As is typical at these events, I was able to see only some of the presentations because of hallway meetings with both current and developing partnerships. Those presentations I was able to catch were good – although the new learning at these events is pretty limited to industry die-hards. Highlights for me were the keynote from the dependably grumpy Bob Garfield from Advertising Age (entertaining, but limited in direct benefit to DOOH practitioners); and the Schering-Plough case study presented by Sean Smith from MPG and Ray Rotolo from Chrysalis.

The Schering-Plough case study was of particular interest. The campaign was coordinated through OVAB, and was promoted as the best thing to happen to DOOH back in the early spring when it was planned and executed. The presentation of the results was – err, vague – but the overall impression left was of a great success. Schering-Plough is looking at a repeat of the campaign for 2010 (but look for them to demand even sharper pencils when it comes time to negotiate price).

I appreciate these events more for the opportunity to gather many of our partners in one place at the same time to facilitate face-to-face meetings. It was good to see many friendly faces, including Jerry Hall, who is busy with the newly merged Targetcast and Ripple TV networks; Chris Peck from Arbitron; and John McMenamin, who has recently joined Touchtunes/Barfly in a senior executive role.

According to OVAB’s Ajay Durani, attendance was about on par with the previous year, which is real achievement in what has been a challenging environment economically for the media business, and a testament to the ongoing interest in DOOH amongst the agency community.

Lon Otremba, Access 360 Media
Scott Lyon, Captivate Network
Joyce Myers, Indoor Direct
Jeff Atley, ADCENTRICITY

The Marketing Committee is responsible for developing OVAB’s brand position, as well as activities that build awareness and promote the use of out-of-home advertising networks and their stakeholders. The Committee provides marketing advice and expertise in support of all OVAB programs and initiatives.

Congratulations Jeff! We all look forward to the great work you and the rest of the Committee are sure to provide.

The West Coast Digital Media Summit was held on Wednesday, March 25th in conjunction with thinkLA, the Los Angeles marketing and advertising non-profit. The venue was the august Beverly Hills Hotel, and Graeme Spicer, our VP of Strategic Partnerships, represented ADCENTRICITY.

Graeme counted over 240 in attendance, 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.

A few comments from the panel as reported by Graeme on Twitter:

Harder: “We need incentives (read price reductions) to help us sell DOOH into our clients.”

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 psycho graphic 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.”