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Reflections from OnMedia NYC 2013

by DOmedia on April 10, 2013 in DOmedia, Events, News, People, Sponsorships with No comments

DOmedia was honored as an OnMedia top 100 private tech company.
The seventh annual OnMedia conference was held in New York City March 17^th and 18^th and was a celebration of the innovative people, companies, and ideas that are connecting and empowering the world.

The field was full of household names ‘€“ Twitter, Pinterest, Square, Uber and Tumblr ‘€“ and was dominated by tech companies with coastal headquarters and superstar financiers. All of the ‘€œbuzzy’€ industry segments were present and accounted for. Digital media, cloud, big data, real time bidding, and community platforms… BINGO!

Tony Perkins, CEO AlwaysOn

This year’s overall ‘€œwinner’€ was AppNexus ‘€“ the world’s leading cloud-based real-time-bidding exchange for digital online. AlwaysOn’s Tony Perkins conducted a fireside chat with AppNexus CEO Brian O’Kelley. They discussed the genesis of the company, how Brian raised his first dollar from Marc Andreesson and Ben Horowitz (before they were ‘€œAndreesson Horowitz’€), their early pivots, and the challenge of scaling a business while raising a family. The story was a remarkably familiar one. Brian had a great idea, a supremely tailored skill-set to execute on that idea, and was able to plug into an ecosystem and ‘€œride the wave’€.

DOmedia was the exception to the rule in this year’s OnMedia 100. We are headquartered in ‘€œSili-corn-Valley’€, operate a business in a decidedly non-sexy industry (Out-of-Home), and build technology tools that empower media planners, buyers, and sellers, rather than replace them with algorithms. When it comes to buzzword BINGO, we are holding an empty card.

So how did we even make this year’s list? The answer is simple. The answer is YOU.

Our growth, our dynamism, and our success is driven by you ‘€“ our partners and our customers. Whether you work at a the worlds largest agency, or the worlds smallest media company, we believe at our core that you planners, buyers, and sellers in the Out-of-Home industry (and those in digital, mobile, social, et al) are the most valuable assets that your company has. We are not discounting the value of big data. We believe in analytics and we believe in the efficiencies that programmatic tools can bring to media buying. But we also recognize the value of experience. We recognize the value of the expert. That is why we build the tools we do. That is why we work every day to empower you ‘€“ make you faster, smarter, and more efficient.

We are honored to be recognized by AlwaysOn, but more importantly, we are honored to work with all of you.

Startup Q&A with Rich Langdale – IT Martini

by DOmedia on February 3, 2011 in DOmedia, People, Press with No comments

Rich Langdale, CEO, DOmedia

…Posted by Angela Gonzalez in IT Martini on Feb 2, 2011.

This IT Martini Media Correspondent can barely spell ‘€œentrepreneurship’€ while Rich Langdale lives and breathes the word. So much, in fact, that he helped found the Center for Entrepreneurship at The Ohio State University. Langdale’s newest business venture, DOmedia, is a 2010 TechColumbus Innovation Award semi-finalist for Outstanding Product.

DOmedia is a database of over 200,000 traditional, alternative and digital media properties. From highway billboards to digital signage networks, DOmedia provides one centralized location for media planners to search for, assess and contact available media properties throughout the US.

IT Martini asked Langdale how he felt about DOmedia being nominated for a 2010 TechColumbus Innovation Award.

‘€œIt’s a great honor,’€ he replied. He went on to say that the awards are a great program for Columbus. The awards provide ‘€œwell-deserved recognition’€ for Columbus outside of its geographical boundaries. TechColumbus is providing a showcase for the exciting innovation occurring in Columbus.

Why DOmedia? Why create a database of media properties?

Langdale answered that he has a strong background in marketing and logistics, so he cares a lot about this area. When looking at marketplaces for investment, Langdale looks for growth markets with great inefficiencies, high fragmentation and lack of transparency.

IT Martini asked what Langdale meant by ‘€œlack of transparency’€ and how that applied to the media properties market. He responded that advertisers don’t buy as much as they’d like because they are simply ‘€œnot able to see all that is out there.’€ DOmedia was of interest because of the shift in marketing dollars to on-line and out-of-home advertising. DOmedia is able to compile the opportunities and place that information directly in front media planners, who need to understand the many channels available when planning a multi-million dollar marketing campaign.

IT Martini wanted to know what advice Langdale has for those wanting to invest in or launch a start-up company. Langdale emphasized that having a great idea in a great market is core, but not enough. It is critical to ‘€œbuild out a vision, a mission, a strategy and a financial plan.’€ Get your ducks in a row, in other words. Langdale added that one of the key items of a strategic plan is getting key personnel in place.

How do you gather key personnel?

‘€œNetworking,’€ was the answer. Networking venues for Langdale include NCT Ventures, Ohio State University, TechColumbus and our own IT Martini events. Jeff Lamb, DOmedia’s Chief Technology Officer, for instance, is someone Langdale worked with previously. Once Lamb was on board, Lamb was able to recruit and build the core technology team behind DOmedia. Langdale emphasized that DOmedia had a ‘€œdramatic need for sophisticated database expertise.’€

Langdale had additional advice for those thinking of investing in or launching a start-up. He stated that after getting the right team together and developing the financial plan, a business model is essential. Entrepreneurs should ‘€œspend a lot of time thinking about how long it will take to get a customer.’€ How long it takes to acquire customers is how long it takes to recoup the dollars invested. That means, on the flip side, planning in advance how long you can sustain the business prior to acquiring a strong customer base.

Langdale is a deep business thinker who develops clear goals and invests time crunching the numbers prior to investing in a start-up company. It must be the correct formula, for Langdale has done this ‘€œa couple dozen times.’€ IT Martini hopes to enlist Langdale in 2011 IT Martini panel discussions and tech talks so that he can share his expertise with IT Pros and budding entrepreneurs.

Digital Out-of-Home Unites, Shows Up for Haiti Relief Effort

by DOmedia on January 26, 2010 in Agencies, Digital signage, Events, News, Out-of-home advertising, People, Press, Technology with No comments

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.

Pelotonia Bike Tour: Fundraising Meets Out-of-Home

by DOmedia on August 25, 2009 in Advertising, Alternative advertising, Billboards, Branding campaigns, DOmedia, Events, News, People, Sponsorships with No comments

Pelotonia Logo

This summer marks the beginning of an exciting & life-changing annual fundraiser here in Columbus, Ohio. Pelotonia, founded and funded by NetJets, is the grass roots bike tour raising money for cancer research at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute. In fact, 100% of funds raised go directly to cancer research at The James!

So what does this have to do with out-of-home advertising? In a (successful) attempt to get its message out to the community, Pelotonia literally dominated the out-of-home industry here in Columbus using media ranging from empty storefront ads and floor graphics to street furniture and digital signage. Ads were placed along busy highways, around the Ohio State University campus area (home to thousands of students & businesses), and the Arena District (home to many young — and young-at-heart — professionals and businesses, not to mention our Columbus Clippers baseball team & Columbus Blue Jackets hockey team).

The most impressive of all, perhaps, is the domination of the Columbus airport by Pelotonia & The James. The images below explain the campaign’s effectiveness better than words. Quality, quantity and, most of all, creativity made this effort impossible to miss.

The bike tour takes place this weekend, consisting of four routes spanning 25, 50, 100 and 180 miles. Over 2,100 people have committed to riding–including Lance Armstrong!

If you’re interested in contributing, please check out our DOmedia peloton where you can donate to our ride up until October 31st. Every donation helps!

T-Mobile Does It Again

by DOmedia on May 6, 2009 in Advertising, Alternative advertising, Branding campaigns, Events, People, Trends with No comments

T-Mobile is definitely out to show the world its slogan, “Life’s for Sharing,” really does ring true. Just like its previous (and very entertaining) event in London’s Liverpool Street Station, they manage, once again, to bring together the masses for one common experience. In London’s Trafalgar Square, thousands of strangers united in what has to be the largest sing-along in history. The Beatles’ “Hey Jude” played while the crowd sang into microphones and watched the enormous screen for lyrics and the live video that filmed the entire event.

The YouTube video generated comments like, “If I feel fed up I just watch this or the dance one, it definitely cheers me up,” “Epic!” and “Amazing. So happy,” clearly verbalizing the optimistic feeling created by the event. Hopefully the next one makes its way to our side of the pond!