DOOH is set to see big changes in the year ahead, Rob Gorrie, CEO of Adcentricity, says.
MiC spoke with the CEO Thursday as the company released its quarterly corporate analysis and accompanying forecast, the ‘Digital Out-of-Home Outlook and Planning Guide.’
The company’s analysis indicates that the category will experience continued growth and see improved creative, but the big changes will be in how the DOOH faces are used and how they’ll be connected to other technologies, Gorrie explains.
‘Mobile, social, shopper marketing, location-based and digital out of home – there’s going to be an enormous amount of integration, and I don’t think either brands or the industries really understand what that means just yet, but they’ve got to get something figured out really fast.’
Gorrie says the first transformation into interactive utilization will come during the back-to-school season, with more mature programs through the holidays. Use of the medium’s new capabilities should start to spread more widely in 2012.
The company’s fourth-quarter analysis showed few surprises, with bookings from the financial services sector making up 50% of the company’s total in the fourth quarter of 2010. However, Gorrie says, he expects more diversification in marketer categories in the year ahead, including the continued return of the auto sector, as well as aggressive new spending in the DOOH space by beverage and confection companies. The health care and pharmaceutical industries have also been tapped for significant growth in the usage of DOOH.
‘There’s so much spending going on by the banks, credit card companies and insurance guys that we almost feel like we’re repeating ourselves every quarter when we talk about it,’ says Gorrie. ‘They are heavy investors in the space and we don’t see that going away any time soon, but we would certainly like to see some diversification into other industries, and that’s what we’re starting to see.’
Adcentricity saw a 100% increase in annual spend in 2010 over 2009, and the company is predicting the same increase in 2011. Even during the recession, there was very little dip in DOOH spending, Gorrie says.
‘The medium has been around and very active for 10 years, so the agencies know exactly what digital out-of-home means and where it fits,’ he says. ‘At this point, it’s just a question of where it works best for their clients.’
Adcentricity has 206,000 screens in the US and Canada. It has been releasing quarterly reports since Q1 of 2010.
