What was the event like first-hand?
Held on March 25th at the Beverly Hills Hotel -- the first (and potentially only) time I'll ever get to experience how the Paris Hilton set lives -- the event was jam-packed. Over 240 people filled the ballroom, with a good mix of network and agency representatives. The presentations were largely updates of October's content -- an overview of the successful Team Fox DOOH initiative from last summer and OVAB President Suzanne Alecia's overview of the OVAB metrics guidelines. Of most interest was the agency panel discussion. On the stage: Jonathon Haber from OMD; Chris Harder, Starcom; Tim Farish, NBC; and Lindsay Wong from Razorfish West. Here are a few choice comments from the panel, which I also posted live to Twitter during the event:
Harder:"We need incentives (read price reductions) to help us sell DOOH into our clients."Bill's thoughts
Harder:"Starcom will spend over $20 million in out-of-home digital video this year."
Farish:"We've moved beyond demographic targeting. We want and expect psychographic targeting."
Harder:"We want our cake and to eat it too. We want targeted media, but we don't expect to pay a large premium for it."
From a business standpoint, it makes sense that the agencies want to "have their cake and eat it too", since they're currently in a position of power relative to DOOH inventory owners (i.e. the network operators). However, even with that said, agencies like Starcom have noted that they're moving forward with DOOH projects this year, even while acknowledging that we don't yet have all of our ducks in a row. That could indicate several things: first, maybe they think they're already getting a great deal because unorganized (or disorganized) DOOH networks are willing to cut great deals simply to generate some cash flow and monetize tons of unsold industry. Second, it could be that agencies are getting pestered by clients who want to diversify their media mix and improve advertising accountability. And third, perhaps enough have finally tasted the sweet, sweet Kool-Aid that is our industry's hype machine.
Whatever the reason that agencies are paying more attention to us these days, it's clear that organizations like OVAB need to think about their next steps. At some point in the not-too-distant future, their role will change from one of advocacy and education to something more along the lines of accountability and shepherding. And if you think it's too soon to start worrying about such matters, I'll point out that only a few years ago, we were simply trying to explain to agencies and planners what digital signage is. Today, we're talking as peers about legitimate business issues like targeting and pricing. That's pretty solid progress in my book.
The agency folks seem to be saying that if the pricing was lower, they'd buy a lot more DOOH space. Is this really true, or are there other factors at play?
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