The digital out-of-home business is full of prognosticators and seers. The proliferation of industry blogs that seem to be read mostly (only?) by those of us in the industry demonstrates the wide variety of opinions on any given DOOH topic.
Recently, Steve Gurley (the relatively new VP of Marketing and New Market Development at Symon Communications) released a white paper titled “Ad-Funded Digital Signage: Is There a Future In It?”. It wasn’t clear to me when I read it whether it was an official POV from Symon or not – I’m assuming not, as there isn’t any mention of the paper on the symon.com website; and I would think that dismissing an important source of growth in the industry wouldn’t be seen as in the interests of Symon, a fairly large provider of digital signage hardware and software solutions.
I certainly don’t agree with the premise of Gurley’s paper as stated in the title, but didn’t really give it much consideration after I finished reading it. I dismissed the paper for what it was – an essay written by a single, relative newcomer to the DOOH business that when examined was little more than an exploration of the benefits of mobile technologies rather than an objective critique of ad-funded digital networks. In fact, many of the benefits of mobile discussed in the paper are valid, but not exclusive of the success of advertising on DOOH. In many cases the two media solutions are very complementary.
I also wasn’t impressed with Gurley lifting a quotation from Adcentricity’s Q1 Digital Out-of-Home Market Review and using it in a contextually inaccurate way, but others including Ken Goldberg of Real Digital Media in his digital signage blog have set that record straight in his digital signage blog.
However, something happened late last week that made me realize that these ‘prognostications’ are treated by some more seriously than warranted. I took a call from the CEO of one of Adcentricity’s network partners, who had a nervous investor who had read Gurley’s paper, and was questioning the investment he had made in what is a very sound DOOH network. We set up a conference call with all of the appropriate people on the line, and I was able to successfully explain the quotation and framed the white paper in a wider industry context.
However, it once again reminded me of a constant irritant, and a significant barrier to growing the DOOH business – our habit of shooting ourselves in the foot.
As an industry, we need to be giving advertisers reasons to use digital technologies to deliver messaging to the consumer on her path-to-purchase. We need to deliver a consistent message about the benefits of the DOOH medium, and how we are collectively getting better every day at the delivery of quality audiences to advertisers.
Let’s talk up the good stuff. Let’s be honest about our shortcomings, and work to beat them. But let’s stop creating obstacles where none exist.
i think you just hit the nail on the head. Prudent business practices suggests that one identify a need and craft a solution to meet that need. People pay handsomely for that type of discipline.
In the six years I have been associated with the industry I’ve observed that an inordinate amount of time is spent trying to justify the industry’s exhistence vs trying to satisfy a clear and understood need. The problem is not with people like me who state an opinion contrary to the party line, the problem is the lack of objectivity that prevents an open and honest dialog that could reveal new-found strengths or cracks in the armor.
I’ve taken quite a number of shots from several of the well known talking heads in signage industry. When I’ve offered to engage them for an open discussion in an open forum ….. Nothing but crickets.
Since you mentioned Symon, my employer, allow me to give you some insight into how it runs it’s business. It should give you some insight into the veracity of my opinions. 1) Symon is a visual communications company not a digital signage company. We do however manage the delivery of digital content to both digital signs and mobile devices – among many other display technologies. 2) Symon is extremely profitable. It has been so every quarter for 30 years. 3) We do not and will touch ad-funded signage. It would destroy our margins. 4) We absolutely believe in mobile and are putting significant money into the technology because there is a need for it. 5) Symon makes more in profits than many of the more recognized brands in the signage industry make in revenue.
Two final points: 1) When I wrote this paper, some at Symon feared I was giving away a competitive advantage. I assured the I wasn’t because the intellectual elite in the industry would dismiss it as rubbish. 2) If you think mobility is a problem that doesn’t exist…. Hold on brother because you are in for a big surprise.
Well said Graeme, completely agree.