OOH Uncut Podcast: Nick Wootten
Nick Wootten, Chief Marketing Officer, Q Mixers, joins host Rick Robinson, CEO, PJX Media, on OOH Uncut, the 5-minute podcast featuring leaders in the Out of Home advertising world discussing OOH media industry topics.
November 1, 2023
The challenges facing the out-of-home industry include a higher cost of entry and a lack of immediate testing and measurement compared to digital advertising, which can attract advertisers looking for quick returns.
The out of home industry should leverage its strengths in adapting to new spaces and being less risk-averse. It should focus on creating opportunities for brands to explore new sectors and environments, aligning with changing consumer behavior to drive necessary growth.
Nick Wootten Discussion on OOH Uncut Podcast with Rick Robinson
Rick Robinson: Hello everybody, Rick Robinson here with PJX Media and another episode of OOH Uncut. Today's guest is Nick Wooten and he is the CMO of Q mixers. You know what Q mixers is even though you think you might not, they are actually America's biggest mixer brand. So, when you have a Margarita or a Bloody Mary, the mixer probably came from Q. And in fact about three quarters of the flavor profile of that drink is in the mixer. So you're a user whether you know it or not. And Nick. We're so glad to have you here. Thank you.
Nick Wootten: Thanks for having me on the show, excited to be chatting with you today.
Rick Robinson: for everybody out there, Nick is a big fan out of home and has been an advocate for many years. He's also got excellent discipline as a growth marker and can give us his point of view from the entire media spectrum. So he's perfect for me to ask this question now for season two Nick we're asking people, If out of home is so great, look more digital inventory, better measurement, big units in city centers, gravitas, speed to market, all those things… if out of home is so great, then why is it still stuck at 5% market share?
Nick Wootten: Great question also, a very loaded question.
Nick Wootten: I believe the most common answers for this question that you'll hear is the lack of reporting or the cost of entry. the sales pitch would digital, as I can start with a Small budget To drive immediate incremental return. I can measure true ROI immediate. Also, the platforms can manipulate price for new advertisers and products in a blind bid. So I'm able to generate more efficient, roids early on, as I start to scale, they understand there's more demand for that they manipulate CPM and it becomes more challenging to maintain that. This brings a lot of new advertisers into the space with a sense of performance and an appetite to scale. as well,…
Rick Robinson: Right. Okay.
Nick Wootten: without a Home there should be a minimum investment for a desired ROI and measuring that impact typically takes much longer. However, I think the reality in it is that both reporting and cost of entry are major contributors to Growth remaining flat. But inventory dynamically the major role when looking at wide growth,…
Rick Robinson: All right.
Nick Wootten: for example,
Rick Robinson: Talk about that. Yeah. What do you mean by industry by inventory dynamics?
Nick Wootten: Yeah, so if we look at airport, inventory in large format displays growth is likely much more than 5% Over the last year. However, I'm sure over that same time. Transit growth has been in decline, pulling down the overall average,
Nick Wootten: So unlike social and digital, out of home, can't sell more of what's in high demand without a direct association to the attribution. It's difficult to charge accordingly typically based on demand for How many people are requesting? That specific inventory, not the ROI that inventory yield in social. If cat videos are increasing engagement and political ads are In decline they can serve more cat videos as well as price accordingly based off of that performance. So the growth of social media user has drastically declined over the past decade, there's 10% user growth from 2021 to 2022. That felt it's represent last year, However, social media's revenue group, still grew by nine percent, even though they had users fall or let me say didn't maintain the same rate, seven percent life growth rate, they still have nine percent more in revenue and that's because they're continuing to shift more and more inventory into video that Cost, more and drives more performance.
Rick Robinson: Let me hold you up for a second. Yeah, because I want to let everybody catch up here.
So, what you're saying is that you think what's held back The growth out of home is that it's a higher cost of entry. And the measurement It's not an immediate test, whereas with digital, which is grabbing most the budget you can get in for low cost and you can learn right away whether or not it works. And as you continue to invest, You're investing towards the performance. Additionally, the inventory is inflexible, right? We can't just remove all transit advertising because ridership is down and Triple the amount of premium inventory and airports and city centers. If that demand is up, is that where you're going?
Nick Wootten: Yeah, and to take that one step further. I don't want to equate that to more bridge boards, right? I live here in San Francisco. I'd say, bay bridge boards. Imagine if out of home, could constantly increase the number of bridge boards, without diminishing, the consumer experience of those of those boards or the environment around it. There would be more of the important inventory that people want the most more of the inventory. That's working harder for performance and most importantly, more inventory that should be competitively, right? However, if you end up flooding the Bay Bridge billboards one it takes away from the boards around it you're gonna have other variables and other parties that are going to push back on that and it doesn't run into this, If they start to find a media or vessel, that's going to continually perform better they can continually serve more of that, inventory, and isolated environment.
Rick Robinson: So what should the other home industry? Do because inventory rigidity. Let's call it the fixedness. That's a word of our inventory. That's not going to change, right? And the measurement while improving Still lags behind what you can get in the pure digital world. So what would you suggest to us?
Nick Wootten: That's a great question. I would say the industry needs to lean into it’s strenthgs. One, being the ability to pop up, inventory, in new spaces and two, the ability to be a bit more risk averse. So without a home, there's always the opportunity to create new environments, new space today. What pickleball is taking the country by storm. First thought I have the intercept that audience is reach out to out of home providers and understand what is new inventory in these environments, these pickleball courts as they pop up left and right 10 minutes ago, they had no inventory around them, five minutes from now, they will have out of home, inventory around them and let's create the unique way for me to put my brand in a very popular environment, very very quickly. And as out of home, continually continues to evolve and populate inventory in new environments that reflect consumer behavior. Changing it creates an opportunity that no other media has right? And I think if we continue to chase that and lean into that with out a home, they're out of home is unmatched, its ability and then similarly with the risk averse side out of home is typically has created an opportunity for brand and fringe sectors to be able to start advertising. Let's take something like cannabis, that was heavily regulated with television and digital. Well out of home created an opportunity for these advertisers to get out there and test and so forth, and there's going to be a ton of more sectors that need that opportunity, and our home should lean into own that give advertisers that opportunity. And I think those two things alone would drive the next necessary growth at the industry looking for.
Rick Robinson: so let me jump on that for a minute. So you're saying the fact that we can show up and follow the public patterns is as movement patterns changes, intercept points change out of home, shows up. And that's exciting to you as a marketer to be able to be seen fresh in new spaces and then lean into just the, I guess. What you really mean, is risk-friendliness, right? The willingness to put up messages that create conversations, because that's really what you want. Is a marketers. Have people talking about your brand? I can tell you this, As a result of this episode, I'm sure we're going to see the pickleball out of Home, Network cropping up soon, there's some investors out there who To get after that right away. Nick, I really Appreciate your love and affection for the medium. and thank you very much man. Take care.
Nick Wootten: Okay, thanks for having me.
