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Good News for Out-of-Home and Alternative Media

by DOmedia on March 26, 2008 in Alternative advertising, Press with No comments

It seems TV and radio’s loss is out-of-home and alternative media’s gain. The Outdoor Advertising Association of America released 2007 year-end spending numbers last week for the outdoor industry. Total sector spending was up 7% last year, hitting $7.3 billion, with 7 of the industry’s top 10 ad categories posting year-over-year spending gains.

On the heels of that announcement was today’s article in the Online Media Daily projecting alternative media spending to increase 20% this year to $88 billion. This forecast, courtesy of PQ Media Research in their first report focusing solely on the alternative media industry, is just the tip of the iceberg. By 2012, those spend numbers are expected to top the $116 billion mark, making this “alternative channel” more than 25% of the marketing mix.

While the PQ Media group’s definition of “alternative media” is admittedly pretty broad, the numbers highlight a trend we’ve been keyed into for quite some time…marketers are increasingly willing to use new forms of media to reach their ever-more-elusive target audience. As new technologies and our busy, away-from-home lives continue to erode traditional media’s reach, brands need to evolve their marketing mix or face extinction.

DOmedia & OOH Connect: Happy Together

by DOmedia on March 19, 2008 in Advertising, Alternative advertising, Events, People with No comments

Have you heard the news? Effective today, DOmedia has merged with OOH Connect (aka Out of Home Connect), an industry website with a similar vision to simplify the discovery and coordination of alternative advertising media. Managing partner, Kim Ramser, is a veteran of the outdoor advertising world, having built her career with such notable organizations as Clear Channel Outdoor and the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA). She brings a wealth of experience and a well-rounded perspective to the DOmedia team. We are looking forward to working with her going forward.

Now, as excited as we are about this news (heck, we’ve been looking forward to this day for several weeks now) perhaps more surprising has been the amazing media response we’ve received following the press release (which hit the news wires this morning). Already, blue-chip publications Adweek, Mediaweek and Columbus Business Journal have covered our announcement. We also hit the Yahoo! Finance News. Given the fact that the news officially broke less than 12 hours ago, that’s not bad coverage.

We’re still working through the details of the integration, but in the short term, you will begin to notice a lot of cross-promotion between our two sites and we’ll each begin leveraging each other’s strengths (information on the OOH Connect site, marketplace tools on the DOmedia site) via cross-links to richen the experience for all of our users.

The best news out of this is the simple fact that working together will allow us to accelerate our development of a content- and feature-rich online resource that will make our customers’ lives just a little easier…and have a lot of fun getting there!

AAAA Tradeshow was a DO hit

by DOmedia on March 12, 2008 in Advertising, Agencies, Alternative advertising, Events with No comments

While we’re still a few months away from our official “coming out” party, having the chance to present the DOmedia concept and beta site to the industry’s most influential players was an opportunity too good to pass up. When we arrived in sunny Orlando, Florida on March 4, very few people attending the AAAA 2008 Media Conference and Tradeshow had heard of DOmedia (which has been by design…we wanted to develop the site further before we threw back the curtains). However, following some fast-and-furious development and design efforts, we decided now was as good a time as any to make ourselves known.

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!

We’re baaaack…

by DOmedia on February 1, 2008 in Uncategorized with No comments

Our blog posts may have taken a holiday vacation, but we didn’t. During the 10 weeks our blog was silent, all of us DO-ers were busy making tons of changes to our main site, domedia.com. Due to overwhelming response from asset owners and advertisers alike, we found ourselves in the enviable position of needing to make some enhancements to the site earlier than we expected. Some things you’ll notice right away…an improved Advanced Search interface, faster searches, cleaner home page layout. Others are behind-the-scenes and (not so) simply improve the site’s performance.

What you see now is just the beginning. In the coming weeks, we will be rolling out a number of improvements. New user interfaces. New tool sets. Improved page layouts. And the re-birth of our community pages. Keep checking back to see what’s new and let us know what you think. Criticism, suggestions, opinions and alerts are all greatly appreciated!

It’s great to be back!

Bidding Farewell to an Advertising Icon

by DOmedia on November 20, 2007 in Uncategorized with No comments

Chances are, the names Dick Wilson, Jesse White, Michael Vale and Nancy Walker probably don’t mean much to you. But if you’re old enough to remember Mr. Whipple, the original Maytag repairman, Fred the Baker, or Rosie the Waitress, then I’m willing to bet they’ve made their mark on your psyche, conjuring up mental images and equally strong tag lines. For many of us, these characters became the physical embodiment of the brands they represented: Charmin, Maytag, Dunkin’ Donuts, and Bounty (respectively).

And so it is with a mix of nostalgia and wistfulness that we say goodbye to the only grocer who ever cared whether or not his customers squeezed the Charmin. Dick Wilson, the actor who brought the Mr. Whipple character to life in more than 500 TV spots, passed away today at the age of 91.

Reading about his death today in the LA Times felt a little like hearing about the passing of a long-lost neighbor…someone you remember fondly, but realize you didn’t really know. Which got me to asking “who was this guy.” So here are a few facts on Mr. Whipple, aka Dick Wilson, courtesy of TVacres.com:

Dick Wilson was born in England on July 30, 1916.
Prior to his role as TP pitchman, Wilson had been a stand up comic, a stuntman, an acrobat and a movie actor.
Other acting credits include appearances on Bewitched, The Munsters, Hogan’s Heroes and McHale’s Navy.
The Mr. Whipple campaign was created by the Benton & Bowles Agency in 1965 and ran until 1989 before being resurrected for an encore campaign in 1999.
The original campaign produced 504 TV spots placing Wilson in the Guiness Book of World Records for having the longest running television commercial.
In a 1979 poll, Mr. Whipple followed Richard Nixon and Billy Graham as the 3rd best known American.

Who knew a cantankerous grocer with a single imploring request would have such a far reaching effect on a generation? As Bob Hope would say, “thanks for the memories.”