Taking our seat at the table
by blogadmin on Jun.30, 2010, under Buyers Corner
Since the release of EYES ON Ratings in January, I’m still struggling with the issue of perception versus reality.
EYES ON has leapfrogged over not just the old DEC measurements system but over most other measured media. While this sounds great and I for one am proud of this achievement, does everyone get it? I’m not so sure. Why then aren’t we seeing more demand from advertisers for OOH on their advertising programs?
Frankly one reason is that adoption of anything new takes time and while EYES ON Ratings has taken us closer to where we belong, we’re not there yet. We need to remember that outdoor has indisputable advantages over other media that has been long known: reaching consumers on the go, tracking them from home to point of purchase, delivering messages that can’t be zapped or tivo-ed in ways that are often mind blowing and spectacular. EYES ON provides accountability, underscores trust and solidifies the sale, validating the argument we’ve been making all along.
Another reason we’re not there is because we’ve not as united as we should be. We need to be more open and accepting of other media types that reach active consumers such as mobile advertising and digital OOH. Traditional OOH needs to work with these other OOH types to deliver an all-encompassing OOH plan that reaches the on-the-go, active consumer. As chair of TAB, I’d like to see EYES ON expanded to include more OOH media formats.
Finally, we need to be more aggressive advocates of our medium, demanding our seat at the table, rather than just passively waiting for an invitation to join in. Of course we need to support EYES ON but we need more. Having fresh research about how consumers think and act in our space would help.
It’s a media war out there. No more Mr. Nice Guy. We need to pull together all the artillery we have at our disposal. I’m tired of reading articles that describe what outdoor used to be. We need to consistently and cohesively correct misconceptions about what today’s OOH is and can do. And we need to do it now.
Only then will we be able to drive more revenue into the OOH arena.
Jack Sullivan
SVP – OOH Activation Director
Starcom Worldwide
July 15th, 2010 on 9:11 am
Three cheers to Jack and Norm, based upon an earlier comment. Tony Jarvis was recommending one metric for dooh and traditional ooh two years ago.
As Nielsen is providing audience measurement for dooh, they may have ideas as to how to take our metrics to the next level.
Buying rating points in dooh remains a challenge.