• Digital OOH Needs A Better Plan
    Starcom's Jack Sullivan pointed out that as good as the out-of-home buying community understands the value of digital OOH, there still needs to be some education and integration on the media planning side. He said digital OOH platforms and data need to become better integrated into Madison Avenue's leading media planning software systems, such as MIS. On top of that, he said, vendors need to spend some time educating the media planners at agencies. And they also have to do a better job of standardizing their metrics so that they fit better into planning modules. Hill Holliday …
  • Majority Report
    PQ chief Patrick Quinn, and moderator of the opening Big Buyers panel at MediaPost's Digital Out-of-Home Forum in New York, opened things up with a question about the potential of "revolutionary" media buying systems that could utilize "facial recognition" technology to automatically know who's standing in front of a digital OOH screen. Tim Hanlon, founder of Interpublic's Velociter unit, and a next generation kind of guy, said we're practically there, and that the digital out-of-home market is close to the "Minority Report" era vision of screens knowing who you are and talking to you on that basis. Hanlon said …
  • Ok, So When Will The Digital OOH Breakout Happen
    PQ Media chief Patrick Quinn is setting the agenda for MediaPost's Digital Out-of-Home Forum in New York this morning, and he just characterized the growth of any new – successful medium – in terms of three phases: Gold rush, shakeout and breakout. Quinn said the gold rush period ran from 2003 to 2008, and then turned into the shakeout period, with a little help from the Great Recession. Quinn said he couldn't tell exactly how long the shakeout period would be, noting that it could run from "years to decades," and adding that dozens of major digital out-of-home players …
  • Out-of-Home Needs To Get Creative
    Calling all creatives! Perhaps more than anything else, digital out-of-home is missing good creative, according to Jack Sullivan, SVP/OOH Director at Starcom Worldwide. “We can’t keep using broad-based creative,” Sullivan tells attendees of MediaPost’s Digital Out-of-Home Forum on Thursday. “Creative is missing … Something’s got to chance.” As a representative digital out-of-home buyer, what else would Sullivan like to see from the industry? For one, "We need speed," he said. "I’m less concerned about a larger footprint ... At one time we did used to hammer you over the head (with that idea)." Today, however, "it’s speed, education, metrics, ..." …
  • Agency Executives Question Healthy Upfront Projection
    Despite an analyst's projection Tuesday that broadcast pricing and volume in the coming upfront would be up significantly, MediaVest investment president Donna Speciale suggested any prediction is way ahead of schedule. From her perspective, a principal reason is she simply hasn't received budgets from clients yet. At the MediaPost Outfront event, Initiative executive Kris Magel also had questions about an exceedingly robust projection. "I don't think that it's a lock that the upfront is going to generate 12% CPM increases ... there's a lot of stuff going on right now in the economy, there's a lot of things happening …
  • What Year Is This?
    “Cheers,” “Hill Street Blues,” Bart Simpson, “Melrose Place,” “Murphy Brown,” “NYPD Blue,” … Judging by the shows and stars being referenced by this afternoon’s Outfront panel, you’d think we were living in different decade. In the panelists' defense, the topic is long-term programming trends, which requires a little historical referencing. Bart, for example, was brought up as an example of broadcast networks taking programming risks on par with cable networks... although a more timely reference might have been "Family Guy" or "The Cleveland Show."
  • Advertisers In Programmers' Clothing
    So, what do the captains of content think about advertisers getting their paws into programming? It's "not a bad idea," said Christina Norman, CEO of OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network. In effect, she added, advertisers have their own unique relationships with consumers, which can be exploited to everyone's benefit. First, just be sure to ask: "Are our goals aligned?" Norman said. If they are, "It's a collaborative experience," said Jordan Levin, CEO of digital production studio Generate, and onetime CEO of The WB Television Network. In the best case scenario, advertisers and media companies can "both draft off each other," according …
  • Speaking Of Risk...
    Electus CEO Ben Silverman chose a risky analogy to make a point about advertisers tapping new, digital platforms to distribute branded content vs. using tried and true TV producers like Electus. "It's just as risky as Target choosing its first store in New York above 110th Street," Silverman quipped. Awkward. Especially coming after an interview with Univision chief Randy Falco that made a case for how the composition of America's minority audiences are shifting more toward a majority. Just saying.
  • Internet Helping Drive TV Spending
    On a morning panel at the Outfront conference, multiple executives said TV ad spending is benefiting from advertisers' desire to run campaigns that try to send people from TV to the Web. A certain synergy has developed, where TV brand-building is driving Internet deep-diving. Along with the economic recovery, Initiative's Kris Magel said the use of TV as a digital driver is prompting clients to up TV spending. "You've got this giant megaphone that is television that drives all this awareness, all this curiosity," he said. "And you've got digital that's now really developed into something amazing, sitting …
  • What Would Jack Welch Have Done?
    "Would Jack Welch have sold NBC Universal to Comcast?" Great question. And it was asked by MediaPost's David Goetzl to former NBC chief Randy Falco, who worked under Jack Welch's helm at GE. Falco didn't exactly answer the question, but here's what he had to say: "He always told me that NBC was a great source of pride for him and for GE. "It was a lot smaller than any of the other GE businesses, but it got a lot more attention than any other NBC businesses. "I think, If it was in the best interest …
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