What Would You Do With $1 Million Dollars in Free OOH Advertising Space?

I have a few friends in our OOH world, who have attended Cannes recently and they came back really stoked to get after their business.  They can not wait to return this year. One pal was particularly keen encouraging me to “attend for the pure networking opportunities”.  I do like meeting new people and cultivating productive relationships. If you need a representative to attend Cannes this year, contact me.

Here is what caught my attention about Cannes coming up this year.

Screenvision Media ,the cinema/movie theater space operator,  is going to give away $1 Million, that’s $1,000,000.00 in media on Screenvision’s, Front + Center cinema program.   It is for any pro-bono work from June 2018 to June 2019.  As an advertiser or agency, submit cinema creative and it becomes  a chance to win a million bucks in cinema space. Ads at the movies. Imagine the odds… very favorable.  There are rules, regulations and caveats. $1 Million in free movie space!  The free space has to be in the special ad segment they call Front + Center, but come on, $1 Million to use.

Yep, I am going there.   CAN ANY ONE SAY $1 MILLION IN FREE OOH POSTER PANELS? 

Here it is: Outdoor Advertising’s First Annual Nancy Fletcher ABE Awards?  (Advertising in Billboards Excellence)  Who doesn’t like the sounds of that?   Oh wait, we have the OBIE Awards. (Hear the sound of the record needle scratching off the turn table)  Got carried away.  Reset.

The OOH Award format is in place. The OBIE Awards are part of our long, great tradition.  Allow a tweak.  The 1st Annual Nancy Fletcher $1 Million Creative Award.  Give one winning advertiser the OOH media of our choice, $1 million in POSTERS?  

Congratulations, you just won $1 Million dollars in poster panels!

Who does not like the sound of that?
In my travels this first quarter, around the country, it’s not like we don’t have the space.

Divide 1,000,000 by 3 and its a manageable 333,333.33.  Divide by 10 markets and its an easy 33,333.33.  Add more OOH Owners and it’s not that big of hit to any one market or company. The more you split the load, the more imaginable it becomes.

Congratulations, you just won $1 Million dollars of OOH space!

To the nay sayers:

1. It would not likely be incentive for someone to place a buy just to win $1 million in space. We would not see more business directly attributed.  At least not the first year. Would we?  What about the second year?  After someone won and placed $1 million in posters on the street?  And those posters drove business for them?  The chain moves positively through the Ad World. What do you think? Score −1

2. It would not likely be incentive for someone to do better work. Everyone already places what they believe to be their best creative effort forward every time. Score −1

3. It would likely create more submissions for Awards. Yes. Just don’t charge too much too enter. The odds to win are very attractive.  Do you agree with more advertisers would submit? Score +1

4. What if the prize was $1 million in space for an unrestricted advertiser?  i.e. does not have to be pro-bono work like Screenvision’s restriction?  More incentive to participate?  Your thoughts? Score +1

5. Awards are good for the Industry and for the Agency/Advertiser. It means more revenue.♦ Score +1

By a Score of 3 to 2 margin it sounds like a WIN.

We have brilliant, well-educated, people with tremendous experience who run our Industry.  I suspect this has been discussed in full.  Would like to hear what you think.

Please share your comments.

In case you missed the link listed above to the AdWeek article regarding the $1 Million prize, ⇒read about it here⇐

♦“Creatively-awarded campaigns are six times more efficient than non-awarded ones at driving market share growth.”  ‘Selling Creativity Short’  – IPA

♦“Of the companies whose Award Creativity Score scores were in the top quartile, 67 per cent had above-average organic revenue growth.”  ‘Creativity’s Bottom Line’ – McKinsey & Company

As a disclaimer-there is no $1 million OOH Give Away which exists today.