Insider caught up with Chris Cowlbeck, General Manager of IBOUSA on the viral nature of their current campaign.
What have been the results from the recent campaign run through the IBO Speedway?
Here’s the update and progress: The Series of Billboards effort has been current for 6 days. We have 18 operators that are running creative for the client on up to 100 digital boards over 14 states. The actual number is not 100% known as we are waiting for POPs. Also, three of our owners have run the creative on their own without compensation to test the mechanics of execution, the reaction of the public, and general interest.
We understand images of the billboards have spread out through other social media channels? What has been the feedback from your customer?
The reaction from, L.S., Inc, the client, is they are thrilled on 3 fronts:
- Speed to Act. The ability of our operators to adapt in real-time to market conditions based on current events. Last Thursday, the suicide bomber killed 13 of our finest in Kabul. The creative running at the time of the attack was three ads using Afghanistan as the backdrop to question the leadership of The President. Within 3 hours all boards across all states removed the creative with the clients desired new RESIGN creative. This was proof of concept for the client; I think it was a seminal moment for OOH. I encourage all media owners, Lamar, Fairway and other corporate entities to grasp what we have.
- The positive reaction in the marketplace by the public. Posts are showing up on Facebook, Google Search, Instagram (see#3) and Twitter. The public is taking the outdoor billboard and inserting it into social media which ultimately leads to mainstream media covering the billboards. We have had one operator in 6 days receive only one total complaint about any of the 5 separate ads that ran over the past week.
- That OOH is the linear bridge from our social media to traditional media without censorship. The example: The image shown is a screenshot of the_typical_liberal (2.4 million followers) Instagram post from yesterday around 10 am. Bill Durden’s billboard was screenshot and sent to Grant Godwin from a follower. Grant posted Durden’s Dothan Billboard on Hwy 84 with his Godwin’s comments – presently, ~150,000 people have liked the billboard. For every like, a ratio of 4 to 1 more views on Instagram – so the client estimates over 600,000 people have seen Durden’s billboard all over America and the globe. Moreover, in the comments section(~1000) eight other states have been mentioned as running the same RESIGN creative. That’s 9 states being validated in one guy’s post. The post starts a linear process of others influencers sharing the post on their social media which leads to mainstream media writing articles and maybe even bringing TV cameras. The client fully expects local articles to appear in the coming days regarding the various forms of creative as a result of this post.
Where is all this going with L.S., Inc.?
The last 6 days matters because this form of advertising is expanding our reach and frequency which means we, in the near future, will have a higher value for our ads and serve as a transition back into Social and Traditional Media. This expanded reach should make our product more valuable.
Over the last week, Becky, Daron and I have worked side by side with the clients and their attorney. We have had to pivot from the first four ads (Afghanistan and Gas) to RESIGN to their latest iteration of ads that honor our fallen sons and daughters last Thursday.
I understand the spend potential could be significant? What is creating this opportunity for the IBO Speedway and IBO members?
I have 2 takeaways:
- L.S., Inc’s mission is to demand our leaders be accountable for their actions whether democrat or republican. L.S., Inc. fully intends to call out the mismanagement of the right in the near future starting with Republican Senior Leadership in both the Senate and the House. I have already seen the creative. They want to engage the viewer to decide what the creative means to them. L.S., Inc and its sponsors want to challenge citizens to think rather than except information through the filter of billionaires in Silicon Valley controlling Facebook, Instagram, Google Search, Pinterest, Snapchat, Twitter and others; as well as, the Six Media Companies that control 90% of all global media. They are at their core champions of Free Speech.
- L.S., Inc’s is all in on the billboards to advertise awareness issues. The amount of value garnered from just having Grant Godwin pick up on his Instagram RESIGN featured on Durden’s billboard paid the expense systemwide exponentially. Also, L.S., Inc knowing others in the public make testimony to seeing the same images in their local towns of Johnson City, TN, Gainesville,TX, Brainerd, MN, Denver, CO and others is proof of performance far-reaching past traditional monitoring provided by the Nielsen’s of the world. L.S., Inc, has discussed using our static billboards to brand key themes for next year including Term Limits, Fair Taxation, Science, Education and Quality of Life Issues that don’t require messages to be changed in days.
Is the IBO showing any political leanings by running this campaign?
L.S., Inc is in discussion of making a system-wide media buy worth millions for our owners that would run into 2023. The next 3 weeks will go a long way to how high a bet they make with us. I encourage all our owners to get on board, as well as the corporate guys. Trust me, I am agnostic to all viewpoints, this is about revenue for OOH and fulfilling a client’s needs, from whatever viewpoint they have. The media owners always will decide what displays on their property,
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