For Brands Seeking True Attention, Perceptions of DOOH and Place-Based Must Change
By: Sean McCaffrey, President and CEO, GSTV | via OAAA
We’re in the thick of IAB’s NewFronts week, when brands tune in to presentations from Snap, TikTok, YouTube, Roku, GSTV, and others. Presenting alongside notable digital and video platforms, OTT and CTV newcomers, and others across the media and entertainment landscape, how does a platform like ours — rooted in legacy “placed-based” association, yet boasting video partner-like capabilities — fit in?
Historically, it wouldn’t. Part of our reason for being here is to continue shifting the narrative around what that means, because for us and others, it has evolved dramatically and demands a closer look. There is significant opportunity for brands seeking real attention and engagement and the ability to reach consumers at scale to deliver meaningful business outcomes.
Media buyers are tearing up playbooks and focusing on proving to clients that their investment drove sales lift and ROI, creating massive opportunity for DOOH publishers to change perceptions and refocus marketers’ thinking on what true scale, attention and impact can mean. Why? Because efficiency and impact are more important than ever to earn a place in media strategies.
We need to move beyond screens and towards obsessing over audiences, behaviors and impact — and how DOOH has a valuable place in media plans to deliver on those outcomes.
The OOH industry classically prioritizes the physical nature of billboards and screens — geographic location; proximity to destinations; display and resolution; one-to-many audience ratios — context and cost. Location is important, however, marketers miss a bigger POV by not investing in DOOH. The DOOH industry has rapidly evolved from static environments into dynamic, engaging, attributable video platforms with similar, and sometimes larger, audience scale and measurable returns than other household name video publishers.
Consider how DOOH platforms fit consumers’ state of mind, the place in their journeys before and after as behavior shifts, and how we connect, amplify and impact the entire comms planning strategy and media mix.
Video buyers are aware that DOOH platforms have become dynamic and share traits of traditional video platforms they love, but perceptions are hard to change. In a recent OAAA Lunch Break, Essence Global Chief Media Officer Adam Gerber shared that while both watching a show on the couch or scrolling through the phone and seeing a billboard are valuable from the POV of agencies and marketers, those experiences aren’t equally weighed.
What differentiates them is the notion of attention. While TV and walled gardens may be the de facto buy for premium experiences and captive environments, what marketers forget is consumers are screen surfing and likely to see both while not paying attention to either.
We hear this regularly from buyers new to GSTV who are surprised to learn that we are more than our 24,000 locations, and more than just video: Our platform engages a captive audience surrounded by important purchase decisions, during a moment when consumer attention and engagement is at the forefront.
The renewed interest in DOOH, and its rapidly evolving definition, has opened the window for companies like ours and others to make these points clear. We should embrace disruption and seize opportunities to accelerate the pace of change. “Place-based” is an oversimplified idea that fails to capture the depth and evolution of DOOH, and reconsidering the DOOH opportunity for consumer attention, engagement and action are in the best interest of every ROI-focused brand.
Social Geek: Location-Based Video: Sean McCaffrey
By: Jack Monson | Social Geek
Today’s guest is Sean McCaffrey, CEO of GSTV. Sean shares the story of the boom of location-based video advertising and content. We discuss how his team, advertisers, and brands are pivoting to due to Covid-19 and what trends and consumer behavior might linger.
Listen to Sean’s interview here.
A Shark's Perspective: Interview with Sean McCaffrey - Fueling the Growth of a Video Ad Platform
Conversation with Sean McCaffrey, the President and CEO of GSTV, a national video network and platform delivering targeted audiences across tens of thousands of fuel retailers in over 200 DMA’s reaching 1-in-3 adults.
Listen to Sean’s interview here:
https://soundcloud.com/asharksperspective/216-fueling-the-growth-of-a-video-ad-platform
Muse: See MoonPie's Twisted Super Bowl Ad, Which Ran at Gas Stations Across America
By: Tim Nudd | Muse
MoonPie and its agency, Tombras, have done lots of fun stuff around the Super Bowl in recent years.
Two years ago, they wrote nine absurd scripts for Super Bowl ads they would have aired, if they'd had the budget. Last year, they went ahead and shot three of those spots.
Now, for year three of what they're calling #TheBigThing, they've finally aired a national spot. Well, kind of. The 80-second spot ran nationwide Sunday at gas stations across America, catching viewers as they were picking up snacks for the game.
The ad features the family from last year's ad who welcomed a MoonPie child to their brood. In a nice meta touch, the spot itself takes place partly as a gas station:
Gas station screens don't normally host content nearly as fun as this. Tombras used GSTV's data-driven, national video network, which reaches one in three Americans monthly at more than 22,000 fuel retailers across the country.
"This would seem like a crazy idea for most brands, but it's perfect for MoonPie because it's an 'Outta This World' creative idea and media placement," says Dooley Tombras, president at Tombras. "Millions of consumers stop by gas station convenience stores on their way to parties or to stock up for their own gatherings. So not only did we finally make a TV spot for MoonPie, but we did it while making sure we were in the right place at the right time with a spot worthy of advertising's biggest day."
"Living in New York City for nine years, where they have these baby gas stations, it had been a while since I'd been to a real American fuel stop," adds Jeff Benjamin, chief creative officer at Tombras. "The innovation that's taken place fueled our thinking, and made GSTV the perfect 'Outta This World' platform for our trilogy. What a fun way to keep this campaign running. I'm pumped."
"When Tombras approached us, we immediately realized their idea was a stroke of genius—and not just because of the spot's creative vision," says Sean McCaffrey, president and CEO at GSTV. "Brands today know it's increasingly difficult to find moments when consumer attention is truly focused, so with an unavoidably attention-grabbing spot, and a media buy that leverages the full scale and capabilities of GSTV, it's the perfect way to stand out."
The spot also ran in social media, where MoonPie has a large and devoted audience. Check out last year's spot, "The Family," which was a kind of prequel to this year's.
Read the official release here!