OOH Today Weekend Update
The news cycle has been ramping up a bit more since last week and looks to get more exciting in the upcoming weeks. Here’s a weekly recap of the top OOH stories you may have missed, along with colorful commentary from Mr. William (call him ‘Bill’) Board for the week of January 15-19, 2024. Let us know your thoughts. Do you agree or disagree with BB?
1. OOH Needs to Major on Impact as Well as Measurement
WOO President Tom Goddard shared a 2024 New Year’s message in which he said. “One of our key tasks in 2024 is to get more advertisers and agencies as excited about the performance and potential of the medium as we are. As someone once said, the truth is out there.”
BB’s Take: —To me, it is simpler said than Goddard’s well-written message. What I believe is, that OOH needs less reliance on the hope for the next magic bullet or easy button of programmatic and measurement and rather sorely requires more and better selling.
2. Is OOH’s Strength also its Weakness?
This OpEd from Rob Macmillan says that “without risk takers and visionaries in significant leadership roles the status quo will always prevail.” He opines that the big established players will not drive the industry forward, innovate or deliver change and says the biggest recent innovations have come from those outside the OOH space.
BB’s Take—There have been a few comments suggesting Rob Macmillan is wrong and the Big 3 is innovating. To that Macmillan, responds, ‘define innovation versus efficiencies’ and one will find it’s efficiencies the Big 3 drives and not innovation. Tenable points by Macmillan in his post. If you have not read it yet, please give it a few minutes and let us know; How do you see it? And if there are innovations by the Big 3 or anyone in OOH, what are they?
3. Geopath, Geopath, Geopath
Saying “Geopath” three times will not summon the organization, nor cause you to enter a contract with the entity. But this week we did share all of the benefits of Geopath membership, something that many more organizations have recently taken advantage of. We also received some interesting insights in their Friday Fast Facts on the evolution of AI in the OOH Industry.
BB’s Take—We only listed 5 reasons ‘Why’ join Geopath. We could have come up with a half dozen more. The number one reason to support the only independent, 3rd party OOH measurement is to continue the completely above reproach and void of any personal gain our Industry enjoys now. Beware what the other measurement groups might be motivated by. Follow the money. Support Geopath for the good of OOH.
4. Pass it On Campaign is Back
Need to fill some space while advertising is slow? Pass it on campaign provides inspirational PSAs for your boards so that you can make your audiences feel good about your Billboards.
BB’s Take –The Pass it On campaign has been going on since 2001. The inaugural campaign was supported with over 10,000 billboards by our OOH Industry! Inspired by the OAAA’s ‘ God Speaks’ campaign, the Foundation neither solicits nor accepts monetary donations from the public. All funding comes from the Anschutz Family Foundation. It’s a great message for the last 23 years which provides production and posting fees. If you aren’t participating, we would like to hear why.
5. OOH News You Should Know Today
This is a new column that rounds up the top news in OOH as a digest (without Bill Board’s “colorful” commentary.)
BB’s Take—There’s so much going on in OOH. So much news and so little time. We hope this summary of those stories that we were not able to cover individually in OOH Today but feel important enough to share via this format is of interest.
6. Clear Channel’s Game Changers Billboards Ignite the Power of Mentorship
Important Billboards, for an important cause, this nationwide Digital OOH campaign features influential voices who embody the transformative power of mentorship. This initiative called ‘Game Changers,’ aims to tackle key issues impacting youth today– from mental health to equity — by creating awareness, access, and opportunity through mentorship. There are over 30,000 kids on the BBBSA waitlist for a mentor, with the majority being boys of color. There are 3x more black youths than black mentors in the BBBSA program. The inaugural group of ‘Game Changers’, comprised of prominent Black men who embody the transformative power of mentorship, addresses the representational gap in mentorship.
BB’s Take —Once again Clear Channel Outdoor supports Big Brother and Big Sisters of America. The campaign is named ‘Game Changers’, it certainly is for the kids who are fortunate to have mentorship opportunities. Great cause. One which everyone should commend the folks at CCO.