All posts tagged OOH

Envision Solar Launches Digital Out-of-Home Advertising on Environmentally Friendly Solar Recharging Ports for Electric Cars

Envision Solar, EV ARCEnvision Solar is a leading renewable energy company based in San Diego, California.  The company offers advanced, high quality solar energy products, including the unique and patent pending “EV ARC” (Electric Vehicle Autonomous Renewable Charger). The EV ARC is a fully autonomous and fully mobile Electric Vehicle Charging station.

Envision Solar recently announced that they will begin supporting digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising with the deployment of its EV ARC Digital Platform. The maiden campaign is to be run at the Kearny Mesa FIAT in San Diego, a leading retailer of FIAT vehicles. Continue reading →


DOmedia Integrates TAB Out-of-Home Ratings into Platform

COLUMBUS, Ohio, April 30th, 2014 – DOmedia, the preeminent media buying and selling platform in the advertising industry, has received approval from the Traffic Audit Bureau (TAB), the leading source of out-of-home (OOH) media measurement systems in America, to use and display TAB Out-of-Home Ratings for over 350,000 media assets in the United States.

With the integration of the TAB data into DOmedia’s platform, agency users can now plan and buy OOH media more strategically and efficiently. The integration facilitates the standard use of ratings and provides agencies, which are full members of TAB, access to audience, reach and frequency measurements. DOmedia has continually enhanced its planning and buying applications to meet the call of the industry to innovate and improve business processes benefitting agencies as well as media selling companies.

Norm Chait, Senior Vice President at MediaVest USA adds “The adoption of technology and systems like this allow us to harness the power of the new TAB ratings by putting it on the desktop of our buyers, helping us to buy smarter, be more accountable and speak the same language as other media.”

“Since DOmedia’s launch in 2008, the team’s vision has been to make planning, buying and selling OOH media faster, smarter and better,” according to DOmedia’s President, Ken Sahlin. He adds, “The integration of TAB Out-of-Home Ratings in our applications help planners and buyers more easily assess the strategic capabilities of OOH to other measured media.”

According to Jack Sullivan, Senior Vice President, Director at Starcom USA, “With TAB granting a third-party data license to DOmedia, Starcom can more effectively and efficiently leverage out-of-home reach and frequency measures into our cross-media planning and buying processes that create positive impact for clients’ bottom lines.”


About DOmedia

DOmedia is the largest out-of-home advertising marketplace with integrated planning and buying applications whose purpose is to make the media buying process faster, smarter, better for both buyers and sellers. Through the online marketplace, media providers create company and media profiles for their properties. In turn, advertisers and agencies can search our comprehensive database to find new ideas, plan & build effective out-of-home campaigns. For more information, visit www.domedia.com.

About the TAB

Established in 1933, TAB (Traffic Audit Bureau for Media Measurement, Inc.) is an advertising trade organization whose mission is to lead the development and delivery of out-of-home media measurement systems in America. Run by a tripartite board of advertisers, agencies and media companies, TAB initially released its TAB Out-of-Home Ratings in January 2010, becoming the first system to measure audiences who actually see advertising. For more information, visit www.tabonline.com.


Augmented Reality Meets Out-of-Home Advertising

Technology in OOH

Augmented reality – we’ve all heard the term before, but was does it really mean? Augmented reality (AR) is a live, direct or indirect, view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data. As a result, the technology functions by enhancing one’s current perception of reality. Imagine yourself holding your cell phone up to a storefront and information about the store hours, sales/promotions, etc., overlay the image of the store – all of the important information is at your fingertips before you walk through the store’s doors. It’s augmented reality that is already being utilized by different apps & software, so why not bring that technology into the advertising industry? Well, that day has come!

Augmented Reality vs. Virtual Reality

oculus-vrWhile augmented reality alters the view of the real world as we see it today by adding visual cues into our perceived existing world, virtual reality (VR) disregards the real world and replaces it with a simulated “world”. Simply stated, true virtual reality completely blocks out the real world whereas augmented reality adds to the already existing real world.

Facebook recently purchased Oculus VR for $2 billion dollars for their Oculus Rift technology – a new virtual reality headset that lets players step inside their favorite games and virtual worlds.  Facebook plans to bring Oculus’ technology to verticals outside gaming, including communications, media and entertainment, education and other areas. Facebook’s plan could be something that potentially effects the advertising industry in the future, as well.

Consumer-ready AR product: Google Glass

googleGlassThe most popular form of an AR product already exists: Google Glass, a head-mounted computer that people can wear like glasses. Users have said that Glass works well for taking pictures because you can verbally command Glass to snap photos instead of stopping to grab your camera. You can also quickly access directions and time (which pop up on the Glass screen upon command). Although this is new technology, the DOmedia team received the developer invite – something that we are particularly excited about due to the opportunities Glass could bring to the advertising industry.

Augmented Reality Breaks into Out-of-Home Advertising

Pepsi Max #LiveForNowAugmented reality has been making its way into the out-of-home advertising industry as a way to elevate the customers experience during a brand’s marketing message. On top of making the consumer experience more exciting, campaigns utilizing the augmented reality hardware associated with the media systems (e.g., cameras, heat indicators, etc.) have the ability to track the demographic and impressions data of the audience.

A great example of an exciting campaign using augmented reality as a path to capture audience attention is seen with Pepsi’s latest campaign in the UK, Unbelievable #LiveForNow. In the campaign, Pepsi engages its audience at bus shelters with video-enabled augmented reality. Nothing says “Unbelievable feats and experiences created for you by Pepsi Max” more than the thought of a tiger coming towards you or a meteor crashing to earth just outside of the bus shelter! Check out the video below to see the mind-blowing augmented reality campaign by Pepsi.


Bucking Tradition – How real is OOH’s programmatic future?

domedia-perspectiveBanner

I cringe sometimes when I hear Out-of-Home described as a “Traditional” Media.

Context matters, of course, as the “Traditional” label can signify longevity and a strong foundation on which to build.  It can also imply that our industry is stuck in the past – like we haven’t changed since big tobacco had the Malboro man plastered on every bulletin from New York to LA.

The fact is that OOH is beginning to do some very “non-traditional” things.

One of the hottest trends heard in agency boardrooms and industry panels is programmatic buying.  The official definitions of programmatic read something like, “The use of machine-to-machine operations to automate the buying and selling of advertising space.”

As I see it, the following issues must be overcome before programmatic buying and selling will account for a meaningful percentage of overall OOH ad spend:

  1. Digitization of OOH inventory
  2. Real- or Near-Real-Time access to Inventory
  3. Standardized Planning and Buying Currencies
  4. The Construction and use of Buying Algorithms

(1) There is no doubt that OOH operators are converting huge amounts of static inventory to digital.  Digital Place-based has also emerged as a meaningful category.  We lack some standardization around ad units, and there aren’t too many networks large enough to compete with other reach media on their own, but the shift is happening and is likely to accelerate.

(2) Vistar, NEC Vukunet and others seam to be leading the charge in this arena, as they have built and maintain APIs into content and sales management systems.  It is tough to be on the ‘bleeding edge’, but the work is noble and I hope that they succeed in bringing transparency and accountability to the digital place-based segment.

(3) The TAB’s OOH Ratings are a great step in the right direction, and their recent decision to “open up” access to the data cloud to 3rd party technology partners is another huge leap forward.  The DPAA has done work here in the past, and Nielsen and Arbitron have developed meaningful business segments auditing “Traditional” as well as digital OOH media.  Universal trust and consistent usage remains an issue, but we are (again!) moving in the right direction.

(4) The technology certainly exists today to build out these algorithms.  In fact, DOmedia took the industry’s first algorithmic planning and buying tool to market 5 years ago.  The fly in the ointment is not on the technical side, it’s behavioral.   In an industry where experience and relationships are strong currencies, the idea of turning over decision-making responsibility to a series of algorithms is unsettling if not outright terrifying to many “traditionalists”.  To these folks I’m here to reassure you – we have a ways to go before “black boxes” are doing all of our planning, buying, and selling.

There’s a famous quote attributed to Roy Amara that says, “We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run”.  My personal opinion is that this is the primary reason why so many companies have fizzled out trying to bring systematic and programmatic buying and selling tools to market.  They underestimate the behavioral inertia of agencies, brands, and media companies, and they overestimate the impact their first, second, and third renditions.

There will be an inflection point in the not-so-distant future for programmatic.  I’ve outlined a few key issues you can monitor to help you predict the timing.  Whatever your outlook, consider this:

If “Amara’s law” holds true, we are in for an exciting and unexpected programmatic future!


OOH Innovation at 2013 Ignite OAAA/TAB Conference

Last week, like many of you, I attended the 2013 Ignite OAAA/TAB Conference in Los Angeles. I probably saw some of you at the tradeshow, workshops, general sessions or receptions. The conference was very well attended, in fact one of the best attended in recent years, and there was a buzz of excitement and enthusiasm about the direction the OOH advertising industry is moving.

The presenters and panels shared and discussed some great information, and whether you buy or sell digital, alternative, or traditional OOH media, there was relevant information for everyone. One main theme that seemed to keep appearing was Innovation. Continue reading →