The WPP/Adkom letters —OOH ‘Word on the Street’ Today

OOH ‘Word on the Street’ Today —The WPP/Adkom letters

‘What have you sold today?‘

by Brent Baer, Publisher, OOH Today 

Let me share what came across our desk this weekend.

Two important messages from WPP and Cedric Bernard, CEO of Adkom, landed on our desk, signaling notable industry shifts.

The emails I received all came from ‘small’ Independent OOH Owners who received the two email letters and in turn shared them with OOH Today. 

For now, I am not sharing my thoughts or the opinions and comments from the dozen-plus people who sent us the ‘letter(s)’ and those we requested to share their thoughts on the subject.

See both ‘letters’ below, the first, from WPP and the second, from Cedric Bernard, of Adkom. 

Please don’t take any rash actions after reading. I know that you will have your own opinions, and I look forward to learning your comments on the subject.  

The following email is from WPP.

Hi

You know how quickly the OOH landscape is changing. New media owners and offerings are popping up all the time, and existing inventory is constantly being acquired or updated. We’re excited about this growth and pride ourselves on staying on top of it all.

However, this increasing complexity also creates challenges. The RFP process can be a real strain, making it harder for us to effectively support our small and medium-sized (SMB) media partners who have quality inventory but might not have the scale to streamline planning.

To tackle this, WPP Media OOH is working with Adkom to simplify and consolidate our RFP process for select SMB media owners.

Your company is included in this new way of working.

Adkom’s platform-based approach and team already work through our existing DOmedia setup, allowing our teams to quickly view qualified inventory in one place. We believe this platform will also make it easier for you to submit avails, holds, and receive contracts. Adkom will also handle the billing process with WPP Media, including proof of performance and reconciliation.

The following email is from Cedric Bernard of Adkom.

Good Afternoon!

We at Adkom are excited to share some news. We have been selected by WPP Media as an efficiency partner, providing them with greater access to you, our affiliated media owners, who they may have previously reached out to directly, through another party or in some cases, not at all.

The benefit to you is simple: expanded access to RFPs from all WPP Media OOH teams, consolidated via Adkom’s platform with rates you set and details you manage in your existing Operator dashboard.

https://operator.blipbillboards.com/mtn3m8/

We recognize not everybody will see an immediate uptick in requests but over time, this partnership can and will support growth for OOH’s independent media owners.

I would be remiss if I did not add a thank you to each of you. Over 5 years, with your support and participation, Adkom has grown from an idea into a network of independents capable of partnering with the largest national agencies and advertisers. We all thank you for your partnership and look forward to future years of growing spend to the independent OOH community.

If you have questions about what this partnership means specifically for you or just want to catch up on what’s new, please reach out to Neil@adkom.media.

Thank you,

Cedric

For now, we are holding our thoughts and the opinions shared by the dozen or more people who sent us these emails and those we requested to share their thoughts on the subject.  What are your thoughts? Please leave them in the ‘Comments’ section below this story. You have the option to remain anonymous. 

 In the meantime, as our old friend Todd Hansen would say, “What have you sold today?” So, what have you sold today?