30 August 2018
MEDIA MATTERS
International Council for Ad Self-Regulation (ICAS). Both
bodies have comprehensive memberships of national
regulators, advertising agencies and media owners.We help to guide their work alongside their other
constituents, and we can and do connect FEPE members
with their members and their outputs where relevant.New technologies are greatly influencing the course
of OOH growth and development. Is FEPE International
promoting the use of new technologies in OOH
business?Yes, in several ways. First, our Annual Congress event,
dubbed ‘The Davos Of Out of Home”, successfully
enables tech suppliers to meet and network with
potential media owner customers (and to catch up with
existing customers in a conducive environment).Second, we recognise and promote the value of tech to the
industry, whether in the automation of processes or even
the programmatic sale and purchase of media space. But
you may also refer to my earlier comments about how far
it’s reasonable to expect collaboration to go.'Reclaiming the creative crown’ was a key constituent
of deliberations at the FEPE Congress. Please share
your thoughts on how the thrust on creativity will bring
more advertising brands into the OOH fold.This is an ongoing issue for the whole ad industry, not
just Out of Home. There’s little doubt that the advent
of online media channels and of more tech-enabled
advertisement development processes has led to a
reduction in production costs and a dilution in the
proportion of ad campaigns which could be described as
‘classic’ or famous.The shift in economic power from agencies to clients
in an oversupplied market has also led to the hand of
the client showing through in much advertising, often
obviating the whole reason for engaging a proper creative
agency in the first place!Out of home remains unique in that to be used truly
effectively, it demands that an advertiser distils its brief
and its creative agency concentrates its execution into a
single powerful thought. That’s usually when ‘classic’,
famous – and memorable -- ad campaigns are born.The US National Association OAAA, a valued and leading
member of FEPE, has run several campaigns to raise
the profile of the OOH medium, assert its effectiveness
and promote creativity in the medium. Many other
markets would do well to look at this work and consider
how best to make such initiatives work for them, and
FEPE is here to help make the connections too.Are you seeing more young people seeking a career in
the OOH industry? What steps would you recommend
for OOH businesses to attract the best talent?Talent and employment are quite local issues so FEPE
doesn’t tend get directly involved, though this year we
have introduced a ‘Rising Star’ category to our Annual
Awards, which was won jointly by Broadsign’s Stephanie
Gutnik and OMA’s Tess Phillips.And we can see some clear trends. The moves towards
tech and data demand different skills, which are
typically most evident in millennials. Agencies have
always had fairly young workforces, so media owner
sales operations tend to reflect this too. Advertising
used to be one of the most desirable industries to work
in and attracted some of the very best young people.
Over the past 20 years, industries like banking, legal
and tech have made themselves more attractive.Moreover, advertising can be very, very hard work
involving longer hours than other professions. And in
the internet age, it’s increasingly possible to succeed
outside conventional company structures.But advertising can still offer people a much more
diverse, valuable and enjoyable environment. The
challenge for any company, and OOH companies too,
is to channel an optimal balance of opportunity, reward
and stimulation.Do you see an opportunity to deepen FEPE’s
connectedness with the Indian OOH industry?Certainly, and we already are. Noomi Mehta of Selvel
One sits on FEPE’s board and FEPE General Secretary
Mark Flys will be attending the next Outdoor Advertising
Convention in Mumbai in late-July and meeting with a
number of prospective members at that time. l