Latest / The Marketing Brief / Ian and Brian Talk About the Current State of Out of Home Offerings and Generally Reminisce (S2 E5)
Transcript
- Brian Aucoin: Hello and welcome back to the Marketing Brief Podcast. I am your host, Brian Aquan, and this is the podcast where we briefly touch upon subjects across the marketing landscape. As always, we are joined by an industry expert, and I'm very excited to welcome in Ian Dalmore. Welcome to the podcast, Ian. Ian Dallimore: Hey Brian, great to be on the other side, not being a hose. So I appreciate you having me. Brian Aucoin: Yeah, Ian, you are a veteran. You have your own podcast called Digital and Dirt, which you've been doing for over four years now. Ian Dallimore: Yeah, four plus years, yeah. Brian Aucoin: Awesome. and and you're also at Lamar. Would you like to introduce yourself to the listeners? Ian Dallimore: Yeah, for sure. so I work for I'm the VP of digital growth at Lamar Advertising. been here twenty one years. I know we were chatting on the side about it. but yeah, Lamar's the largest out of home company in the US, over three hundred and eighty thousand billboards across the US and Canada, thirty airports, tons of transit markets, seven thousand digital. And yeah, it's a phenomenal company, publicly traded and amazing leadership and visionary just kind of is what the exciting side of our business is. Brian Aucoin: Yeah, and you're a big part of that being there twenty one years. That's kind of an amazing run. Ian Dallimore: Yeah. I was telling you, I kinda get envious of the people that are do the eighteen month stents at these brands and their LinkedIn profile looks super cool, but here I am twenty one years later. Brian Aucoin: Yeah. Well, something's working there, right? I'd love to start talking about outdoor. I know you talk a lot about outdoor on your podcast, obviously. I think, you know, most people think of a billboard as a static rectangle along the highway. you are obviously part of innovation. You've seen it through the programmatic changes. Like, what's I guess what's happening now with with AI? Like what is what is new that's that's happening kind of in the outdoor space? Ian Dallimore: Yeah, it's it's fun, right? Because when people use the word AI, like AI has, as you know very well, it's been around for a long time. It's just now it's got this great marketing ad buzz around it. but I I would say probably early in my career, one of the biggest advantages we've taken with AI is, you know, the partnerships with data companies like IBM Watson with different sports scores directly, where we're integrating in, you know, real time data to make decisions on our digital panels on what creative to play based off of X, Y, Z outcome. but then on top of that, I think as we're embracing AI, I think right now it's kind of what is the efficiency play? You know, everything from like the simplicity of making sure that our 900 sales reps are equipped with the right email, the right person that they're supposed to talk to to pitch to. and then now we're kind of playing with different creative studios that exist out there. Like how do we, how do we find the optimal creative, not replacing creative. Folks, but how do we get that optimal creative, create that efficiency where they get to the idea and then ideate faster? and then you know, the the back end boring stuff that people are unaware of, like agentic AIs. Like, how are we having our own agentic agent that's talking to, you know, a major hold co's agentic agent on the programmatic side and the traditional side? So, you know, I think where a lot of people get it wrong is when they start to think about. AI, they want to jump straight to the AI, but they're not housing their own data. They're not creating robust data platforms, you know, APIs on the backside. And that's something that we've been working on for eight or nine years now. and fourteen Brian Aucoin: Yeah. Ian Dallimore: plus on the programmatic side. Brian Aucoin: Yeah, that's amazing. some of that stuff with like the data, how the data talks to is talks to you and how you can interact with the the billboard is really amazing. Have you done anything like that recently? Ian Dallimore: Yeah, we there's there's that fine line, right? Because what we aren't is we're not a one-to-one medium like the Brian Aucoin: Yeah. Ian Dallimore: things that are in our pocket. and we pride ourselves on that. because it is we are a part of the community, we're woven into the community, we're we have a responsibility where I don't want to play a you know, the the well known story about direct mail where that mother and father got that direct mail piece from Target and had the hey, need diapers. And then they found out that their daughter was actually pregnant at, you know, whatever age in high school, right? so it's a little bit different for us when we we again, it's not Lamar, it's not the out-of-home company that's utilizing that data. It's third-party anonymous debate. And what I like to say, Brian, is it's one to targeted, where for the longest time we were just one to many. And we still are one to many, and it's the power of what out-of-home is, but that ability to have like a niche audience, you know, a skier. snowboarder that likes a certain type of IPA, I'm I'm calling you out here, that lives in this part of town and has an affinity, then yeah, that'd be great if we can get a certain type of ski boot or snowboard that's relevant to that audience that's driving up to like a mammoth. Like that's powerful. Brian Aucoin: Yeah. Ian Dallimore: Yeah. Brian Aucoin: Absolutely. And I do s I do see the mammoth beanie when I drive up and and back to to mammoth. So that's one of yours, right? Ian Dallimore: Yeah, and that's we were talking about that offline, but you know, as as exciting as digital is, I think oftentimes people forget like the traditional static side of of what we do is still equally as powerful and the data side still plays a pivotal role. yeah, Brian Aucoin: Uh-huh. Ian Dallimore: that that beanie story, the short of it is is mammoth, where we're I'm assuming that you ski a good bit or snowboard. Brian Aucoin: No more, yeah. Ian Dallimore: yeah, I mean, it it's just it's the fun part of out of home. It's a blank canvas, or in that case. You know, two minds kind of came together and they were like, What if we just took the whole frame off the billboard and we just like put a 3D beanie on top of it? And now every season when they unveil the beanie, it's unveiled via the billboard. And you know, that's it's the power of of creativity. as much Brian Aucoin: Mm-hmm. Ian Dallimore: as we want to go into this futuristic innovation world, it's like at the end of the day, like we're just intuitive humans that like love just like really amazing, cool shit, right? Brian Aucoin: Yeah. Ian Dallimore: Yeah. Brian Aucoin: Well well you you I mean, strategically you've captured someone along their consumer journey as well, right? Like there is one way up to Mammoth from Los Angeles and San Diego, and that's where everyone kind of drives from. So everybody is driving past that. So you're reaching someone during their consumer journey, which is which is a really cool thing to kinda identify and then execute on. Ian Dallimore: Yeah. And I think that that's exactly and you can pick anywhere USA. Like I I was talking to a client this morning and it's like if you're just buying out of home or you're just buying mobile or just CTV, like we as consumers we're we're way more intuitive on on how a brand can consume and talk to us. And I think, you know, when I think about the consumer journey, it is utilizing data programmatically. to buy digital out of home, then those device IDs that are exposed, then retarget them on CTV and then match those IDs and hit them on a a TikTok ad. Like that is the power of the medium that works together. And obviously for Out of Home and Lamar, we have the most amount of device IDs and eyeballs that drive past than any other medium, right? So we play up to that side of it. Brian Aucoin: Yeah, you're always included in the frequency kind of strategy, which is so important is to hit, you know, consumer many times in many different ways, with a similar message. So Ian Dallimore: But it's also but it's also super fun, right? Because we get to be that canvas. Like it's funny, you and I, you know, just were talking about the beanie, but Coachella just wrapped up. And, you know, you I don't know if you've ever been, I'm too old to go at this point. I'm missing. Yeah. So you Brian Aucoin: many, many years ago, yeah. Ian Dallimore: know the journey from LA to Palm Desert, and you know, Lamar has a ton of digital, I'm sorry, a ton of static along the way. And you see every major brand influencer, You'll have to Google it, but look it up on YouTube. But Sabrina Carpenter did this badass like sequence billboard. And she was literally in sequence on the billboard. And yes, that's powerful. Yes, you're hitting all the audiences headed towards Coachella. But more importantly, they saw 51 million when she uploaded that video of her billboard, 51 million Instagram views when she uploaded it. So the power of Out of Home continues. And that you know, continue the conversation onto social is another powerful Brian Aucoin: Yeah. Ian Dallimore: aspect of the medium itself. Brian Aucoin: becomes content. That's kind of amazing. Ian Dallimore: Mm-hmm. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Brian Aucoin: And I know from my studio days, you know, as a as a media buyer, we were always like, my God, the director wants an extension. They want extensions. It's going to cost us 25,000 more to put like Ian Dallimore: Yeah, yeah. Brian Aucoin: a tail coming off of that to to do that. But it's about breaking through, right? And and you can really break through when you've got those kind of extensions and you're hitting people in a in a different way. So what an amazing medium that just continues to reinvent itself. Ian Dallimore: Yeah, it's a blast. And and look, no one no one respectfully screenshot an an ad on on a banner ad and be like, I'm gonna post this on my TikTok page and get excited about it. So Brian Aucoin: Yeah. No, not since like probably rich media. Not like expanding banners. Maybe they were doing that. Ian Dallimore: Right. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Brian Aucoin: That's really cool. what what are you excited about in the in the space right now? Ian Dallimore: Yeah, I think outside of just my creative mindset is I think it the the future of the medium. I think we have a lot of people that are interested in the space. we have a lot of tech startups, digital companies that are coming into place. Obviously, you know, we as an industry have integrated into into the programmatic channels. So, you know, DV, Trade Desk, Yahoo, those folks are fully bought in on on the why of out of home. But I think the this AI component is it it's what gets me excited because I think it almost allows us to break through. So programmatic allowed us to kind of show up in places where people were in the early days, they were like, wait, why is why is this in the Omni channel? Now that kind of makes sense for a lot of people. Brian Aucoin: Right. Yep. Ian Dallimore: But I think the next phase is like, how do we become agent to agent talking that we kind of touched on? But how do we do in this intuitive way where, you know, actual humans now get to create efficiencies to where they now get to use their brains, you know. We always talk about AI. It's like, well, all it's gonna do is should free up time for you to be more creative. And I think nothing's better than in our space to where if you can get past the clutter of like, hey, show me what board you have in this market, the rates, the availability, put that to the side. And then now you get to come in and storytell. Now you get to ideate. Now you get to have creatives talking to creatives. And you know, you being a former creative studio guy, like that's where the fun stuff stuff happens. It's like, wait, Brian Aucoin: Yeah. Ian Dallimore: I get to ideate here. And so I think that that's what gets me excited. as well as, you know, as our company future proofs itself, it's, you know, a day where you can transact online for a billboard, which I know seems wild Brian Aucoin: Mm-hmm. Ian Dallimore: for all other mediums. It's it's a it's a click out of homes a bit unique, but I think that's the other thing that gets me excited is that ability to expose Lamar's inventory and and creatively tell our story. Brian Aucoin: Yeah. And I met you when when I was at Gooder and and you do a lot of work for Gooder. And I saw how you would get excited about b building out billboards for for Gooder, because that is that is the fun part, right? When you have a brand that kind of leans into it and says, Okay, how do we get creative about this? Ian Dallimore: Wait, can we tell one of the gooder stories for Carl? Brian Aucoin: Sure. Absolutely. Ian Dallimore: so Brian and I obviously met at Gooder, Steven Lees, CEO, Kelly Puckett is CMO, a very good friend of mine from Paramount Days. And I've been very blessed to be able to be one of the only folks that gets to come in and kind of ideate. And the short story is is the team came to us and they were like, Hey, do you guys happen to have a s any billboards in any city in the US called Carl? And I was like, I see what we're doing here. So fast forward, we have a place called Carl Georgia, which is 10 minutes south of Athens, and we presented it to the team. We're like, hey man, it's just 13 billboards, but here it is. And Brian Aucoin: Yeah. Ian Dallimore: you guys took over. Carl the flamingo, who's the mascot CEO, introduced the city of Carl to Carl. But then again, going to the power bot of home, you guys did spangles, you did extensions, and you showed up in the town. Then you physically showed up and gave out to the 298 individuals that live there. You showed your license and you guys were posted up and they got a free pair of glasses. And then, you know, obviously the the social team then took TikTok and then I got completely off my rocker and I was like, Hey, we actually know the mayor there. Brian Aucoin: Yeah. Ian Dallimore: So we introduced Steven Lee, the co-founder, and and Carl the the flamingo. And he Carl got to smash the javel at At the town hall meeting and so it was content, it was storytelling, and it was just like this obscure takeover that you know, any media buyer would be like, That's not enough impressions to sell sunglasses. But it was like Brian Aucoin: Right. Right. Ian Dallimore: it it wasn't about that. And and so that's the stuff that gets me fired up. It's like the challenges when brands are like, Hey, do you guys can you do this? Can you do a sundial on your billboard? Which you guys also have done. Brian Aucoin: Yeah. Yeah, that is that is so fun, right? When you you look at that's not a market we would ever buy or isolate within, right? But then you the way you can execute it, you turn it into content, which Ian Dallimore: Mm. Brian Aucoin: then becomes bigger than it ever could be just as a billboard. Ian Dallimore: I I'm not gonna we're we're working on something right now with Gooder that's beyond actually a billboard physically. So it'll Brian Aucoin: Mm-hmm. Nice. Ian Dallimore: be more to come on that. But you guys put Yeah, stay tuned. Yeah, breaking here. I'm not gonna break it, Kelly would murder me. Brian Aucoin: Stay stay tuned. Yeah. That's awesome. Well, I I've been asking everyone one question. here in season two, the question is, what is your superpower? Do you know what your superpower is, Ian? Ian Dallimore: Oof. Brian Aucoin: Yeah. Ian Dallimore: I mean, the cheesy answer would be not a cheesy answer, but the the the right answer would be, you know, my mom was extremely hardworking, very, very like smart woman, track athlete. And then my father just gift a gab, like could sell anything. so right left and he was also a photographer. So right left brain. I think my superpower is the ability to be both technically, you know, innovative, creative minds kind of blended in a one. Now, if you ask me what do I want my superpower to be, it would be I want to show up anywhere in the world and when I'm standing there to be able to like click a dial or do something and say, Hey, what would this exact area look like in 1821? And then hit a button. Maybe with some protection. Yeah, Brian Aucoin: That would be quite a superpower. Ian Dallimore: maybe with some protection in case there's dinosaurs, stuff like that around. Brian Aucoin: Right, right, right. You'd have to be careful where you where you set that dial. Ian Dallimore: Yeah, for sure. Brian Aucoin: That would be quite the superpower. I love that. how do people get in touch with you? If the if they want to listen to the podcast, you want to plug that or or how do they get in touch with you for tomorrow? Ian Dallimore: Yeah, sure. Yeah, I appreciate that. And and side note, I love your podcast, subscribed and and started listening to a ton of them. So I love what you're doing. yeah, so Brian Aucoin: Thank you. Ian Dallimore: I'm very active on LinkedIn, Instagram if you want to see all about my family. It's I I D A L L I one. but then yeah, the podcast that's called Digital and Dirt, you can find it on Spotify, YouTube, all the all the spots. But yeah, I you know, just like you, I love bringing people onto the podcast that get to tell their story, their journey. and just like you, like it's it's fun for humans when even though we're not alike, we don't live in the same places, like tech gives us up that opportunity to just share with others because I feel that, you know, you and I met a long time ago and here we are on a podcast. And maybe we impact someone else to think about something completely different. So yeah, that's Brian Aucoin: Yeah. Ian Dallimore: those are the channels. Brian Aucoin: Absolutely. Yeah. And I and I'm I'm having a lot of fun doing it. So I I can see why you've done it for over four years. Ian Dallimore: Yeah, it's a blast. Brian Aucoin: That's great. Well, thank you for joining us for this brief conversation, Ian. It was a delight to have you on the pod. Ian Dallimore: Yeah, you too. Thank you, my friend. Great to see you as always. Brian Aucoin: Yeah, it was great to see you too. Well, this was a bit of brief conversation with Ian. reach out to him and stay curious, everyone.