OOH Uncut Podcast: Ian Dallimore
Ian Dallimore, Vice President of Digital Growth, Lamar, joins host Rick Robinson, CEO, PJX Media, on OOH Uncut, the podcast featuring thought leaders in the Out of Home media world.
October 11, 2023
The out-of-home advertising industry faces challenges in achieving higher market share despite technological advancements and improved measurement. One key issue is the lack of a unified voice among various players, which leads to confusion for brands and advertisers.
To overcome these challenges, the industry should focus on presenting a cohesive image and collaborating with agencies and brands to deliver a compelling narrative that highlights the unique creative capabilities of out-of-home advertising. This approach can help the industry overcome competitive boundaries and achieve growth.
Ian Dallimore Discussion on OOH Uncut Podcast with Rick Robinson
Rick Robinson: Hello everybody. Rick Robinson here today with PJX Media. And my guest is Ian, Dallimore, and he is the VP of Digital Growth at Lamar, say hello to everybody Ian.
Ian Dallimore: Hey, how's it going, guys?
Rick Robinson: I'm super thrilled to have you. You're such a big voice in the industry, and I know you're out there evangelizing all the time. So, I have a question for you're one of the first guests here in season two and in season one we talked about what out of home can do that. Nothing else can do and there were a lot of great responses. All I would say under this umbrella of gravitas public statement community, emotion amplifying this big presence factor and everything that creates and resonates. And with all of that happening and improved measurement and the increase of our digital footprint and just our contemporary leaning. What's call it over the last decade and these improvements maybe. Why are we stuck at 5% shares in industry?
Ian Dallimore: Yeah, it's a great question. It's something that obviously our board and myself and many others in the industry hate hearing that word five percent but it's right. But everything that you rattled off, we've fixed and have continued to evolve. I've been in the space, believe it or not for 18 years now. And in the beginning, none of those things that you mentioned yourself as well existed right.
We're at the very evolution of a lot of those we've fixed. And we've hyper focused on all of those so I'll say we fixed them and it's a constant evolution but I've broken it up into two points. Are we speaking the same language and as one voice so over the last 18 years of my time here, the evolution of who is a publisher in the space has massively evolved, right? The place-based industry has exploded and I would argue for a good purpose, so the evolution of this screens in the space have evolved. But yet we all continue to act off as these one-off companies. And as I kind of research for being a guest here, I looked at our friends over on the social side. So you have instagram reels and you have a tiktok feed, They're speaking the same exact language if I'm an advertiser or a consumer. It's very simple, I record a video. I got 15 to 60 seconds depending on the two platforms and it's very consistent. I know who my audience is based on the follows etc. We do the same thing but we all act to differently and to an advertiser in that side of the world, it's very simple, right? Here's the specs that create this is the audience, this is how we measure.
But they're just two different companies that are talking the same language in our space. You'll have roadside companies like Lamar Clear Channel out, front and others. But then you'll have a lot of the play space folks that have done amazing, things like Volta and others. And in grocery TV, and they all speak as if they're individual screens. But we always take a step back. And I love that. You're one of my mentors, but the people of space, None of us really care. If we take our out of home hats off, or we take our agency. That's all none of us. Really care, right? We just care that throughout my journey throughout the day. I see all of these different screens that are beautifully woven in, and when you see those rare opportunities and I think that's where the five percent growth comes when you see those rare opportunities. We're a brand, you wake up in the morning, you see that Instagram real of that brand you're then headed down a highway you see a lamar digital board. You walk into a gym, you see zoom, etc, etc, right. It's beautifully woven but that rarely happens. Yes, the programmatic and automation has fixed that. But one of the issues that has happened is it's very jagged. It's hey, I'm grocery TV. I'm gonna go in and sell. grocery TV over this medium? As opposed to us having one voice? Yes, we should compete. But let's not confuse the brands because it's very, very confusing, So that's The second point is and I know you and I have a love for the arts, you're more of an artist and do fantastic work. As we were kind of prepping here.
But I'll say it, very bluntly. we have to be this sexy medium that we know that we are those folks that I just rattled off the coolest thing that they can do is video on a tiny little phone, right? We have this ability to present ourselves in such a beautiful manner.
And most importantly, Rick is, we have the ability to talk in the elements in real life in an environment. So me as a consumer I sit there and I may see this beautiful colossal hand-painted wall and it speaks to me in that moment. Yes, I can interact with it through, augmented reality. I can take a selfie etc, but people are dying just they didn't ask to have an ad thrown in their face. But the best thing that the out-of-home space can do to truly grow, is really the creative side. And most importantly is tell me what your brand means to me at this moment in time when it's raining at lunch time, as I'm driving down the freeway,
Rick Robinson: Mm- The power of context. So one, unified voice and, get our swagger right. get our sexy and speak with that with confidence, What are we afraid of?
Ian Dallimore: Yeah, I think So I think it's a relationship thing, Lamar and in Pjx, have been partners since the birth and the founding and you do a fantastic job and of running that agency. But I think there's such a fear that it's like, I just need to make sure my photo sheet looks great. And that spreadsheet is filled Based off of agency acts. and we do this? So there's not really but what if we did more of you and this is funny and I have done this in previous lives, but what if the two of us went in and we collaborate it, we brought another publisher and we brought most multiple publishers to have that journey and we went in to BBDO. We went into Widen Kennedy, we went to brands directly, And we said,…
This is what we can do together and this is how we can present your brand. We're not even a part of a conversation because it's so confusing at the brand level and at the holding company level, by the time, it gets down to the specialist side. Oftentimes, you're not even on the brief because the creative team has this very, Square thought of what out of home is. So we're not telling the story and we're not fully presenting our capabilities because we know there were a bus the dynamic creative capabilities, the 3D build that. So it's really telling not only one voice as a medium as he had a home industry but it's really one voice like go alongside with your agency partner and say Hey look Something may or may not come out of this.
But I respect our partnership. Let's go into that brand together and let's tell this story together and when that brand says, Love it. Perfect. Here's Agency XYZ.
Rick Robinson: then there's the big opportunity, So one voice Walk our sexy, do it in unison and let go of the old competitive borders. Ian, thank you very much for your time. I appreciate it. I know our audience does, there's obviously so much more. We can talk about. We're going to definitely have you back. Have an awesome day and…
Ian Dallimore: Love it. Thank you,…
Rick Robinson: Have a great week, my friend.
