OOH …Here’s One Thing
El Camino
by Jim Johnsen,
Managing Director, Johnsen, Fretty & Company
“…one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day.” (Peter)
I had the good fortune to attend the Digital Signage Experience in Vegas last week. Kind of fascinating to watch the larger ecosystem, in which we outdoor guys and gals fill out a corner, come together to discuss the issues of the day. If there is one takeaway…it got me thinking about whether we are missing the 5th and 6th side of the cube.
Speaking of something good, I had the good fortune to grab dinner with my friend and Outdoor veteran Tony Dailey at the Wynn’s Lakeside Restaurant (thank you Cohen Bros for hosting!). Let’s just say, when the waterfall flows over the 5mm colossal digital screen and the large tiki birds emerge from the forest, holy shitake is that a good experience. Knowing I like music a little bit, Tony was also kind enough to point me to an app that he enjoys, called Radio Paradise (“an eclectic musical adventure”).
So when I found some free time I downloaded the app and booted it up. It quickly served up The Black Keys. Again Holy Shit. Johnsen, have you just crawled out from under a rock? Well…embarrassingly, yes. In any event, better now than never. Their stuff is somewhere between Howlin’ Wolf and Nathaniel Rateliff, but also with full frontal authenticity and grit.
Here is a great place to dive in:
https://youtu.be/xU5PPnv_UHk?si=6OpTXq8-c70oDXsP
Lots of great songs on the album “El Camino”, although I was bummed to learn that there was no song named El Camino as I wanted to use it for this article (or blog or throw up on a page depending on your POV). Why? #1, because my brother and I used to race AFX caminos in the 1970s. #2, because it’s not a car you see on the road very much and the first time you do, you say to yourself, “whatda?” #3, because the first time I met my future brother-in-law he drove up in an El Camino…and that got me thinking. #4, because these days when you see a restored one, particularly a lowrider in LA, you have to say damnnnn that’s cool, and #5 because it’s the worst of a pickup truck and a car rolled into one (ya I know some will disagree but come on…do they still make em?).
Johnsen, thanks for the Disraeli Gears of the Mind, but where the fruitcake are you going this time? Well, after sitting in on some of the DSE and then trying my best to fake cool at Art Basel in Miami (man you want to see some beautiful people, put this one on your list next year), I started to contemplate whether we (aka the outdoor industry) are actually an El Camino. And what I mean is, we are less than a fine-tuned car, and as a pickup truck we suck.
If we were a car, we should always be something for the eyes to behold. All too often we acquiesce to the mediocre and sometimes to the downright Gremlin (anyone old enough to remember that turd?). Why do we still allow clients to put up really shitty copy? Why do we still build back-to-back units when a 30-foot v would take the sign from a B to an A+? Why do we let poles rust? Why do we let vinyl wrinkle? Why do we continue to market units where the read has been crushed? …I could go on, but I think you get my drift. As to a poor pick-up truck? While it is true that we truly are the last mass medium, with the ability to deliver more 4-week cycle eyeballs than anything else out there, we are still anything but easy to buy. Ask any big buyer out there how many steps they need to go through to execute a national campaign and then get verification (aka POP) that they got what they bargained for. And I haven’t even broached the subject of audience or impressions!
Hey, I could be completely off base on this, and if so I welcome the debate. But I do think it’s time, as an industry, to stop splitting the difference and decide whether we are a purveyor of race cars or pickups. Or maybe some of us need to cut left while others cut right…but if you are trying to do both…well good luck picking your date up in that thing for the first time and then trying to get the drywall from Home Depot in the back the next day.
- Happy Birthday Bill Wilkins. We miss you.
pss. Happy Hanukkah
psss. d’strict – ART TECH FACTORY (dstrict.com) Eye-opening use of digital and where it can go in the future at Art Basel!
jfco.com
Securities transacted through StillPoint Capital Member firm FINRA/SiPC
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