Digital OOH (or is it IOH?) Media Elite Gather in New York

On April 22nd, Joe Mandese and the fine folks at MediaPost held their second annual Digital Out-of-Home Forum, gathering the digital OOH elite from both agency and network alike.  The show was a definitive improvement over the year before taking the location and the subject matter into account.  My hats off to the MediaPost team on a job well done.

If I were to take three things away from the show and my chats with various stakeholders this time around I’d say they were:

•    Improved understanding
•    Increased activity
•    Varied maturity

Improved Understanding

There was a dramatic increase by the networks on how to present themselves and discuss business in ways that were much more aligned with brand needs.  In the same light, unlike last year where one mid-tier agency media supervisor said to me…

“I’m more confused now than I was when I walked in!”

…this year saw many more light bulbs going off and a general sense of more comfort.

This is a direct result of some intense and aggressive education and evangelism (not sales efforts) put in place by a number of networks and partners in the field and can also be attributed to the results of various campaigns run by select agencies and brands over 2008 that have helped to clarify where this new medium fits.  Because of the hybrid below/above the line nature of the digital OOH medium, it’s taken some time to get a sense of how this “stuff” works while at the same time, trying to push it into one box or the other and make it look like something that folks are used to buying.  While the medium is not there yet, definitive strides have been made since last year.

Increased Activity

Folks at this year’s show had a lot more to talk about in terms of results, case studies and clients – which in no small part is based on “Improved Understanding”.  Some bigger accounts are now in play in digital OOH – especially those organizations that are looking to expand and “test” in new mediums.

While Q1 of 2009 has not been a very positive time for ANY media owner, it’s quite obvious that there is a newfound like and ‘need’ for mediums like digital OOH.  Many I spoke to were quite impressed at the volume of activity they were “about” to have to deal with once brands started to release budgets (which, I can tell you, has started to happen since the show ended).

Varied Adoption Maturity

The most striking thing to notice was the disparity between agency groups about maturity, adoption and utilization of the medium – almost by holding company.

If you were to look at an adoption Bell curve, we’re definitely still in that first 12-13 percent of early adopters.

Some agencies have decided to make this a staple of their offerings and force brands to evaluate the medium and understand it across 50+ networks and opportunities and are approaching it much more as a strategic audience opportunity supporting existing targeting programs and embedding it deeper into their planning strategy.

Others have taken a very narrow approach and are still buying venue category by venue category, cherry picking what they understand today and limiting their exposure to smaller segments of the entire digital OOH landscape.

This isn’t to be unexpected.  There will always be early adopters and trailers in any medium.  I’ve seen this happen in both Internet advertising and Mobile marketing over the last 13 years and it always takes time but those on the leading edge of the adoption curve are definitely learning fast and holistically ‘today’ about the landscape and how it benefits their brands.  It will stand them in good stead next year and beyond for client results.

More evangelism and education, especially based on case studies and specific results by category, like the Samsung projects we’ve been a part of, really open some eyes and move mountains in short periods of time.  The results of some major segment based campaigns this year will help in increasing overall adoption.

I’m very much looking forward to the show next year and how much further we all will have come.  Thank you again to the MediaPost crew and let’s all have a great three quarter year!