DailyDOOH

Ocean Outdoor Limited is continuing its acquisition trail in the Nordics with a recommended public offer to acquire all the outstanding shares in AdCityMedia AB (ACM), the Sweden-based OOH operator which is listed on the Nasdaq First North Growth Market. This transaction of course, follows the recent acquisition of Visual Art, the Stockholm-based pure-play digital out of home media and tech group.

The combination of ACM and Visual Art will enhance Ocean Outdoor’s presence in Sweden, Denmark and Finland and sees Ocean enter the Norwegian out of home market through ACM’s established portfolio of assets there.

Anders Axelsson, CEO of AdCityMedia, said “Safe to say, DOOH has never been in a healthier position. We haven’t yet scratched the surface of opportunity that our channel can give to brands wanting to communicate with digital citizens in the Nordics. Becoming part of the Ocean family and a bigger entity presents a whole new set of tools to push DOOH to the next level. The opportunity for DOOH and Ocean in the Nordics is off the scale, and the team are really looking forward to working with our clients and agencies on the next stage of the DOOH voyage with Ocean.”

The combined revenue of both companies represents approximately 20% of the OOH market in Sweden, with a strong position in the DOOH segment.

Read the rest of this entry »

Talon is continuing its investment in its proprietary data management platform, Ada, boosting the platform’s capabilities through a partnership with Tamoco, a sensor-driven location data network.

Barry Cupples, Group CEO at Talon, told us “Our partnership with Tamoco reflects our continued investment in Ada. The demand for accurate, in depth understanding of audiences is growing and using Ada we are able to actively demonstrate not only how audiences behave but how best to target them efficiently, providing a clear impact on advertisers bottom line.”

This partnership follows Ada’s continued success in helping advertisers to accurately target OOH campaigns on actual observed behaviours, delivering clear return on investment. Managing and activating billions of audience and location data points, Ada generates intelligence about people’s real and recent behaviours, including how they travel, the OOH inventory they engage with and the actions they take afterwards.

Read the rest of this entry »

Women in AV (WAVE) UK announced today that it is currently under transition since the passing of Abigail Brown, who since 2014 had administered and managed the group and who was very much, the face and driving force of WAVE in the UK.

We are told that WAVE is in the process of establishing a Leadership Team of men and women who have been closely involved in the group since its beginnings and have a vested interest in ensuring its mission is upheld and that Abigail’s legacy prevails.

Jennifer H. Willard – Founder of WAVE told us “As Women in AV UK founder, Abigail Brown’s contributions for advancing under-represented women in the ProAV industry laid the foundation of WAVE’s core values and career development programs she championed with other UK WAVE and industry partners. During the difficult task of transition, the new WAVE UK Leadership Team is finding strength and purpose to continue building dynamic and ambitious opportunities for women’s professional advancement in ProAV, while keeping Abi’s irreplaceable enthusiasm, dedication, and trailblazing spirit for women’s equality ever present in everyone’s hearts”.

WAVE will continue to offer inclusivity and diversity as part of their remit and all supporters of the group are welcome to participate in events and promotions.

The WAVE UK Leadership Team will soon divulge further details about the group’s future and plans for 2020, including diary dates for a series of free-to-attend networking events in the South and North of the UK, as well as meetings at major international tradeshows such as #ISE2020 Amsterdam in February and #InfoComm20 Las Vegas in June.

Mission: Women in AV establishes a multifaceted approach to educating, supporting, encouraging and inspiring women in the audio visual industry through collaboration, research, mentoring, and networking opportunities. The Women in AV Group will promote the growth and performance of women by empowering them to feel recognised, respected, productive and important to the AV industry.

UK tech start-up, Bulldog Kiosks, has installed what they describe as, the world’s first self-service, customisable gift card kiosk into a chain of pubs, boosting sales by enabling customers to design, pay for and dispense their own unique gift card on the spot.

The freestanding touchscreen kiosk, installed by Windsor and Eton Brewery (WEBREW), takes a customer selfie or allows them to upload an image of a loved one alongside a personal message. Once payment is made through the kiosk, the uniquely designed gift card is dispensed in under a minute.

Bulldog Kiosks Founder, Phil Wood told us “We wanted to provide WEBREW customers with a truly unique and unusual experience – to design and create a gift card for friends and family on the spot. The touchscreen interface and range of colourful templates make it incredibly easy to use and people are loving it.”

The technology behind the Bulldog Kiosk touchscreen means it can be white labelled and used in any retail outlet, enabling shoppers in department stores, sports shops, fashion boutiques, fast food outlets and more to create their own gift card with a personalised message in under a minute. Phil Wood believes that, “The ability to add that personal touch to a gift card drives footfall, enhances the customer experience and reduces waiting times at the till.”

Today marks the launch of Foris Outdoor, a new UK digital out-of-home business which says it wants to become the UK’s leading DOOH network of large format digital 48 sheet (D48) landscape roadside screens.

From Left to Right; Jonny Brackenbury, Andy Kelly, Cennydd Roberts

Foris Outdoor is led by Founder and Chief Executive, Cennydd Roberts, an industry veteran with senior roles at Clear Channel, CBS Outdoor, Wildstone and 8 Outdoor (where he was CEO, leaving well before the troubles started) under his belt . The business started trading on November 25, 2019 with the first 20 D48 screens going live from the end of January. The press release states that a further 20 screens will go live each month throughout 2020 and readers will no doubt agree that is some goal (the aim, the press release says is to build the first network of 500 D48 screens by the end of 2021).

The first screens will go live across Glasgow, Barnsley, Barrow in Furness, Warrington, Birmingham, London, Wigan, Manchester and Stoke.

Cennydd Roberts told us “Foris Outdoor plans to deliver more digital large format screens in 2020 than any other UK operator and, by doing so, reaching more and new unique audiences across the UK’s towns and cities. This is a hugely exciting and entrepreneurial period for the out-of-home sector and I’m very excited to be leading a great new business with a big ambition. We are going to replace the paper poster with a network of broadcast digital screens across both small towns and big cities and to every corner of the UK. Our high-quality digital screens will provide advertisers with a cost-effective UK wide distribution, at scale to meet the rising demand of DOOH.”

Foris Outdoor is backed by a consortium of investors including Jonny Brackenbury, previously Director of Credit Suisse and an early investor and long-standing board Director of Soho House, and Andrew Kelly, the founder and owner of Open Outdoor which he sold to Dentsu Aegis Network. They will both join the Foris Outdoor Board in early 2020 as Chairman and Non-Executive Director respectively.

Jonny Brackenbury said “I am very excited to be working with a fantastic team in a growing sector, one that means more than two thirds of the population see a digital screen every week. Digital out-of-home is not only outperforming many other traditional media but critically, it is embracing technology to ensure it is a fundamental part of the digital media plans.”

Cennydd Roberts will be supported in the Foris Outdoor leadership team by Commercial Director, Pete Goldring, formerly VP UK Sales for the DSP iotec Global, YuMe, Clear Channel, and Primesight. Goldring’s appointment brings specialist skills as digital out-of-home continues to invest heavily and transact via digital platforms and exchanges. Additional appointments include Jane Garry of Adshel Australia, APN and Clear Channel as Head of Operations; and Lucy Holder as Head of Sales.

Octopus Interactive has raised a $10.3 million funding round led by Sinclair Digital Group.

Octopus provides Uber and Lyft drivers with (headrest) tablets that combine games, ride information (including maps and weather) and advertising in a 13-minute loop.

The company says it’s deploying geofences to target ads and increase their frequency in appropriate neighbourhoods and offering real-time analytics to advertisers.

Launched back in 2018, Octopus now claims to reach more than three million people each month across 10,000 screens in markets that include; New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, D.C.

Sinclair Digital Group is an affiliate of TV giant Sinclair which means that it can bring content from local TV stations onto the platform.

MathCapital also participated in the funding.

Here’s a good way to kickstart Monday morning at #NRF2020. ‘Nurturing humanity in modern-day retail: A conversation with Starbucks president and CEO Kevin Johnson‘.

While the modernization of the retail industry hinges on tech savvy, the power of emotion and human connection is often overlooked as essential to long-term success. Kevin Johnson became president and CEO of Starbucks in 2017, and from day one has embodied Starbucks’ mission to create a customer experience grounded in our shared humanity. Opening #NRF2020‘s Monday program, He will discuss the role of shared experiences and connection in the modern-day retail environment, and the recognition that the pursuit of profit is not in conflict with the pursuit of doing good.

It takes place Monday, January 13, 2020 at 8:30am-–9:15am in the SAP QualtricsXM Theatre, Level 1.

Overflow seating available at the Medallia Stage, Hall E, Level 1.

Now in its eighth year, The DailyDOOH Gala Awards recognises excellence and promotes best practice in our industry. It is an event that has firmly established itself as the sector’s only credible awards ceremony as well as becoming one of the most important fixtures in the social calendar.

(Shown above) Best Roadside Network Finalist (Birmingham 6 Sheets | Esprit Digital & Ocean Outdoor)

For an industry that is generally considered to be booming, the sector still deserves to be taken much more seriously – which is why we originally put together this impartial, professional, up-market annual award ceremony, that can truly do it justice, Ed.

There are a couple of changes to the judging categories (see below) but other than that it is business as normal.

Best Retail Deployment, Best Retail LED, Best Flagship Store. Best Shopping Centre Install, Best Overall Retail Experience, Best Overall Consumer Experience, Best Airport Install or Campaign, Best Sports Arena, Best Hospitality Install, Best Corporate Install, Best Digital Out of Home Campaign, Best Roadside Network, Best Transport Install, Best Street Furniture, Innovative Use of Technology, Best Original Digital Billboard and (new for 2019) The Green Award.

(Shown above) Best Overall Customer Experience Finalist (MSC Grandiosa Cruise Ship | Samsung)

Once again, the finalists are truly global with representation from the UK, France, Berlin (Germany), Frankfurt (Germany), Karachi (Pakistan), Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), Nanjing (China), Kuwait City, Arlington (TX), Las Vegas (NV), Charlotte (NC), New York (NY), Orlando (FL), Sydney (Australia) and thanks to Samsung we even have a finalist that is sailing the World’s Oceans, the MSC Grandiosa Cruise Ship.

As our jury went through the judging process we could not fail to be impressed by the overall improvement that we have seen year on year. The LED stuff this year is particularly impressive.

All those shortlisted and indeed all the finalists truly do represent the best that the industry has to offer globally.

Individual tickets for the DailyDOOH Gala Awards are available here.

In France during November, Burger King is pointing out to people via an out of home campaign where there is NO restaurant nearby. All in the name of promoting their new partnership with the Deliveroo delivery service.

With 328 restaurants, Burger King is well established throughout France but there are still a few places where the brand is not yet present. Instead of this being seen as an issue, the brand (as was done recently in North America we believe) decided to have fun with it.

The campaign put together by Buzzman, gives passers-by false directions that will NOT lead them to one of its restaurants because there are none nearby!

This allows the brand to announce that they are using Deliveroo in the area to deliver orders.

Advertising agency Buzzman was voted ‘Best International Small Agency of the Year award in 2011’ by Ad Age and ‘Agency of the year’ at the Cristal Festival in 2013 and 2016, ‘Agency of the year’ at the Effie Awards France 2016, ‘Most Creative Agency’ in 2016 and elected by advertisers ‘New Model of Creative Agency’ in 2017 at the Agencies of the year Award and ‘Most French Creative Agency’ in 2019 by BVA Limelight consulting.

CREDITS BURGER KING® FRANCE
Marketing Director Alexandre Simon
Product Marketing Officer Carole Rousseau
Communication Manager Lucile Zoude
Marketing Product Manager Clarence Zidouhia
Project Manager Assistant Eléonore Guigon

CREDITS BUZZMAN
President and Executive Creative Director Georges Mohammed-Chérif
Vice – President Thomas Granger
Managing Director Julien Levilain
Art Director and Copywriter Manel Jouini
Art Director and Copywriter Edouard Jacquelin
Head of Account Loïc Coelho
Account Executive Fany Maupou
Head of Strategic Planning Clément Scherrer
Head of PR & Communication Amélie Juillet
PR & Communication Manager Paul Renaudineau
Head of production print Vanessa Barbel

BrightSign,LLC has unveiled BrightVoice – the company’s voice-activated digital signage solution that enables a unique, hands-free interactive experience.

BrightVoice allows audiences to interact verbally with digital signage using wake words followed by natural voice commands that trigger playback of on-screen content, music, lighting and other devices. And while this type of interaction mimics the workflow popularized by commercially available voice-enabled smart speakers and other devices, the BrightVoice solution is hosted locally on the BrightSign player and does not require an internet connection.

BrightSign CEO Jeff Hastings told us “Smart devices such as speakers, watches and phones have propelled voice interactivity into the mainstream, and therefore voice-activated digital signage is a natural extension of that workflow. What is unique about the BrightVoice solution is that it enables manufacturers to demonstrate their own smart devices at retail and other pop-up locations without requiring an internet connection. This will be welcome news for any brand or retailer that’s ever grappled with the challenge of demonstrating cloud-enabled devices to customers via intermittent (or nonexistent) network connections.”

Existing signage networks using BrightSign XD1034 or XT1144 media players can implement voice activation capabilities by purchasing the BrightVoice Command Model Service and a USB-connected microphone for each endpoint. Network administrators, working with BrightSign, then create a custom set of voice commands that trigger specific content responses when used in conjunction with the included standard wake word.

Customers desiring further customization have the option of purchasing additional levels of BrightVoice Command Model Service, which enable them to trigger unique content, control other devices, and create customized wake words to deliver an interactive experience fully tailored to the customer’s needs.