantly, we had a wonderful opportunity to talk to industry professionals from across the country who were equally excited about what DOmedia can do to save time (read: money), encourage creative thinking and serve up new ways to connect with others in the advertising and media biz. We’ll be spending the next few days and weeks reconnecting with everyone we had a chance to meet in Florida and refining our development to reflect the feedback we received at the show. This is when the fun begins!

The execution, which is heavily focused on out-of-home elements, launched in subways, airports, train stations and highways in major US cities. The ambitious effort includes more than 270 pieces of creative across 2,750 placements nationwide.

Here’s just a taste of what you could run into:

• Decorated interiors of all 3 S trains in NYC running between Grand Central Terminal and Times Square
• Leticular ads that display 2 different images that seem to transform one to another placed throughout train stations nationwide
• Column wraps in NYC subway stations featuring tranquil landscapes that, when viewed from just the right angle, form a larger image
• Sub-media images placed in subway tunnels come to life a la childhood flip books as the trains zip through (a blooming flower in the morning and crashing waves in the evening)
• Bluetooth enabled billboards that encourage passers-by to download a Westin ringtone
• 3D billboards featuring a Zen rock garden or blooming flower

Besides just being really creative, this campaign manages to make the Westin brand tangible. It breaks through the clutter, captures the viewers attention, and makes an emotional connection. You may not need to book a hotel room today, but when you do, chances are you’re going to have a pretty good feeling about Westin.

In contrast to the outdoor execution for Wite-Out, Westin’s work is engaging and relevant….and even makes me want to ride the subway. Anybody got a token?