Partner Spotlight: ADstruc

With the transition to automated buying and widespread digital signage, outdoor media is about to explode. IPG Media Lab Managing Partner Chad Stoller was quoted in the New York Times this week, noting “Outdoor is one of the most undervalued media” in the landscape, and MAGNA GLOBAL estimated earlier this year that outdoor would grow 4.8% to a $7.3 billion industry. That’s why we’re particularly excited by ADstruc, a comprehensive solution to out-of-home buys and analysis, which is on the forefront of programmatic outdoor media.

How does ADstruc’s platform work?
ADstruc optimizes outdoor RFPs toward its inventory, which currently constitutes several hundred media networks across the country. That way, a media buyer can scan inventory, calculate an ideal expenditure, and then execute a buy without leaving the desk. For vendors, it’s a totally free marketplace.
It’s not over once the buy is executed, either. Unlike traditional outdoor, which ends once the media goes up, the platform maps your spend and tracks location-based social mentions to determine the media’s effect. Finally, ADstruc’s goal is to be a full-service outdoor platform, so it helpfully interfaces with analytics and billing platforms that media buyers and vendors use.
 
How can ADstruc change out-of-home media?
 
Outdoor signage is becoming progressively more digital — it’s currently 32% of the out-of-home market, and will grow as static media gets replaced. Markets like New York are fully embracing outdoor digital: digital media will fund the massive public WiFi project set to take over 10,000 obsolete payphones. And as outdoor becomes more digital, it will become more programmatic. To be able to change outdoor media at a click’s notice — sounds like the future to us.

On Trend: Digitally Enhanced Experiences Are Taking Over Live Events

Attending a live event, such as a game or concert, is a unique experience, but increasing costs and crowd-induced inconvenience have driven more consumers to watch from the comfort of their living rooms.  In order to lure fans—especially younger generations—back to venues, event organizers and venue owners alike are pushing for live experiences enhanced by mobile and location-based technology.

When designing a digital experience to complement a live event, the first step is to identify whether the event is more location- or time-dependent. Although both types rely on widespread smartphone usage, a strong WiFi connection, and proximity technology like beacons, the user experiences they offer can differ significantly:

  • Location-dependent apps work great for events that happen frequently in a specific venue , even if the audience changes each time. This is best shown in the VenueNext app for Levi’s Stadium, home to the SF Giants. The app boasts features that cover everything from digital tickets and parking passes to instant replays on smartphones and beacon-enabled seat locating. The app also offers convenient services such as mobile food ordering, in-stadium navigation, and real-time updated queue length, all of which encourage spending on concessions and merchandise, thereby boosting revenues for the venues.
  • Event-based apps are better during events in which the audience stays the same throughout its limited yet intensive time frame, as in the case of conferences or music festivals. Therefore, organizers typically design digital experiences that are heavy on notifications, event streaming, and social interaction. The SXSW GO app, for example, provides the users with personalized schedule building, event audio streaming enabled by SoundCloud, and a geo-fenced SXSocial network connecting thousands of its attendees.

Despite the differentiation, digitally enhanced tools are slowly but surely changing the way people experience live events, which opens up new opportunities for event organizers and brand sponsors to connect with the audience.

Netflix Tests Contextual Outdoor Digital Campaign Made Of GIFs

Read original story on: Digiday

Netflix has started testing a new outdoor campaign in Paris that consists of responsive movie GIFs. The billboards display GIFs from movies and shows that are available on Netflix and will change depending on weather, news events, or even nearby promotions accordingly. Using this type of digitally enabled hyperlocal advertising, Netflix looks to connect its content to people’s emotions, interests and behaviors at the right moment.

London’s Red Phone Booths Go Green

London’s iconic red payphone booths are getting a new lease on life by going green. Six of the city’s iconic red telephone boxes have been painted bright green and transformed into charging stations with solar panels on their roofs. The public can use them to get a quick battery boost for their mobile devices free of charge—the cost is covered by in-kiosk advertising.

Managing Partners Of IPG Media Lab At Dmexco

Our managing partners David Rosenberg and Chad Stoller are present at the German ad tech convention Dmexco. Chad took the stage yesterday in the “Future in Five” panel and talked specifically about utilizing new technology to reinvent out-of-home advertising. During his presentation, he highlighted the universality of outdoor advertising, the Lab’s recent efforts in programmatic outdoor buying and IPG’s recent investment in mobile measurement company Placed.

Watch the video of Chad’s great presentation via embedded video above (from 7:42 ~ 13:05)

Managing Partners Of IPG Media Lab At Dmexco

Our managing partners David Rosenberg and Chad Stoller are present at the German ad tech convention Dmexco. Chad took the stage yesterday in the “Future in Five” panel and talked specifically about utilizing new technology to reinvent out-of-home advertising. During his presentation, he highlighted the universality of outdoor advertising, the Lab’s recent efforts in programmatic outdoor buying and IPG’s recent investment in mobile measurement company Placed.

Watch the video of Chad’s great presentation via embedded video above (from 7:42 ~ 13:05)

CBS Outdoor to Buy Van Wagner Billboards

News broke today that CBS Outdoor is acquiring outdoor advertising businesses, including over 1,100 billboards in 11 major domestic markets, from Van Wagner Communications for $690 million. As the former CBS Corp. unit continues to broaden its reach, the fairly fractured OOH advertising market remains a dynamic place, with JCDecaux, Clear Channel Outdoor and Lamar Advertising all rivaling CBS Outdoor for the eyeballs.

While OOH advertising, especially the billboards, has been notoriously difficult to measure, a lot of exciting new technology has emerged in this regard to help quantify and maximize its efforts (many featured in our Virtual Lab). Clear Channel, for one, has been reportedly experimenting with location-based interactive outdoor platform. In this digital age, regardless of the amount of good ol’ billboards one might own, all marketers should be looking into the new out-of-home technology, especially the mobile ones, to really drive the message home.

Clear Channel Introduces Mobile Outdoor Ad Platform

Out-of-home ad company Clear Channel Outdoor is partnering with the New York-based ad tech firm Blue Bite, featured in our virtual lab, to bring its mobile ad platform “Connect” to 28 U.S. cities and Toronto, after a successful trial in some European markets. The platform aims to connect out-of-home advertisements with consumers’ smartphones by turning outdoor structures into digital interfaces using QR codes and near field communication (NFC) technology. It is also reported to be looking into more advanced location-based technology, such as beacons, to explore the largely uncharted territory of proximity-based advertising. As a first step, this is certainly a right step for the OOH ad seller towards a steady digital transformation.

Introducing The Water Purifying Billboard

Cause marketing is great, especially when your media is actually powering the cause not with dollars but with action. That’s the premise behind the air-purifying billboard in Peru and most recently water-cleaning billboard from Japan’s Shokubutsu Hana cosmetics brand. Read the full article to see how they’re doing it.

JCDecaux’s Witty B2B Stunt Has Earned Media Implications

JCDecaux’s recent stunt was a pretty clever way of getting advertisers attention. They went on Google Street view to find which advertisers OOH placements had been documented on the service, sending them an invoice for the digital impressions. This was a stunt to get advertisers to listen to their sales pitch, but it raises an interesting point about the future of earned media. As we increasingly document the world around us, every OOH placement has legs far beyond those physical impressions. Google Street view is just one example but advertisers need to factor in all the earned media. As geotagging and image identification get more precise, expect this to be part of the standardized reporting.