Every month, OAAA’s editorial team sits down with an industry leader to discuss the latest insights, trends, and best practices for the OOH industry. This month, we sat down with Adams Outdoor‘s, CEO, Kevin Jones, who discussed what excites him about OOH right now, his message for brands that haven’t bought OOH before, and what’s next for the industry.
Read Kevin’s Q&A in The Drum.
What excites you about OOH right now?
I am excited about the continued and unparalleled growth of OOH—particularly digital OOH—in an environment where many traditional forms of advertising are declining. While there are many reasons for this, two stand out to me: OOH’s ability to enhance an advertising campaign, and customer enhancements that OOH is continuing to provide. We have also found that building in OOH as part of a mixed media advertising campaign is a great way to help our customers growth their businesses.
In addition, we have a customer-focused, innovative industry, and we are unlocking better return on investment for our customers. Our medium is providing the next level of programmatic buying, attribution, and other forms of audience measurement and targeted impression campaigns. I am also enthusiastic about how we are pushing the creative envelope on unique copy and extensions across various verticals.
What message do you have for brands that haven’t bought OOH before?
If you want a fast and productive message to reach your audience – you need OOH. In a period of 24 hours, we can literally paint the town red and get immediate recognition for a brand, a person, or a message. I don’t know any other media that can do it that fast. As a case in point, OOH continues to be used by competitive media to advertise their own services. For example, our customer base includes television, newspaper, radio, and online advertisers who are using our billboards to promote their own services. In addition, our recurring local advertiser base is growing rapidly, which illustrates the value advertisers are getting from OOH.
What’s the next big thing for OOH?
Near-term big things include continued growth of digital platforms, programmatic attribution, the creative optionality, and impression-based campaigns. Also, as OOH continues to focus on sustainability, I think we are making a big improvement by reducing the environmental impact of the industry through initiatives such as recycling vinyl and reducing the electrical consumption of digital billboards.
What lessons and best practices can OOH learn from the tech industry to help grow market share?
In the tech industry, growth comes to the first movers or fast followers. Companies who hesitate lose share. While chasing every shiny object or fad is never advisable, I do think OOH can increase the pace of innovation. We should make a few big bets and go all in on areas where we believe we can further differentiate versus other advertising.
Also, I have conviction that OOH is the best form of advertising in the world. We are under-recognized and under-appreciated and should shout our capabilities from the rooftops!
Published: August 1, 2024