Archive for May, 2018

DOmedia, the host to the largest database of OOH vendors in the US, is constantly encountering innovative vendors. In our Vendor Spotlight series, we attempt to highlight these companies and explain to you how they are pushing the industry forward. Today we’re focusing on American Campus Media.

Founded in 1998 and rebranded in 2017, American Campus Media provides a unique mix of OOH offerings, including traditional OOH advertising signage, mobile geo-fencing, newsstands, phone charging stations, NFC/QR campaigns, as well as online and print advertising sales. They specialize in media products and marketing services directed at millennial and Generation Z students located on college campuses nationwide.

Their leadership team is no stranger to the outdoor advertising industry. Don Allman, senior advisor, is the former president of Titan Outdoor and vice chairman of Intersection. Brigg Hyland, director of all national sales, has decades of experience in the OOH business. 

According to Hyland:

“We deliver results thanks to our ability to layer impressions through our unique mix of media products and marketing services, targeting valuable demographic segments in a highly concentrated environment.”

If you want to learn more check out the vendor page here.

Want to be featured on our blog? Fill out our short vendor questionnaire here.

Life as we know it is continuously changing. With cultivation, urbanization, and deforestation all occurring at unprecedented rates it is clear that humankind is causing a disruption. Human growth is disturbing Earth’s delicate ecosystems and causing the planet to respond in a variety of unpredictable, and sometimes even devastating ways. Climate change is an overarching issue that stands to impact nearly every facet of human life. With natural disasters becoming more common we may begin to see assets being destroyed at increasingly high rates. Will companies stop investing in OOH if this becomes a dominant trend? This post will answer that question and examine some of the contributing factors.

Current Climate

Climate change is having a profound effect on the frequency of natural disasters*. To illustrate the increased frequency it should be noted that in 1970, the average number of natural disasters per year was 78. In 2004 that number had skyrocketed to 348. From 1980 to 2009 there has been an 80% increase in climate-related disasters, and the number of flood and storm catastrophes has risen by more than 7% annually. The rate at which these numbers are growing is concerning, but it isn’t the only problem.

In addition to frequency, the strength and power of these disasters are also increasing. 2017 was the costliest, and one of the most destructive, years to date for natural disasters in the United States. Two of the most devastating hurricanes to ever hit the continental US, Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma, occurred within just one month of each other. California suffered through its most intense wildfire season ever, 14 cities in the Midwest experienced record flooding, and over 1400 tornadoes touched down in locations all across the country! These record-breaking disasters amassed over $306 billion dollars in damage and serve as a reminder of the negative impact that climate change can have on the cities we live in.

Protection & Prevention

The main threat that these storms pose to the out-of-home industry is the destruction they can cause to company’s physical assets. Aggressive winds topple billboards, heavy rains cause electrical shortages in digital displays, and wildfires threaten to burn down anything and everything that lays within reach. Will this destruction cause decreased investment in OOH?

The simple answer to that question is no. OOH is a 7.7 billion dollar industry that is consistently growing. Outdoor advertising offers too much potential value to its customers for it to be completely abandoned. Additionally, the rise of DOOH and the potential of programmatic have recently caused a growing interest in the industry from advertisers everywhere. These innovations will serve will act as safeguards, protecting the industry from the adverse effects of climate change by promising marketers increasingly effective offerings.

Another reason that natural disasters won’t collapse the industry is that there are ways for
companies to protect themselves against these catastrophes. Most notably, by investing in insurance policies. There are two primary types of insurance policies that can be considered. The first is a replacement policy that covers the full costs required to reconstruct or repair a display. The second is a corporate liability policy that covers the cost of damages incurred when an asset harms someone’s property or causes a physical injury. Both of these policies can be procured at relatively low monthly rates and will act as ideal forms of protection against disaster-related damages.

Companies can’t wholly prevent natural disasters, but if they act in an environmentally responsible manner, they can play a role in limiting their effects.  Even just committing to small changes, such as investing in energy-efficient assets, replacing high-wattage fixtures with LED alternatives, or converting to recyclable printed materials can make a difference and have a profoundly positive impact. Additionally, outdoor displays can help to mitigate the effects of disasters by running charity campaigns much like the ones that were seen after hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

The environmental concerns of today call for honest consideration and innovative solutions. Although assets can be insured, and billboards reconstructed, the OOH industry needs to do it’s best to support the ecosystems of tomorrow. Through threatening situations and seemingly uncertain futures, OOH possesses the power to persist.

Check out DOmedia, home to the largest database of OOH vendors in the US, and start planning your next outdoor ad campaign today!

For much of its history, OOH has been a mass-marketing medium. It is capable of reaching the public in a way that other ad formats simply cannot. Recently though, advertising has seen a shift towards more personalized marketing. As a result, the OOH industry has begun to pioneer new techniques and technologies. These innovations are helping to move OOH forward by allowing advertisers to target specific demographics, at certain times, in designated areas.

These targeted marketing efforts require a considerable amount of consumer data. Luckily, mobile devices are beginning to look like an increasingly likely source for this information. This post will examine the relationship between mobile and OOH, and highlight its potential benefits.  

Before moving on, a brief definition of both geotargeting and geofencing would be beneficial. Their definitions are as follows:

Geofencing: Creating a virtual boundary around a specific area, or location, using a device’s GPS coordinates or IP address. Ads delivered through geofencing are seen on any device within the defined location.

Geotargeting: Ads delivered using geotargeting are delivered to consumers who belong to certain demographics, exhibit specific behaviors, and are also in the desired location.

These geographically influenced techniques are becoming so prevalent that they are being used in almost 55% of location-based advertising campaigns. Their ability to improve the relevancy of an ad’s messaging, and ultimately increase their influence is a driving factor behind their popularity. Even though these concepts are utilized by the OOH industry on location-based displays, such as DPB networks and transit screens, anonymized mobile data could seriously increase their effectiveness.

Currently, OOH advertisers attempt to follow the movement patterns of people along their daily routines to understand their day-to-day behavior. They then use this information to predict the potential audiences that will reside in particular locations at certain times and proceed to place ads accordingly. While this certainly works, increased mobile analytics could even further refine this method.

In addition to tracking general location, mobile analytics would also allow marketers to go beyond demographics and gain a true understanding of their audience. Using mobile analytics, advertisers could track purchasing habits and know if a specific crowd is more likely to shop at Target or Walmart, for example. They could track browsing history and find the common interests of the exact audience that will be viewing their ad at 3:30 pm. A mobile partnership would allow advertisers to extend their geotargeting efforts beyond traditional location-based formats. It will enable them to utilize these techniques and place hyper-relevant content on virtually any type of display.

Although one-to-one OOH advertising simply isn’t practical (yet), geotargeting combined with mobile analytics will allow ads to be as pertinent as humanly possible. The phones and devices that rest in our pockets, purses, and backpacks are more powerful than we think. The effects of OOH & Mobile Data’s increased convergence is going to be profound. Campaigns will become more impactful and the ad experience as we know it will change. OOH won’t just be a great way to reach the masses anymore. It will be a way to reach the masses in the ways that they want to be reached. This relationship is primed to be a true game changer.

Check out DOmedia, host of the largest database of OOH vendors in the US, and start planning a powerful outdoor ad campaign today!

The annual Geopath / OAAA convention kicked off this year with words from Geopath President Kym Frank and ended with a panel featuring fresh insights from top industry CEOs. In between the incredible tech demos, workshops, awards and social events, the DOmedia team found time to share some pretty cool stuff with our friends and partners. OAAA did a recap of the event as a whole. But, here are three super cool things you might have missed from the DOmedia team:

1) DOmedia Signed Kinetic as Our Newest Agency Users

We announced that Kinetic North America is set to begin using DOmedia! From the press release:

“Kinetic will leverage DOmedia’s planning platform to support the agency’s OOH buying and planning efforts. The system is designed to provide planning efficiencies from managing the vendor RFP process to refining media plans and managing the proof of performance process.”

With Kinetic joining the other agencies and brands using DOmedia, we’re proud to say our software now supports buyers representing nearly 20% of all U.S. out-of-home media spend (and nearly 40% of US agency-driven OOH spend).

2) DOmedia Presented Machine-Learning Insights to Help Sellers Help YOU!

Our presentation to the convention, “Machine Learning Looks Inside OOH Sales” leveraged over one million data-points to help sellers understand what data and behaviors were most valuable to OOH buyers. We presented actionable strategies to help sellers identify valuable areas for investment, improve their communication with buyers and better demonstrate the value of their media assets. Plus, it was all built on a foundation of artificial intelligence (an area where we are pursuing several projects this year).  

The presentation was extremely well received, and we look forward to finding more ways to bring buyers and sellers closer together through the power of technology.

3) BillboardsIn Put the Spotlight on Local OOH Buyers

BillboardsIn.com, our platform for local OOH media buyers, made its conference debut with an illuminating exhibit powered by real-time data. Wifi-connected lightbulbs on our giant map blinked whenever someone in each city came to the site looking for billboards. That’s tens of thousands of potential advertisers every month. The display helped sellers visualize the potential for ultra-fast transactions to revolutionize local OOH sales. Also… it just looked really really cool. The lightbulbs on the exhibit are capable of producing 33,000 combined lumens at full brightness. That’s enough to give you a Texas-sized suntan! We turned them all on to get this pic. 

Massive building wraps have become much more prevalent in the OOH industry over the past few years. Building wraps were once reserved only for the king-sized casinos of Las Vegas, but recently they have been finding their way into cities across the globe. Lately though, construction companies are placing an increased importance on developing commercial facilities that are sustainable and energy efficient. Are full-facade advertising wraps and the green world of tomorrow inherently at odds? This blog post will answer that question and inform readers on the factors surrounding it.

LEED Standards

Currently, commercial buildings account for around 41% of the world’s energy consumption. This heavy consumption has driven the industry’s need for a sustainable set of standards and ultimately led to LEED’s preeminent status. LEED, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, Standards are established by the U.S Green Building Council (USGBC) and serve as a framework that can be used “to create healthy, highly efficient and cost-saving green buildings.”

Adhering to LEED standards can be done in a variety of ways, such as increasing daylighting, installing low-VOC carpet, or even just being close to public transportation. Hitting certain sustainability benchmarks earn buildings points. Then, once they acquire enough points they are designated as LEED certified. LEED-certified buildings use, on average, up to 11% less water, decrease maintenance costs by 19%, and emit 34% fewer greenhouse gases. Additionally, LEED Certified buildings can often charge their tenants higher rent, and might even receive government-funded tax breaks.

Building Wraps

Building wraps function as massive canvases for OOH advertising. They are offered in virtually any size, lend themselves to intense customization, and can last from just a few weeks to up to almost 5 years. Building wraps can also be used to hide unappealing architectural features or to conceal any ongoing renovations. Additionally, building wraps can be printed and installed relatively quickly, as it takes less than 15 hours to print a 20,000 square foot advertisement.  Wraps are usually printed on one of two materials:

• Vinyl: Vinyl wraps offer slightly better readability, but does so while blocking views and limiting the amount of daylight that can enter the space.
• Mesh: Mesh wraps provide tenants with full access to their outdoor views, and only slightly limit the amount of daylight entering the indoor space. Mesh wraps suffer from slightly worse readability, but the effect is minimal due to the usually long distance that wrap ads are viewed from.

Wrap-Up

The question asked at the beginning of the post was, “Are full-facade advertising wraps and the green world of tomorrow inherently at odds?” The simple answer to this query is no. Although building wraps do sometimes hinder the amount of daylight can penetrate a space, the effect of this on the environmental footprint of an entire building is relatively minimal. So even though there are some negative outcomes that come from wrapping a building, the list is very short.

In fact, it would seem that the relationship between wraps, and the buildings they are installed on, is actually mutually beneficial. Wraps that are reflective in nature help to reduce cooling costs in hotter months, while darker wraps that absorb sunlight help to reduce heating costs in cooler months. Another element of this mutualistic relationship pertains to public transportation. Buildings located near transportation hubs are considered to be more environmentally conscious, as it requires less work to reach them. In the OOH industry, locations near transportation hubs are seen as more valuable because they offer higher rates of exposure, and ultimately greater reach.

Today’s world is steadily shifting towards stricter sustainability guidelines and greener practices. Upon inspection, it’s clear to see that building wraps are as eye-catching as they are environmentally conscious. Through it all, OOH persists and manages to remain the lucrative, relevant ad format that it has always been.

Now that you know a little more about building wraps, and their relationship with environmentally sustainable buildings head on over to DOmedia, host of the largest database of OOH vendors in the US, and find the perfect location to place a wrap promoting your brand or company!