Adrian J Cotterill, Editor-in-Chief
After hearing rumours all this week that JCDecaux were pulling out of the UK trade body, the Outdoor Media Centre (OMC), we spoke early this morning to Primesight CEO and OMC Chairman Naren Patel, who confirmed that JCDecaux had not renewed their membership.
Naren told CampaignLive that “JCDecaux has been pivotal in building the momentum of out of home in the UK and we are sad and surprised that they have decided to leave the OMC as the industry is poised for significant growth as result of the investment in digital screens”.
Naren told us that a new external chairman (i.e. a chairman this time who is not also a senior exec of an outdoor media owner) and a new CEO are close to being appointed – with one of these maybe being announced in the next few weeks.
After the announcement in the middle of October 2014 that Mike Baker was to step down from his chief executive role at the Outdoor Media Centre by March 2015, ex-Havas CEO (and part owner of Outdoor Plus we should probably add) Mark Craze was tasked with reviewing all of the options open to the OMC going forward.
That review, we believe, was completed and presented to the board in December – and no doubt, the suggestion of a truly external chairman, was one of those recommendations – along with many others that of course have not been made public yet.
The OMC now consists of three council members and seven board members. Naren told us that he sees no change in the fundamental structure of the OMC going forward.
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