“Women have an uncanny ability to multitask, see the full picture, and collaborate—all great for business,”
We recently posted our annual list of the Top Women Driving Growth in OOH for 2024. Today, we are highlighting Elizabeth Rave, Vice President, Marketing, OUTFRONT Media
With 15 years of professional marketing, sales, and business development experience, Liz Rave currently serves as Vice President of Marketing at OUTFRONT. Rave has been a driving force at OUTFRONT Media, helping the company launch some of the out-of-home (OOH) sector’s best-in-breed innovations. Her hands-on approach has been instrumental in creating go-to-market strategies to inform major brands and their agencies and to utilize new proprietary digital products ranging from attention-grabbing spatial and 3D anamorphic activations to QR-code-enabled real-time consumer interactivity. During the last decade, Rave has overseen the brand narrative for OUTFRONT corporate and the various operating divisions of the publicly traded company. Her vast responsibilities include overseeing OUTFRONT’s communication strategy including events, website, branded/community outreach billboard campaigns, press interaction and industry thought leadership, video, social & digital marketing, and strategic initiatives. She led the regional strategy for a marketing team of 50+ members and was recognized as an under-40 leader across the OOH industry. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, Noah.
“I have stayed with the industry because I believe in the power behind it,”
Rave has been in OOH for her whole career.
“I sort of fell into it after graduating college, but I quickly learned how special this industry is. I fell in love with the tangible nature of the media right away,” Rave said.
As a native New Yorker, it was a thrill for her to ride home with campaigns that she had worked on with clients months prior. Friends and family would spot the OUTFRONT imprint and text her.
“I have stayed with the industry because I believe in the power behind it,” Rave said. “Still underutilized and undervalued, I love the drive to reinvent and iterate on our strengths constantly, plus the unique collaboration with competing companies for the greater good of the entire industry. Can you imagine Twitter(X), Meta, and Google getting together once a year to collaborate on strategy?!”
the unique collaboration with competing companies for the greater good of the entire industry. Can you imagine Twitter(X), Meta, and Google getting together once a year to collaborate on strategy?!”
Driving Growth in OOH
Rave believes driving growth within this industry is about two focal points: ensuring today’s business stays strong while iterating the model for the future. Understanding OOH’s role in the media ecosystem today and how we need to adapt for a larger role in the future is important.
“As a marketer, I constantly fall in love with a great case study. I think that OOH’s value proposition is best told through the lens of a brand of business’s success. The more we can amplify great storytelling, the more great stories there will be to tell,” Rave said.
OOH media is very visual. If you can break into a category with impactful and effective creative, the rest will benefit from the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) effect.
“I am very proud of the culture we have built within the OUTFRONT marketing department,” Rave said. “We believe that new and innovative thinking can come from anyone, regardless of rank. We test and amplify quickly.”
However, to increase its share of total ad spend, the industry needs to focus on adequate audience planning and measurement.
“The media world is only getting more complex,” Rave said. “We need to hold onto our legacy strengths of creativity, sheer size, tangibility, and trust while also improving the technology to have comparable audience and measurement solutions to the leading contender, digital.”
Rave says she has too many favorite OOH campaigns to count. But the campaigns that speak to her the most understand and relate to the community mindset in which they are pictured.
StreetEasy’s first-ever advertising campaign in 2015 was one of her favorites.
“I still reference the specific copy to any new employee who joins our team,” Rave said. She recalls being in her mid-twenties looking for an apartment with three roommates and thinking the exact same thing: ‘ Imagine if we had an in-unit washer/dryer? Then we would really be rich!’
“It came at the perfect time for me. All the ads just seemed so relevant to my life stage and so genuine to the New York spirit,” Rave said. “Yes, we all live in tuna fish cans, but they are tuna fish cans in the best city in the world!!”
She was not the only one who loved this campaign. New Yorkers so well received it that StreetEasy had hundreds of requests for copies of the subway posters to hang in their tiny apartments.
“Can you ask for better branding? What an amazing entrance to the market!” Rave said. Street Easy continues delivering great OOH ads that integrate user data but always stay honest to that New York Spirit. Seamless uses the same formula and is another top favorite of Rave’s.
Overcoming Challenges in OOH
Rave thinks there was a tipping point in the last two years for women in the industry. The conversation has been pulled to the forefront.
“I think things have both gotten better and that overall, there are more resources for women,” Rave said. “I rarely feel left out of conversations or activities because of my gender.”
She has a strong network of women she leans on inside the OOH industry. She says lately, she’s been hearing the message to have an “abundance mindset” or a more collaborative approach.
“Said differently, rather than feel threatened or protective, the woman who has already solidified her spot at the table needs to invite more women to join her, because the truth is that there is room for every woman at the table. If senior women can continue to get more women in the conversation, then we will see change,” Rave said.
For someone just joining the industry, Rave recommends building your community, network and personal “board of directors.”
“Remember to ensure you have diversity within your squad—think gender, race, age. This will get you far,” Rave said.
She doesn’t think being a woman is hard in the OOH industry. There are resources and champions for growth in this space, but she admits that maybe she’s just been lucky. She has had many great partners and mentors in this industry along her own career trajectory.
But she still sees becoming a working mom as a challenge for women.
“This is not limited to the OOH industry, but the support we give any working parent (especially women) is laughable compared to other cultures,” Rave said. “This obviously affects women’s long-term advancement in the media industry.”
Promoting Women in OOH
One of Rave’s main focuses is building others’ careers.
“I love to mentor young (and seasoned) talent to reach new levels of their potential and always showcase their success with the right people to keep their profile growing,” Rave said.
OUTFRONT has a Women’s ERG that provides direct access to the women of OUTFRONT. Within the larger groups there are sub-groups to provide various kinds of support. She has both been a mentor and received learning from within this space.
Rave believes diversity is a strength that brings new ways of looking at the world, new ideas, and new solutions to problems. Sometimes, those problems haven’t been surfaced or maybe never even realized were problems.
“Women have an uncanny ability to multitask, see the full picture, and collaborate—all great for business,” Rave said. In terms of leadership, I think a healthy balance is key for gender and all other aspects of diversity.”
To get more women into leadership positions, we need to give them the chance to do so. Rave believes the industry needs to focus on the second and third tiers of leadership levels now. How do those look? Are they diverse in terms of gender? If not, then the next generation will have the same issue.
“These are tomorrow’s leaders and you have a looking glass to see who will lead the industry in the next 5, 10, and 15 years at your disposal now. If it doesn’t match your goals, that is where the focus should be.”