This is the first entry in a new series, SSP Spotlight, in which we’ll be interviewing DOmedia employees that work on the supply-side platform. We have a great team here and want to be sure you get to know each team member a little better. For our first interview, we spoke to our VP, Adam Malone.

How long have you been with the company?
Eight and a half years.

What do you like most about your job?
Working with talented and passionate colleagues and customers.

What’s your best DOmemory?
I’ve loved seeing the evolution of our company – the products have gotten better, the relationships, the business models, the organizational and communication structures, etc. It’s been a fascinating journey.

How did you get into the OOH industry?
Once I crossed the DOmedia event horizon I have been unable (and unwilling) to escape!

Do you have a favorite OOH campaign? Why?
Samsung did a campaign – I believe to launch the Galaxy S6 against the current iPhone generation – that included an amazing NFC activation. The campaign included street-level and airport media in which Galaxy users could download songs or books by touching the posters. It was a brilliant branding campaign as it demonstrated a key product difference while celebrating and rewarding Samsung customers. Very well done and ahead of its time in many ways.

Before working at DOmedia, what was the most unusual job you’ve ever had?
I worked for a spring and summer at a tech start-up in Darmstadt, Germany. We were a band of interesting characters, to say the least!

What’s your favorite movie?
I’m a huge Woody Allen fan — Midnight in Paris and Vicky Christina Barcelona in particular. Godfather II is a marvel as well.

What’s your favorite band?
I love and support anything my brother Daniel does. Les Racquet and Lulu the Giant, among others.

How do you like your coffee?
Strong and often.

What is your biggest achievement to date – personal or professional?
Convincing Mary Frances Wedekind (Malone) to marry me. The coup of a lifetime for sure!

What would you do for a career if you weren’t doing this?
I would have loved the challenge of working for my father. However, there is something in my marrow that needs to build things from scratch, so I suspect I would start something new with my father’s guidance and support.

Would you rather be a tiny hippopotamus or a giant ant?
I would think that a tiny hippopotamus would elicit a far more affectionate response from the fairer sex than the alternative.

What would be the title of your autobiography?
Dreamers and DOers – the unauthorized autobiography of Adam Malone.

Mapping has always been one of our most popular features. We’re happy to announce that we recently added new mapping enhancements! These enhancements should make your DOmedia experience more efficient and enjoyable.

Inventory Number as Marker Label

By popular demand, we’ve now made the marker label for mapping icons include the unit number, as opposed to a system generated unique number.

Distance Columns

We’ve added two new standard RFP template columns: Closest Location & Closest Location (mi). These columns will automatically indicate which of the client locations is closest to a proposed unit (Closest Location) and how far from that client location each unit is (Closest Location (mi)).

Mapping Coverage Report

You can now generate Excel reports to understand which client locations are well covered by proposed units and which unit covers which stores.

How many and which units cover which stores:

How many and which client locations are covered by which units:

Icon Label Sets

Custom icon color coding is now a lot more useful thanks to Icon Color Label Management. This allows you to create as many different icon color label sets as you’d like and assign them in maps. For example, you could have one label set that identifies red units as cut, yellow as in negotiation, and green as recommended. You could also have another that identifies red as Hispanic market target boards and green as general market target boards. Whichever one you select while in your map is what will show in the legend.

The holiday season is officially upon us, and that means advertisements specifically catered to the season. This post will showcase several great holiday ads, and hopefully get you into the spirit of OOH!

Love these @CocaCola Santa Claus billboards in the Holiday Hills section of @BuschGardens #Tampa's #ChristmasTown! #DeckTheGardens pic.twitter.com/4Yjqizmnfu

— Bill @ Touring Central Florida (@androckb) December 8, 2017

Since their introduction in the winter of 1931, Coke advertisements and the holiday season have been intertwined. So much so that the jolly Coke Santa in these particular billboards is said to have played a large role in shaping the common visualization of Santa prevalent in pop culture today. Although Santa ceased being featured in Coke ads in the 1960’s, Coke has managed to remain prevalent during the holiday season with ads focused on a fun family of bumbling, coke-loving polar bears. Despite this, these throwback billboards are still great holiday advertising and provide great insight into the OOH industry of yesteryear.

O!Deer, don’t fret about the holidays. #Keepcalm and holiday on! Day 15 of 25. https://t.co/ZTSBzDIuQI #ODeer #OOH #OmaBusBench #KeepCalmanCarryOn pic.twitter.com/b7Df71jtXr

— Best Buy Signs (@BestBuySignsOma) December 15, 2017

This O!Deer Bus bench is just one bench to be featured in a larger 25-day holiday campaign done by Omaha Outdoor Advertising. These benches aren’t just there to showcase that lovable deer though. Each bench in the series features either a PSA for a charitable cause or broad, positive messaging. Additionally, part of the proceeds made from these billboards go directly to charity. While this campaign is a great way to grab people’s attention and gain some notoriety, it also contributes to a variety of good causes, which we here at DOmedia think is pretty cool!

'Tis the season @edible #OOH pic.twitter.com/OIFhJSnNxP

— OUTFRONTMediaUSA (@OutfrontMediaUS) November 20, 2017

This holiday billboard by Edible Arrangements is an incredibly well-designed advertisement. It features so many different elements of quality billboard design that we discussed in our post on How to Design a Billboard. The visuals are bold, contrasting, and easily readable. The message is focused, concise, and is even a play on words that can get people excited. Additionally, there is a 3D element that extends outside of the usual canvas that adds additional visual appeal. It is impressive that this holiday advertisement can be so successful despite straying away from traditional holiday visuals and color schemes, but the mere fact that it is different immediately makes it stand out.

Maker's Mark brings a classic holiday look to their outdoor advertising campaign! Get your holiday prints with us at https://t.co/4NaMqkrfj3! pic.twitter.com/gYeHZKHpBw

— Billboards Etc (@Billboardsetc) December 14, 2017

Maker’s Mark, a popular brand of Kentucky Bourbon, really hit the “mark” ?  with their most recent holiday advertisements. By using their famous wax-dipped bottle in place for a standard Christmas tree, Maker’s Mark broadens their appeal to anyone celebrating the holiday season. Additionally, this ad effectively captures some of that elusive holiday nostalgia by featuring a paneled station wagon that looks like something directly out of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. This ad is fun, creative, and uses colors and contrast that will draw people’s attention to really make a statement. 

Now that you’ve seen some awesome holiday advertisements head on over to DOmedia, host to the largest database of OOH vendors in the US, to find a great location for your very own OOH holiday creation!

As 2017 draws to a close, it’s time to look back and reflect on all we’ve done. This year, we’ve seen many new trends and tech advancements in the OOH industry. We’ve had a blast covering many of these subjects over the last twelve months, as well as answering frequently asked industry questions.

Today, we’ve compiled a list of our top ten most popular blog posts in 2017. These are the posts that had the most views this year. Topics range from examples of interesting OOH to breaking down more complicated concepts into understandable pieces. Check out the list below to see the topics of interest to our audience of out-of-home experts.

10. What is Place Based Marketing?

One of the most common questions we got last year was, what is placed-based marketing? This post had the answer.

9. Notable Billboards-Part 5

The fifth installment of OOH advertising that we absolutely love. Apparently, our readers loved them, too.

8. How Billboard Advertising Works

How to take your billboard from ideation to installation in five easy steps.

7. GRP Advertising Definition

While GRP and TRP are basic OOH terms, our readers seemed to really like this refresher course.

6. Notable Billboards-Part 2

Yet another installment of OOH advertising that we absolutely love.

5. Where to Find OOH Stats

A great resource for finding more OOH resources.

4. OAAA/Geopath National Convention Expo

An overview of the 2017 convention.

3. Why OOH Agencies Should Love Facebook Messenger Ads

After the announcement that Facebook Messenger would have ads, we detailed the benefits of combining OOH and mobile.

2. Notable Billboards 6: We’re On A Boat

The sixth installment of OOH advertising that we absolutely love. People really liked boat ads this year.

1. 150th Anniversary of the First Billboard

To celebrate the 150th anniversary of billboards, we gave a brief history lesson.

Thanks for reading us! We hope to see you again in 2018!

“We pride ourselves on our reputation and our attention to detail. We have excellent relationships with all of our network store owners, and we are the only marketing company that provides 100% proof of performance to clients.”

– Magdie Capo, MRI’s VP of Communications and Partnerships

DOmedia, the host of 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 Roots Media Inc., a full-service, non-traditional, place-based media, and experiential marketing company.

Roots Media Inc. delivers dependable placed-based signage opportunities in the top 30 US markets. Since it’s founding in 2014, RMI has built thousands of their venue based locations all across the country.  Additionally, Roots Media Inc. provides 100% POP (Point of Purchase) photos of their displays and even runs habitual audits during every campaign to ensure that brands’ messages are being seen daily.

Facilitated by a talented team of installers, auditors, and market managers Roots Media Inc. constantly strives to provide a “level of customer service and integrity that is unmatched” in their industry. When we spoke to Magdie Capo, VP of Communications and Partnerships for Roots Media Inc., she noted how important it is to “bring brands to life in the heart of communities nationwide.”  Which is something RMI achieves by consistently “identifying, creating, and maintaining venue-based signage opportunities”.

Roots Media Inc. is moving the OOH industry forward with their intense focus on the principles of “innovation, positive consumer engagement and lifestyle integration,” as well as their profound commitment to “delivering maximum ROI and creating emotional connections within communities.”

If you want to learn more check out Roots Media Inc.’s vendor page here!

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