Top Women in OOH Spotlight 2025: Christie Massey

Christie Massie landed in the Out-of-Home industry almost by accident, and then never wanted to leave. 

In her early days of planning, she worked on a campaign for Chobani Yogurt that was so successful that advertising had to be paused to restock shelves. 

“It was incredible to see how powerful OOH could be,” Christie said. “From then on, I was hooked!”

20 years later, she is completely enthralled with the creativity and excitement of the medium and its ability to tell amazing stories and connect with consumers. She has held almost every position from coordinator to client services, and now leads the agency as president.

“It was incredible to see how powerful OOH could be,” Christie said. “From then on, I was hooked!”

She is a proven executive with a passion for relationship management, successful operational leadership experience, and a demonstrated track record of business results. EMC Outdoor is an independent, women-owned Out-of-Home marketing agency working with brand and agency partners to strategize, plan, and execute campaigns nationally.

EMC Outdoor focuses on growing the OOH percentage of overall media spend with existing clients and bringing in new clients who haven’t yet invested in OOH.

“Our success comes from educating clients on the highly targeted, audience-first approach many don’t think is possible with our medium,” Christie said. She also attributes the company’s success to its suite of partners and proprietary systems that enable them to solidify plans with strong data and attribution reporting.

Her biggest challenge, like many others, was leading a team through the uncertainty of the pandemic.

“Being willing to roll up my sleeves and do whatever it takes, transparency and communication with the team, and giving myself and the team the grace we all needed at that time got me through,” Massey says. It also changed the culture of the agency.

One of her all-time favorite OOH campaigns was for Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission. To raise public awareness of the plight of homeless people in the city, the organization ran a projection campaign featuring personal portraits of the unhoused and success stories from the program.

This program ran for three nights, targeting busy, high-profile locations in downtown Seattle. Crowds gathered to view the photos, and to learn SUGM’s messages of service and hope. The campaign received significant local media attention and helped destigmatize the homeless community in the city.

The Benefits of a Woman-Owned Agency

Christie feels lucky to work for a women-owned agency.

“I have always felt the opportunities given to me were equal to those of my male counterparts,” she said.

But at industry events and conferences, there’s no denying this business is still male-dominated. And women still face challenges in the workplace. Even with the flexibility of remote work, it is still incredibly hard to balance the demands of home life and work life as you climb the “corporate ladder.”

“My advice is always to find your network and lean on them. The female mentors I have had throughout my career have changed the trajectory of my life, really. It is ok to ask for help, run ideas by each other, need a pep talk, etc.,” Christie says.

“My advice is always to find your network and lean on them. The female mentors I have had throughout my career have changed the trajectory of my life, really. It is ok to ask for help, run ideas by each other, need a pep talk, etc.,” Christie says.

She also loves seeing women’s networks and groups forming and growing in the industry.

“The industry’s focus to include inspirational women speakers and contributors at key industry events is great. I’d love to see more of that,” she said.

She sees great value in having a mix of different types of people in any group whether its different backgrounds, experiences, skills or capabilities. This creates a continuously growing and thriving industry.

“I think women have an incredible capacity to think on our toes, multi-task, make smart decisions, and get stuff done!”

At EMC Outdoor the company promotes inclusivity by having women in key leadership roles, providing flexibility for family needs and by participating in mentorship programs. This attitude can also help more women gain executive leadership roles in OOH.
“We need to keep advocating for each other, recommending our peers for leadership roles, and mentoring the women
coming up in our industry,” Christie said.

The Future of the OOH Industry

Christie thinks the industry can get a larger percentage of total ad spend if OOH can build more trust around attribution capabilities and results.

“As an industry, we should not only focus on the strengths of our own medium, but the power it has to amplify other channels in the mix,” Christie said.

“As an industry, we should not only focus on the strengths of our own medium, but the power it has to amplify other channels in the mix,” Christie said.

She also sees the industry as still being somewhat fragmented, and there is not 100% alignment on how each piece of media is measured, named or mapped.

“If these data points were consistent across every piece of media in the US and portable across different platforms, that would allow us to more easily access media, combine tactics, and plan universally.

As to the future… She sees AI enabling us to draw quicker and deeper audience insights for better campaign strategies and real-time targeting.