The SCREENS.tv Blog

And they lived together happily ever after (0)

 

Ad agencies love us. No, really, they do, according to Jack Sullivan, senior VP and out-of-home media director at Starcom Worldwide.

And all we need to do to take the affair to the next stage is give them the kind of insights they need to properly assess the effectiveness of our screen-media networks – assuming, that is, that they are effective in the first place.

Sullivan made these semi-reassuring points in a panel discussion at Digital Signage Expo on Wednesday (along with the ubiquitous Steve Platt of the eponymous institute and Brian Dusho of BroadSign, both of whom surely either have doppelgangers or never get into the office).

“Clients love this medium, they love the digital mindset,” he said. “There isn’t a plan at agencies where it isn’t thought about seriously.”

But agencies need more information, he pointed out, including a research currency that is consistent  with those used in other out-of-home media.

And qualitative info is important too, according to Sullivan.

Rather than just getting numbers, he said, “I’m more apt to want to know the mindset of the commuter as they travel malls, commute…there’s a huge field of behavioural science out there for advertisers”.

When contemplating a network buy for a client, said Sullivan, he looks beyond the simplistic claim that a screen in a venue constitutes coverage of that venue – after all, we’re all familiar with some terrible screen locations, like the one Sullivan mentioned in a corridor leading to the washrooms.

He considers factors including the geographical locations of the venues; the nature of the venue itself (footfall and so on); and the number and positioning of screens.

“You have to, at the end of the day, deliver impressions – not opportunities to see – I want  likely to see,” he said.

“Preach [that] we are the medium that sells – other media reach consumers, we reach decision-makers, we are the end-aisle display.”

Share this article with others

Post to del.icio.us