Women in OOH Spotlight 2024: Laura Brandes
OOH Today's Top Women in OOH Driving Growth 2024
by Amber Larkins, OOH Today
Yesterday we posted our annual list of the Top Women Driving Growth in OOH for 2024. Today we highlight Laura Brandes, Vice President of Growth at Rapport, IPG Mediabrand’s OOH specialist shop.
Laura Brandes has over 14 years of media experience. She began her OOH career as an Account Executive at Rapport, IPG Mediabrand’s OOH specialist shop. She has worked on an extensive portfolio of business across various categories, including entertainment, finance, tech, tourism, retail, and pharmaceuticals. A few notable clients include the NBA, Salesforce, Royal Caribbean, New Balance, Sony, JetBlue, and LEGO. She is currently the Vice President of Growth at Rapport. She oversees growth across all revenue streams, departments, and strategic partnerships throughout the US. Her focus is to hit revenue targets, while fostering collaboration throughout Rapport with a significant impact on the company’s vision, performance, and client acquisition and retention strategy.
She’s also had the pleasure of serving as chairman for the NY Ad Club’s OOH committee since 2021.
“It has been a great opportunity to advocate for the channel, build my brand, and share my perspective at various industry events,” Brandes said.
Brandes majored in marketing in college and has always been interested in advertising. While employed at a marketing communications firm, she began working with media planners and buyers across various channels.
“OOH always spoke to me as I’m a sucker for blending strategy with creativity to create meaningful experiences,” Brandes said. “The industry kept me on my toes, and when the opportunity came about at Rapport, I knew it was time to go all-in.”
Driving Growth in OOH
Studies have shown female leaders tend to be more empathic in the workplace, resulting in a more inclusive culture fueled by trust, authenticity, and curiosity. Brandes believes that if more women demonstrate this holistic approach to leadership, the industry can only benefit from more diversity, innovation, and retention of top talent.
To this end, she developed and launched Rapport’s first mentorship program to help foster professional growth amongst talent and build cross-office relationships in 2020. In 2021, she helped create and launch Rapports first career mapping framework to clarify roles and responsibilities within the organization and guidance around performance development and career advancement. She also helped launch the company’s first DEI Committee to create a more inclusive culture, where differences drive innovation and collaboration strengthens relationships and business know-how.
But she has also worked hard to drive growth across the industry.
In a 2020 partnership with Flashtalking, she helped incorporate OOH into JetBlue’s MTA model for one of their 2H campaigns.
“JetBlue Card had never understood the efficacy of OOH tailored to campaign acquisition KPIs, as the medium had not previously been included within its MTA model,” Brandes said.
They included OOH with JetBlue Card’s MTA results by capturing the mobile data and detecting the impact of media on their target audience’s path to conversion. Then, Flashtalking provided performance insights based on the percentage of exposed OOH users who applied for a JetBlue Card, visited the JetBlue website, and clicked on organic and paid search ads. This collaboration was the first time an advertiser successfully incorporated OOH into an MTA model.
Last year, in partnership with Uniled, she helped launch Rapportal LIVE, a tool for independent verification of DOOH campaigns. This tool helps the company hold media owners more accountable for delivering on contracted impressions, ensure brand safety for Rapport’s clients, and report on the true value derived from DOOH at the campaign’s end.
“To drive growth, you must be curious and never complacent,” Brandes said. “You need to surround yourself with talented individuals and empower them to think bigger. You need to have a pulse on the latest data and tech advancements while never losing sight of how to measure performance. You need to foster relationships across all business sides; we need each other and can’t survive independently. You shouldn’t be afraid to speak up and always find a way to advocate for the channel.”
In 2022, in partnership with Vistar Media, she helped the NBA execute a first-to-market DOOH campaign for their 75th anniversary postseason. The NBA was the first brand to integrate various dynamic messages at scale across the DOOH ecosystem in a fully automated capacity via Vistar Media’s SSP. For the 2022 Playoffs, the NBA wanted to use OOH to create localized hype and excitement in hometown team markets. For this campaign, which one the 2022 OAAA Media Plan of the Year, DOOH screens were activated as teams advanced and deactivated immediately upon elimination. The ads were served based on where each team was located. Behavioral attributes were layered in to connect with their two core audiences.
But more work must be done for the industry to start gaining a large slice of total ad spend. Brandes says lead agency planning teams, analytics teams, and clients must be more integrated.
“The more we can understand the omnichannel picture and work together across all channels, the better the outcome for OOH. More and more brands are focused on performance metrics, and OOH cannot continue to be siloed. If we can better fit within the measurement ecosystem to prove the channel’s efficacy, more money will come our way,” Brandes said.
Overcoming Challenges in OOH
Brandes joined Rapport’s LA office as an Account Executive in 2013. A few years later, her husband had a job opportunity in Boston. Until then, Rapport’s NY team had always handled the Boston business. Her family’s move became an opportunity to build Rapport’s Boston office.
“It was intimidating to be a one-man show in a new city where I had to prove myself to my East Coast colleagues, media partners, and new Boston-based sister agencies, Mediahub and Hill Holliday,” Brandes said. “I had to earn their trust while advocating for Rapport and the channel.”
She quickly learned the importance of building relationships and how to step outside her comfort zone. She had to speak up to educate planning teams about how OOH has evolved and the impact it can make, and she had to host social events.
“I was putting in 10-12 hour workdays as I couldn’t be reactive. I had to be proactive and figure out ways to prove my worth,” Brandes said.
“I was putting in 10-12 hour workdays as I couldn’t be reactive. I had to be proactive and figure out ways to prove my worth,”
The billings increased YoY through existing clients and new brands coming on board. Brandes was able to create a Rapport team in Boston.
“It was a grind, but I never lost sight of the bigger picture and continued to focus on ways to grow our business through traditional OOH, programmatic DOOH, and experiential activations,” Brandes said.
She worked her way up to Group Director, overseeing a team based in NY and Boston, servicing over fifty accounts, including notable brands like JetBlue, Royal Caribbean, NBA, Salesforce, New Balance, and LEGO.
“I don’t think of being a woman in a male-dominated industry as a struggle. It’s an opportunity. It’s all about our mindset and willingness to go the extra mile to cultivate change,” Brandes said. “I constantly think about how I’m adding value and providing inspiration to others while never losing sight of the bigger picture. We need to speak up more and prove our worth. We might have to work a bit harder in the interim, but it’s well worth it when thinking about the example we’re setting for the next generation of female leaders.”
Women still face challenges in the workplace. Brandes has two young children (3.5 years old and 7 months), and being a working mother has its challenges.
When she first started out in the industry she thought she would have to give up her career ambitions to be a mom.
“I’m proud to say that’s not the case and being a mother has made me better at my job,” Brandes said. She has never thought twice about not having to take on a new role or project because she has children. “We must lead by example, and I love that I can show other women just starting out that they can do it all,” Brandes said. “It’s not easy, but if they aspire to take on leadership positions, it’s 100% possible if you have the support at home and from your colleagues.”
“I like to be real with my coworkers and show vulnerability at times. It’s not a sign of being weak, but being authentic and relatable, which in turn builds trust and influence.
Promoting Women in OOH
Brandes promotes inclusivity at her workplace and helps to boost other women leading by example.
“It’s important to listen and be open to change, as well as to make the time to get to know someone and make them feel valued regardless of their level,” Brandes said. She loves to push people to operate at their full potential by providing them with new opportunities that will challenge their skill set and prevent them from becoming complacent.
She also believes in the power of positive praise and in recognizing amazing work when expectations are surpassed. She thinks this will help the industry get more women into executive leadership positions in OOH.
“Keep shining a light on influential women making a difference in the industry. Those of us who aspire to keep climbing up the ladder continue to notice,” Brandes said. “I love what I do and don’t do it for the accolades, but it feels pretty darn great to be acknowledged.”
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