Year In Review: Looking Back At Out Of Home
From Member Brian Rappaport, CEO, Quan
How have your priorities/goals shifted from the start of 2020?
For us it’s about continuing to remind our clients why OOH can be a viable and measurable channel and utilizing real time data and audience metrics to prove that. In the beginning of 2020 we hadn’t gone through a Global Pandemic. OOH spend was increasing YOY, and it was simply assumed it would continue that way (within the industry anyway). In March/April this year, we saw one of the lowest points our industry will face, but fortunately (as opposed to 5 years ago) we have access to audience data to understand where these new commuter patterns are, where people are NOW, and that coupled with the scale of the channel simply leaves it up to us to further educate our clients and brands how they can use OOH effectively, strategically and creatively – even in lite of a pandemic. It’s about building restored faith in the channel.
As we navigate this “new normal” do you have an idea of how you’re going to set your objectives/goals for 2021?
Really it’s building up our client roster. We spent months during the pandemic networking, getting introduced to brands who wanted to use OOH to scale, but it wasn’t the time for them. They still wanted to learn more, how it’s evolved, how it can be measured. Now it’s time to execute. We want to see these brands launch successful OOH campaigns. We want them to see growth through Out of Home.
How has your company been able to maintain a positive work environment, remotely?
Weekly brainstorms, ideations, Zooms. Staying in constant contact. Slack is a lifesaver. Also learning how to separate and break away from work. While we may not be able to go on vacation per se, it’s important to not stay in front of that computer all day. We encourage breaking away.
What industry trends do you think will be prominent in 2021? Which ones will become less important?
I think just an influx of spending. Not rocket science, but once we see a viable vaccine I feel like it’ll almost be a collaborative celebration among brands. Definitely heavy spend in the travel category. I do feel we’ll see a lot more flexibility on the media operators side as brands are going to be hesitant about locking in long term contracts without flexible cancellation clauses. Long term/full year contracts may be a bit less prevalent. Specifically within the Quan world – increased spend in DOOH as it offers flexibility, scale and the ability to be extremely innovative from a creative standpoint. More interest in programmatic OOH as well.