OOH Uncut Podcast: John Rowan
John Rowan, Principal & Owner, Rowan Communications Lab, joins host Rick Robinson, CEO, PJX Media, on OOH Uncut, the podcast featuring thought leaders in the Out of Home advertising world.
September 25, 2023
John Rowan Discussion on OOH Uncut Podcast with Rick Robinson
Rick Robinson: Hello everybody. Rick Robinson here with PJX Media. And today's guest is Owner and Principal of Rowan Communications Lab, John Rowan. John, happy to have you. You say hi.
John Rowan: Hey, how's it going? Glad to be here.
Rick Robinson: Glad to have you too mate and we're gonna start with the same question we ask everybody here in season one which is…What can out of home do that no other medium can do?
John Rowan: good question. I'm a big out of home fan. I'd say it's probably of all the media channels that I work with. I think it's probably one of the big reasons why it's my favorite or up there is it's really tough to ignore, I think in today's day and age of, subscription model and add ad blockers and running out of the room when the game is at halftime, out of them is one of those things it's in your face and, it's always there. And that's one thing that I love about it. That may sound a bit intrusive. So the other thing that I love about it or the creative opportunities with it, I have a bit more of a kind of a creative media background and especially even, we're working a lot with you doing a lot of really interesting creative things so whether it's, timely around certain holidays. build outs that really kind of pop or just, creative that is relevant to wherever the out-of-home unit is, whether it's something that's next to, a business or, a part of town or, on the way to something. I think there's just so many great creative opportunities and it really, it's definitely the perfect mix of blending kind of that media planning and creatives that kind of blending kind of the art and science of it all.
Rick Robinson: When the context becomes almost like the editorial in a way. It's supporting what's going on around it and…
John Rowan: totally.
Rick Robinson: backing up. When you said it's hard to ignore, part of that is because it's just a big thing in public space. So, it's physically an object in front of you, and when people are out of their house, They're looking around like, what's going on around me? Just processing that. And then what else do you think makes it hard to ignore besides just its size?
John Rowan: Location, so I think one of the great things about out of home, particularly in, I'd say probably bigger cities a smaller places but it's proximity to people's routines and habits Where whether it's on kind of a commuter route where you're driving every day or whether it's in an airport or something where you're walking past it and you have to see it or at a bus stop where you're standing waiting for your bus every day. I think it's just the location of it and I think again like you said the context becomes the message in a way, where you kind of know what people are doing when they're seeing it. So is it sort of? Unavoidable. But it's kind of becomes part of people's daily routines.
Rick Robinson: Yeah, its it says it's a signpost, A marker, mark, a reference point. It was interesting. I've heard from several guests, as they stay out of home is Serendipitous, it's refreshing. it's almost like a discovery when you're out in the world and versus other media, these days is kind of in the way, right? It's,…
John Rowan: Yeah.
Rick Robinson: it's intrusive. What are your thoughts on that?
John Rowan: I think it's interesting, I think Any ad, there's good and bad. think I don't know even sometimes…
Rick Robinson: Mm-hmm
John Rowan: if it's really bad, it might be good. and the worst thing you can do is just kind of be background noise. It really and anything particularly out of whom whether it's something that from, I'm sure you're best practices as too much text on it or something where you just can't quite get it, and then you sort of ignore it. But like I said earlier, I mean, the creative opportunities with it are. vast. And so interesting that I feel like if you're going to Partake in out of home. you have almost an obligation to creatively do it right and to have that sort of serendipity. and Unforgettableness
Rick Robinson: Are you going to bring that to the public space? There's a responsibility. So John, thank you for your comments. I know we could keep talking everybody. You heard it here out of home is hard to ignore and it's most powerful when you bring the creative relevance, when it's contextually relevant and it adds to that daily routine that people have out in the public space. Thanks for your time, John take care and really appreciate you Perfect.
John Rowan: No problem. That was fun.
