By Douglas Cordova, VP, Business Development at Wrapify

This is going to be a biased article. I love the Out of Home industry and have since the day I started in it almost 12 years ago. I truly believe it is undervalued, underestimated and not given nearly the amount of attention, time and more importantly market share it deserves. I have never faced more frustration then watching my industry build and grow and continuously deliver yet still fight for the scraps we are given. This article will touch on what I believe is one of the main challenges we face.

I have had the opportunity throughout my career in Out of Home to present to thousands of people on all different levels. I have sat down with C Level executives at Fortune 500 companies and newly hired interns at start-ups. I have pitched almost every aspect of the Out of Home industry from Billboards to Malls to Street Furniture to Wrapify and everything in between. I have faced every pushback you could imagine and have been told no more times than I would like to remember. I have had some great wins and also some brutal loses.

That all being said what pains me the most is that our industry so easily accepts OR instead of AND. In fact for many of us it is how we sell. I really think you should go with this billboard, not that one. I feel strongly about OUR type of street furniture over the competitors. For your campaign placed based works much better over transit or moving vehicles. I think digital Out of Home makes more sense for this campaign than static. You need to focus on hyper local and in-store makes more sense than GSTV or malls.

We have worked so hard to prove that our medium is effective and then we go out and cannibalize each other. Which keeps us stuck fighting over the same dollars we always have. We are long past the point of proving more Out of Home works. The data and statistics from an unbelievable amount of reputable sources has shown that. Outside of the U.S. we make up such a larger percentage of the overall spend and and that continues to grow. The people making those decisions are provided with the same type of information we have here.

The time has come for us to replace OR with AND. To ask for a bigger budget because we know it will deliver. To ensure that our medium is not only included in almost every plan but is line itemed at the top. That we are part of the strategy meetings and pitches. That we collaborate with each other instead of operating unilaterally. That we work together to grab the larger piece of the pie we not only want but deserve.

There will be people who read this and nod their heads in agreement and others who will role their eyes (if they bother to read it at all). What gives me hope is that within the Out of Home Advertising industry are so many passionate people who love the medium that want to work together, that want to see it grow that will at the risk of possibly losing some revenue replace OR with AND when selling it through. They see the long term gain even if it comes at a short term loss. That is why even through my frustration I find so much to be excited about.

[wpforms id=”9787″]

Paid Advertisement