1. Seth is a great author and speaker and always provides interesting insights
2. I loved how he starts off his talk relating the lack of wants for monks to use change because they’re busy and like how they’re doing things now.  While Seth was talking about the publishing industry, it just as easily relates to the media business – People don’t want to start to use a better mousetrap if they don’t have to and will let you go your own way until it becomes either a threat or beneficial to them.
3. As he says in his talk, the powers that be aren’t incented to be catalysts for change in any business – that’s YOUR job.  As smart as the folks are in ANY business, there is rarely a real incentive at the top to innovate or do a core job very differently.  This means that it’s up to the folks who are effecting the change to….
4. ….prove it.  Prove that your way of doing things is necessary and better than how I’m doing things now.  This is just as true in media…more research and metrics programs anyone? results?
5. Lastly, in listening to all of the strategies and tactics Seth has used over various books, he made mistakes – as you inevitably will when you innovate or “try stuff”.  He learned from those mistakes and improved on them and came out with a better model.  In media, I would relate this to some of the work I did in online advertising in the late 90s.  There were online campaigns we did that were abject failures for our clients…some of them large banks or telecommunication companies.   But we didn’t stop pushing use of the medium nor did my clients shy away from identifying mistakes and improving and going back out to try it again and they became more and more successful the further they got into the medium.  Mistakes are allowed….the first time

There is one part, about half way through that I believe in sooo much.  He discusses a test he did with a book he wrote called the “Dip”.  The test was to write a blog post about HIS new book and the same day write a post about a friend’s book.  That day he sold 3 times more of his friend’s book than his own. Why? because people assume that if he is writing about his own book, he’s “advertising” whereas if he is writing about a friend’s book, it must be because he really likes it and it’s worth buying.

Why is this important to Digital OOH?  I’ve discussed in the past how advertising/advertisers have to be a PART of the conversation in today’s media circus and not BE the conversation….i.e. you yelling about your own products is going to fall on deaf ears.  You using other peoples comments from various sources IN one of your ads adds credibility. Check out twitter to see who is speaking about, say, Orbit Gum.  Sure, there’s some raunchy/weird comments in there, but Orbit customers are generally extolling how much they love it….BY FLAVOR!

So how powerful would using some of their commentary be in an ad in an environment and screen like this:

Right when they get into the store? Using digital conversations on digital screens where products are bought or where conversations are relevant and beneficial to consumers?

We’re finding lots of interesting tidbits of successful DOOH ad use in ways like this and it’s helping to push that “prove it” mentality Seth mentioned.

The video can be viewed here.

Seeing any screen crashed like this is worriesome and does not promote confidence in the space as a whole.  One of the major complaints from agencies about the DOOH medium is that they go on tours and screens are down repeatedly for campaigns they’ve purchased.

While many work very hard to keep their properties up and try to be as responsible as possible, even being up 90% and overdelivering on campaigns is still off by 10% on the audience they are targeting which is 5% too much – minimum.  The media game is a fairly harsh world of “drive for perfection”.  I know others have addressed this before but I needed to bring it up again given I just saw this.

We need to strive to keep all screens up at least 95% of the time…it’s a tough standard but one we need to live for if we’re to build ongoing credibility as a medium.

• July 30 – http://www.robgorrie.com/2009/07/30/why-agencies-should-care-about-shopper-marketing-and-the-path-to-purchase/
• Mar 19 – http://www.robgorrie.com/2009/03/19/satchi-x-agrees-path-and-point-of-purchase/
• Sep 19 – http://www.robgorrie.com/2007/09/19/the-path-to-digital-signage-success/

there are more but that’s a start.

While P&G doesn’t call it the same thing I/ADCENTRICITY does, it has its own name for the way in which you need to consider creative and media executions when trying to speak to the consumer: Store Back

From the article on Ad Age:

store back is meant to be “a mind-set,” not another process in a company that already has plenty. But it’s also clear the mind-set could have a substantial impact on process, elevating the role of shopper marketing to also become a creative gatekeeper. “It means you have to have the end in mind when you’re coming up with the [marketing] idea,” she said. “If it doesn’t work at the store, it’s a miss.”

As Andy Murray from Saatchi & Saatchi X notes:

Andy Murray, CEO of Publicis Groupe shopper-marketing agency Saatchi & Saatchi X, said he sees store back elevating the role of shopper marketing at P&G and elsewhere. “It will bring more shopper-marketing insight work into the upstream ideation process,” he said.

He’s sometimes seen initiatives where Saatchi X “has to do some rework to make it work at the store level, and we can probably eliminate that by having better insights about the store built into the front end.”

It’s easy to tack on a shopper-marketing component to most ideas, such as through an adaptation of an ad that runs on in-store TV or a packaging blurb. But store back is supposed to be about ideas designed from the start to resonate with shoppers.

Interesting how this whole shopper marketing and shopper insights stuff is being driven in at the agency level on all fronts.

Many in traditional media have a very hard time wrapping their heads around this whole concept, preferring to stay with what they know.  Shopper marketing, digital and anything that helps facilitate it are coming in strong.  As Andy also says:

“Search advertising is shopper marketing done online,”

The keys to why these changes are coming on so strong can be read in the Ad Age article, but the highlights are:

• PERCEIVED ROI IS UP
• SHOPPER-MARKETING DEPARTMENTS ON THE RIS
• CONVERGENCE WITH DIGITAL
• CONVERGENCE OF CONSUMER AND TRADE BUDGETS
• CONVERGENCE OF CONSUMER AND SHOPPER RESEARCH
• RETAILERS TAKE CHARGE

I recommend reading this article several times…very good insight and Coke and P&G are pushing hard for this type of approach and if you do business with P&G and don’t buy in to the concept of end-to-end creative and media plans, you’ll understand why business with them doesn’t get won as often

Coming originally from Ontario, Ontario Lottery Group was one of the original kids on the block (like 7 years ago!) that implemented a network like this.  Michael Tutton and the crew over there have done a fine job with it. It’s also 10,000 locations/screens strong!

I was a little disappointed in the quality of the hardware…thinking they could have gussied it up and made a pretty sexy unit with the learnings from the other lotto companies that have gone before them. Oh well.

What I got a kick out of is that this unit was at my local bodega and I know the guy well.  The first thing he said when I took a picture was:

I don’t get these guys. Why would they put an expensive screen in my shop just to flash lotto numbers. If they were smart, they’d be selling advertising and giving me a share”

I couldn’t agree more

There are a lot of issues around a state owned platform running commercial ads but that’s a story for another time.

I participated in this conference last year (although it feels like 2 years ago now) and spoke on a panel with David T. from channelM and Art from Arena Media. It was a spirited, fun talk.

This year, I have the pleasure of speaking again with Chris Borek (who apparently hasn’t submitted his photo and bio to Strategy Institute ) who has been key in building up Target’s Digital OOH capabilities.  We’ll be having a fun convo around the benefits, both in and out of retail, of advertising models, what works and what doesn’t.  Having spent the last 6 months with VCs, I’m pretty sure I’ve got a few things to say to those interested in sourcing interest

Event details: Tuesday, October 6 & Wednesday, October 7, 2009 | Embassy Suites New York | New York City

Hope to see you there!

From the Strategy Institute’s Web Site:

Past, Current and Future: Learning from the Past and Progressing for Success

One way money is made in the industry is via the ad-based model…and this is not without its challenges. Join this session to review how the model has grown and evolved. Also hear how in-store networks can generate revenue beyond non-endemic ads.
Ad-based model cost structures and partnerships
Opportunities for endemic advertising, in-store sales lift, sponsorship and more
What’s working, what’s not and factors for success

Get knowledge to help you determine the potential of an investment, buyout or sale of a network.

Chris Borek, Senior Manager, Digital Marketing, Target

Rob Gorrie, President & Founder, Adcentricity

Well worth a read! It goes over case study after case study.  Recall, sales lift, drive to web, etc all show large jumps.  It also covers some in-store numbers and goes over “WHY” outdoor (or OOH) works….which I think we could associate DOOH with as well.

…a neat compilation – especially when other numbers and studies on DIGITAL OOH are showing 2-4 times the awareness and recall of static OOH.  It’ll be nice when some of the full blown studies get done in our medium

You can read it here Does Out of home advertising work

Turns out OOH is the shiznit.

Not only is the OOH market growing, it’s growing faster than any stat I’ve seen, from the reports of $8.2 Billion in 2012 to $10.2 Billion in 2013.  Huh? Where’d that extra $2 Billion come from???

Oh – wait…right…research & investment firms are actually starting to get their hands around how bloody big this (hidden) little gem of a market is. Something did seem a little wrong when reports of supply growth were 33% but no correlation to ad spend/demand existed.

And Digital OOH??? Well, it turns out that we were horribly wrong…it won’t be $3.9 Billion in 2012, It will be $4.5 Billion in 2013. Turns out Digital will make up for half of the OOH industry’s revenues by 2013. From the article:

Digital OOH spending will increase at a faster pace, with compound annual growth of 13.2 percent from 2008 to 2013. Total digital OOH spending will hit $4.53 billion in 2013, up from $2.6 billion this year, and accounting for 44.1 percent of all OOH spending.

What else is cool? Buyers are actually praising DOOH for the first time, albeit annonymously :

“Out of home has become such a flexible alternative, especially as the digital elements become more mainstream and/or available,” one buyer tells Media Life. “This flexibility allows the format to make sense for the quick turnaround necessary in these shorter planning periods.”

Look out TV & Internet – these strategy folks at agencies are starting to figure out that they can launch programs as fast with us as they can with you!  Which makes us….what’s the word I’m looking for….right…essential… for ongoing communication programs

Something else I got a kick out of that sounded vaguely familiar:

Among the growing technologies will be systems that send coupons to mobile phones and GPS-based tools to steer consumers to advertisers featured in VAN ads.

…Not sure where I heard that before.

The article is here

Fresh off facebook is an ad from Coors Light in Calgary.  Now THIS is contextual, localized advertising at its best!

Fun!

For those from the US, Toronto is viewed, by the rest of the country, similarly to the way NY can be viewed.  A little different, but it’s the best way to explain it unless you’ve lived in Canada.  Good thing T.O. loves the rest of the country unequivocally

Now all they have to do is make this digital and I’m a fan!

(O c’mon – it IS pretty funny )

[UPDATE - August 18: Seems folks really can't take a joke.  The Toronto Star wrote a piece on this a full week after I blogged about it (man print media really is getting super slow in picking up stories).  Most of the people I've heard from from T.O. howl at this but it's disappointing that folks can't take a little ribbing and laugh at themselves]

THANKS! You guys rock. .

Great reads on a number a varied topics in business leadership, which I read.  I guess I can now say  / paraphrase, like the old commercial:

Not only am I a content provider…I’m also a client”

Happy Monday

[UPDATE - Aug 9th: Confirmed - See Publicis for confirmation]

I was just made aware that Razorfish was just purchased by Publicis – Sticker price? $530 mil.

This is big.  There have been rumors circulating but apparently the whole deal just went through this morning.

We do work with both groups and they’re awesome to work with!

Congrats Publicis!  Great move!

[UPDATE: WSJ has more "details" (old but tells more than I do) here but full story will come out later]

[UPDATE 2: LOL - A decidedly different view of the deal but...to each their own http://www.tribbleagency.com/?p=5584]