Delivery Problems Hurt Us All

The technology that drives most of the DOOH in North America is incredibly powerful and feature rich. Most of our partner networks have the ability to drive any piece of digital content, in almost any format, to any individual screen in their network, at any time. And then to accurately report back to us in the form of a playlog exactly what ads ran when and where.

I’m surprised and concerned then with the number of compliance issues we’ve run across in the past several weeks while flighting campaigns. I always thought that selling the campaigns was the hard part –the flighting of them should be a piece of cake. (Laurie Freudenberg, our Vice President of Operations, is throwing heavy objects at me right now. Or is at least thinking about it.)

The good news is that the big media agencies are now taking DOOH seriously as a medium. They recognize the potential for delivering their clients’ messages to consumers while they’re traveling through their day.

Even better news is that the story we’ve been telling of the benefits of DOOH - micro targeting, immediacy, context appropriate messaging, for example - is resonating with the agencies. However, they have high expectations of the DOOH industry to deliver campaigns as contracted, and they are becoming increasingly vigilant in ensuring that they are getting value. This means that physical venue audits by the agencies are now becoming commonplace, and the results aren’t always casting DOOH in a favorable light.

Screens not installed in listed venues. Dark screens. Mismatched dwell and loop times. Screens not playing ads as scheduled. Screens with error messages. Screens that have been obstructed in some way by venue staff, or have had the volume turned off. These are a few of the concerns Adcentricity, and our agency clients, are discovering everyday.

As an industry, we all need to get better at execution. When an agency executive, or the advertiser, walks into a venue to proudly view their ad, it isn’t just a black eye for the specific network if there is a problem. It’s a hit in the head with a 2 x 4 for the entire industry. The question being asked in the agency offices today isn’t “should we use network A over network B for this campaign?” - it is “should DOOH be on our plan at all?”

Advertisers and agencies have the right to expect top-notch execution from the industry. We’ve established ourselves as a real ad medium. Now let’s deliver on the potential.

At Adcentricity, we realize that we play an important part in this process. We’re soliciting your feedback from our agency friends and our network partners. How are we doing? Are we making your lives simpler? What could we be doing better? Feel free to comment below on this blog post, or email me directly at graeme@adcentricity.com any time.

Graeme Spicer