ADstruc

Mediaocean and ADstruc Announce Integrated OOH Platform

Tue, 21 May 2013 10:22:14 -0400

Mediaocean and ADstruc form partnership to provide the first fully integrated ad management solution for the outdoor advertising industry.

ADstruc, the leading planning and buying platform for the outdoor advertising industry, and Mediaocean, the largest independent advertising technology company, with annual billings over $130 billion, partnered to provide the first fully integrated OOH platform for advertising agencies.

By integrating ADstruc’s platform with Mediaocean’s ad management system, Prisma, agencies will now be able to simplify the media buying process by automating their OOH billing process as well as purchase and measure multiple advertising mediums in a single environment. The integration will also enable agencies to leverage their historical purchasing data in Prisma and ADstruc (e.g., price, location, audience, etc.) to make better planning and buying decisions for future campaigns. Agencies have shown particular interest in being able to utilize past campaign data to better evaluate against proposed inventory. The ability to effectively leverage this data is a critical step forward for the outdoor advertising industry.

Ray Rotolo, COO of Posterscope, noted: “ADstruc & Mediaocean’s integration is the first step toward automating transactional processes. It enables us to draw meaningful insights that help us provide value in terms most relevant to our clients. I’m most excited because this paves the way for us to leverage data as an organizational asset. By allowing us to deliver fully informed operational excellence and business intelligence, it complements our superior understanding of consumers and the OOH space.”

John Laramie, CEO of ADstruc, said of the partnership: “Our core focus is enabling agencies to buy smarter and more efficiently by having everything they need, from planning, to RFP management, to buying, to processing payments in one environment. This partnership provides the necessary architecture agencies and holding companies need to operate entirely in one system. We are proud to work with Mediaocean to provide the most efficient end-to-end solution for the outdoor advertising industry.”

Fraser Woollard, VP of Business Development, Mediaocean, added: “Mediaocean promotes integration with technology partners who share our vision of truly efficient, scalable media planning and buying. The integration of ADstruc with Mediaocean’s Prisma fits perfectly within that philosophy. Connecting our systems brings digital intelligence to every form of out-of-home media–that’s a huge step ahead for the industry, and a tremendous benefit to agencies looking to push the boundaries of what OOH agencies can achieve for brands.”

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About ADstruc

ADstruc is the leading planning and buying platform for the outdoor advertising industry, including both traditional and digital out-of-home media. With an emphasis on data-driven planning, ADstruc helps agencies, national brands, and local businesses discover and efficiently purchase Out-of-Home media campaigns that deliver tangible and measurable results. ADstruc’s cloud-based solution also allows outdoor advertising operators to easily manage their inventory online and interact with new and existing clients in real-time. Learn more at www.ADstruc.com

About Mediaocean

Mediaocean empowers businesses and professionals across the global marketing ecosystem with intelligent automation, flexibility, and open platforms—letting its partners define their business and future, no matter where the landscape turns. With over 80,000 users conducting 7 million transactions daily and managing $130 billion annually through our systems—across all media channels, in areas from workflow to real time bidding—Mediaocean drives the marketing universe ahead. Learn more at www.Mediaocean.com.

ADstruc & Telmar Integration

Tue, 14 May 2013 17:37:03 -0400

via PRNewswire-USNewswire

Telmar Information Services Corp., a world leading supplier of advertising media systems, announced the release and immediate availability of its TOPS(TM) out-of-home (OOH) planning software with direct seamless link to the ADstruc media buying platform, providing a complete end-to-end, planning to buying solution for advertising agencies and media sellers.

The TOPS OOH planning system is the leading multi-market, multi-media analysis system for OOH media ratings measured by the Traffic Audit Bureau for Media Inc. (TAB) for both detailed site level and market average media delivery evaluations.

ADstruc provides a fully integrated set of tools for connecting media planners with the most extensive network of out-of-home inventory. These tools streamline the RFP workflow and enable a more efficient purchase process across multiple operators. The ADstruc integration incorporates the TOPS media plan goals into an RFP, which is submitted directly to OOH operators without ever leaving TOPS System. As operators respond with proposals to the RFP, ADstruc’s technology automatically organizes the proposals and presents them to the buyer in an interactive and unified online proposal. Agencies can upload custom data sets and historical campaign data, along with ADstruc’s social, mobile and census data, to better analyze proposed inventory through the use of heat maps. These tools enable OOH campaigns to be planned and executed in the most data driven and effective way possible.

“ADstruc provides a very powerful suite of tools for media buyers and media sellers,” said Telmar President Corey Panno. “The integration of our OOH planning software with the ADstruc platform automates and eliminates the most cumbersome aspects of the traditional RFP process, creating greater efficiency for OOH buying specialists and allowing easy access to the OOH buying process for any media planner — especially those who are new to evaluating OOH as part of their strategic plans.”

“We are excited to be the first to release this critical workflow solution for the Out-of-Home industry,” said ADstruc CEO John Laramie. “As the industry continues to evolve and the demand for more targeted audience-based buying increases, the need for an integrated planning and buying system becomes more and more important.”

SOURCE Telmar Information Services Corp.Originally published 5/14 at WSJ.com

A Creative Review: Draw Something 2

Tue, 14 May 2013 10:18:56 -0400

Welcome back to A Creative Review with James Cooper. Today Coop’s all about Zynga’s wild posting campaign for Draw Something 2.

I’ve said before that I believe outdoor can be an interactive medium. People talk about digital being the way forward for everything, but what I think we really mean by this is interactive. Digital just makes it easier to interact. But if you are smart and have some balls, you can invite your audience to interact with you in a more public and permanent way.

When I worked with Sony Ericsson, I did a lot of photo upload sites. And our client would always ask us about the potential for user abuse. It was the first question: ‘What do we do about naked pictures’? Well, of course, it’s easy enough to employ moderators, and most folks will act like grown ups. But, there is still some primeval urge by men - I’m assuming it’s men! - to upload pictures of their naughty bits and draw pictures of them too.

Photo credit: ADstruc

The why of that I will leave for the more Freudian of you, but my reaction is the same now as it was back then in early Internet days: at least these people are interacting with your brand. They have at least read your message. That’s more valuable than a simple dismissal. And if you think about it, drawing genitalia on something makes it more likely that the next person who walks by will take notice.

So props to Draw Something 2 and Zynga - an Internet era company if ever there was one - for using outdoor as a medium, but staying true to the ideals of web company that values interaction over inaction.

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That’s all folks! Want to get involved? Send us shots of the best [or worst] outdoor advertising you’ve seen, and we’ll choose one every week. Just email coop@adstruc.com.

A Creative Review: The Original Hipster

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 09:49:11 -0400

Welcome back to A Creative Review with James Cooper. Today Coop is befuddled by a new campaign from the Catholic Diocese.

Sometimes you see something and you say to yourself ‘I don’t get that’. Other times you see something and you say, ‘I see what they were trying to do here, but it missed the mark by a little bit’ - that’s curse of being a Creative Director. You never switch off. And then there are times when you just completely have no idea what’s going on. Case in point - The Original Hipster.

A. What? B. Hold on, what? C. Oh, I think I get it…wait….no I don’t.

Photo credit: ADstruc

I literally have no idea what’s going on here. And that’s not because I’m English, and therefore am a heathen, or that I’m one of these people that is a hipster but furiously denies it. For the record, I think I’m a semi-hipster. ( I don’t have any tattoos, wear skinny jeans, or ride a fixie - but I do live in Brooklyn and do artsy fartsy stuff every now and then).

Of course, it could be that this poster is so random that it just makes you stop and think about its true meaning. The true meaning of the poster - and of life. And if that is the case, then it’s a work of divine inspiration.

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That’s all folks! Want to get involved? Send us shots of the best [or worst] outdoor advertising you’ve seen, and we’ll choose one every week. Just email coop@adstruc.com.

Bleacher Report used ADstruc to secure this huge 3-piece...

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 09:26:17 -0400

Bleacher Report used ADstruc to secure this huge 3-piece billboard promoting their coverage of this week’s NFL Draft at Radio City Music Hall.

Zipcode Targeting in Proposals

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 11:49:28 -0400

At ADstruc, we believe that software should support you. That’s why we release new features and upgrades every two weeks. Today we’re improving local targeting for advertisers and agencies.

Zipcode Layers

Last month we introduced Census demographics and data layers to give you better insight into proposals. The response was so positive that we decided to add more.

Starting today, you can map target zipcodes alongside proposals. With 6 tier color-coding, descriptive labels, and automatic highlighting, it’s easier than ever to go local.

Got 10 minutes to spend with us? We’d love to give you a demo of all our new features. Email us at support@adstruc.com or call your account manager at 347.881.3622 to schedule a one-on-one webinar.

MediaGrid Improvements and Inventory Tagging

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 10:22:01 -0400

At ADstruc, we believe that software should support you. That’s why we release new features and upgrades every two weeks. Today we’re updating several of our operator tools.

MediaGrid Improvements

You can now download our MediaGrid template, enabling you to prepare proposals online or in Excel.

Inventory Tagging

Tag uploaded units with descriptive snippets for quick identification (e.g “downtown,” “long-read,” “Broadway”). Afterwards, search by tag to find and add them to your proposal.

Anytime Messaging

Whether you just received an RFP, are drafting a proposal, or want to follow up on a contract, you’re in control. We’ve enabled direct messaging between you and clients at every step of the sales process.

Got 10 minutes to spend with us? We’d love to give you a demo of all our new features. Email us at support@adstruc.com or call your account manager at 347.881.3622 to schedule a one-on-one webinar.

A Creative Review: Daft Punk

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 11:49:00 -0400

Welcome back to A Creative Review with James Cooper. Today Coop delves into Daft Punk.

There was a time when agencies believed in ‘matching luggage’, or leveraging the same idea, art, and copy across all media. Back then - this is probably the late 90’s - all media meant TV, outdoor, print, and some banners. 360 marketing was the big thing. Every agency wanted to prove that it had the capabilities to produce a coherent message across different shapes and format. And it was a good idea.

But, without today’s more reliable analytics & targeting, you couldn’t guarantee or track if a consumer who saw your TV spot had also seen your banner, and so the message was often repeated until it got really boring. Eventually, the idea of matching luggage became shorthand for a lack of creativity.

Photo credit: ADstruc

That’s why this Daft Punk billboard is great. The simplicity demonstrates confidence - confidence that its audience already knows what it’s talking about: Daft Punk’s upcoming album Random Access Memories. Further, while it matches the other media in play: wild posters in SoHo, Vice’s Creators Project videos, viral clips from Coachella, etc, it’s not repetitive. It’s light on messaging and big on impact.

Engaging an audience doesn’t require matching luggage, rather a talented storyteller.

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That’s all folks! Want to get involved? Send us shots of the best [or worst] outdoor advertising you’ve seen, and we’ll choose one every week. Just email coop@adstruc.com.

A Creative Review: Louis C.K.

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 11:00:45 -0400

Welcome back to A Creative Review with James Cooper. Today Coop digs into a billboard for Louis C.K.

Wouldn’t it be great to be in a position where you could say, ‘You know what, I don’t need this whole billboard. Let’s just use the bottom 20%’? This particular example breaks all the rules for normal outdoor. We are always told six words or less, big striking image and use the real estate.

Photo credit: ADstruc

But Louis C.K. is a guy who breaks the rules. I am a huge proponent of brands (and Mr C.K. is now most definitely a brand) staying true to themselves, no matter what media they are in. Every time you interact with the brand it should feel consistent. Especially these days where there are myriad ways to connect with a brand.

So this slightly unusual billboard - in a way that you can’t quite put your finger on - feels spot on. I’m even prepared to forgive the art director for the crime against punctuation and typography where the period after the K and the colon collide.

Colon Collide. That’s going to be the name of my new band.

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That’s all folks! Want to get involved? Send us shots of the best [or worst] outdoor advertising you’ve seen, and we’ll choose one every week. Just email coop@adstruc.com.

4-Week Pricing, Census Demographics, and Improved Notifications!

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 16:52:01 -0400

At ADstruc, we believe that software should support you. That’s why we release new features and upgrades every two weeks. Today’s update completes the makeover of our proposal and upload tools.

4-Week or ‘Per Cycle’ Pricing

Starting today, pricing is based on industry standard 4-week cycles. Just indicate your flight dates and 4-week rates. ADstruc will do the math!

Census Demographics

Use age, income, and ethnicity data from the US Census to identify the best units for your proposal.

Notification Center

Check the notification center for new messages, contract information, and other proposal updates.

Got 10 minutes to spend with us? We’d love to give you a demo of all our new features. Email us at support@adstruc.com or call your account manager at 347.881.3622 to schedule a one-on-one webinar.

A Creative Review: Doritos Boldstage

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 18:50:00 -0400

Welcome back to A Creative Review with James Cooper. Today Coop brings us the best from SxSW

I ‘sort of’ went to SXSW this year. Since I skipped the interactive segment, I can’t really comment on whether there were any cool outdoor pieces introducing the latest start-up or tech — but I did attend the music part for about five hours.

I was working on a Doritos project that was part of the new Bold campaign. We took a kid from Venice Beach, bundled him in a van, then a private jet to Austin, and took him backstage at the Doritos Boldstage. You can watch the film we made here:

From an outdoor point of view, the stage was pretty impressive. Firstly it was huge — sometimes size matters. It was basically a giant vending machine, but what made it interesting was that it was crowd powered.

Photo credit: James Cooper

The crowd could choose who would open for LL Cool J - after a mini battle of the bands, they could choose LL’s encore but also control the lights and effects throughout the show. So if enough people tweeted ‘smoke #boldstage,’ then there was more smoke. Same for balloons and lights and lasers and all kinds of good stuff.

Of course, this was a closed environment with it’s own soundstage. Making a billboard as interactive as this would currently be quite expensive, but it’s definitely a glimpse into what I hope we will see more of!

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That’s all folks! Want to get involved? Send us shots of the best [or worst] outdoor advertising you’ve seen, and we’ll choose one every week. Just email coop@adstruc.com.

Census Demographics and Data Layers!

Sat, 09 Mar 2013 09:52:22 -0500

Successful advertising campaigns use demographic and customer data to target audiences where they work, live and play. We recently partnered with Telmar, enabling subscribers to build RFPs directly within TOPS. But, that’s just the beginning of our data revolution.

Data and demographic layers

Starting today, you can import your own customer data to create heat maps, identify key zip codes, or plot demographic distributions (age, income, ethnicity) using information from the U.S. Census. Use your data and demographics to identify the best units for your campaign.

Got 10 minutes to spend with us? We’d love to give you a demo of all our new features. Email us at support@adstruc.com or call your account manager at 347.881.3622 to schedule a one-on-one webinar.

Easier Uploads on ADstruc!

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 10:47:26 -0500

Here at ADstruc, we believe that software should support you. That’s why we release new features and upgrades every two weeks. Today we’re introducing two big improvements for OOH operators.

Spreadsheet uploads are dead. Long live the MediaGrid!

That’s right, you’ll never have to upload another template again! With our online MediaGrid, you can copy & paste inventory information directly into your proposal.

Preview your proposal

Starting today, you can see your proposals the same way clients do. Just click the Preview button on the Proposal Confirm & Review page.

Got 10 minutes to spend with us? We’d love to give you a demo of all our new features. Email us at support@adstruc.com or call your account manager at 347.881.3622 to schedule a one-on-one webinar!

"Out-of-Home Advertising Grows to $6.7 Billion in 2012"

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 10:25:36 -0500

“Out-of-Home Advertising Grows to $6.7 Billion in 2012”

- Read the OAAA’s most recent announcement here

A Creative Review: Sign Painters Documentary Trailer

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 11:45:00 -0500

Welcome back to A Creative Review with James Cooper. This week’s post is a departure from the norm, and comes to us via former summer intern Regy Perlera.

I have two lasting memories from my art school days. When I was about 10, my teacher told us that we were going to have double art (that’s English speak for an extended art lesson). I must have said ‘yes!’ or something similar, because she replied with ‘I don’t know why you’re so happy, your art is lousy.’

Later when I was 14, I got really into graffiti and was doing a lot of lettering in my art classes. I went to a fairly stiff school where art was basically oil painting. So when I said I wanted to pass my exams doing graffiti, well you can imagine how that went.

Long story short, I have always been into lettering, the doodling of, the painting of - anything I can get really. Is it art? Hells yeah. Just look at someone like Jenny Holzer of Ed Ruscha, or way back Toulouse Lautrec. And are those guys in this amazing film about sign painting artists? Double Hells yeah!

I can’t wait to see this film in its entirety. I know I go on about how digital and outdoor is a great space to play in, but sometimes there is nothing better than a beautifully painted outdoor piece.

For more info, check out the official Sign Painters website.

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That’s all folks! Want to get involved? Send us shots of the best [or worst] outdoor advertising you’ve seen, and we’ll choose one every week. Just email coop@adstruc.com.

A Creative Review: UTEC Water Generating Billboard

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 10:11:00 -0500

Welcome back to A Creative Review with James Cooper. Today Coop throws caution to the wind for an innovative billboard that makes water out of air!

Combining Physical & Digital to Do Good

All advertising follows trends. We can try but we can’t escape it. There are often multiple trends happening at the same time. Of course we strive for originality, but sometimes an overlap of trends or something that hits the sweet spot of two trends can be, well, sweet.

One current trend is the combination of physical and digital. The Nike Chalkbot robot for Livestrong (Boooooo!) during the Tour de France took this particular trend mainstream. Once someone wins an award everyone follows suit. I think this still has some way to go though, unlike Lance. I think we will continue to see more cool little science projects played out in the real world like this billboard that makes drinking water from air in Peru.

The other trend is doing something Good. Livestrong (again, boooooo!) was supposed to be doing that, arguably still does, but that trend has been around for a lot longer and will stay around for a lot longer. Corporate Social Responsibility or ‘doing Good’ is where digital was about 10 years ago - in other words it’s one slide at the back of an agency presentation deck. But as sure as Lance’s doping, you can be sure that this page will turn from one to two or three and will gradually work it’s way up to the start of the deck - just like digital has now, replacing the poor old 30 second TV spot.

So that’s a long winded way of saying, yeah this is cool. It’s now, it’s hip and oh look, a neat little case study film just in time for the awards shows deadlines!

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That’s all folks! Want to get involved? Send us shots of the best [or worst] outdoor advertising you’ve seen, and we’ll choose one every week. Just email coop@adstruc.com.

All New Proposal Tools

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 12:20:17 -0500

Over the past few months, we’ve spoken with a lot of Out-of-Home operators about how they create proposals on ADstruc. We learned that while we had all the right features, we needed to improve the process of how those features worked together.

New Workflow for Creating Proposals

We kicked off 2013 with new ways to upload, search, and add inventory in proposals. Now, we’ve brought it all together to help operators build proposals more efficiently and intuitively. Our new workflow guides you through proposals in three easy steps.

Map-Based Inventory Search

Visualize inventory by market to identify the best units for a proposal. Search by unit number and export a list of selected units to confirm availabilities with your team. This is, by far, the fastest way to build proposals on ADstruc. Hosting your inventory on ADstruc will make your sales team more nimble and collaborative.

Flexible Packages & Pricing

Out-of-Home is more than just billboards, and we’ve updated our proposal tools to support alternative formats and pricing. You can now propose multiple units for a package rate. Considering a showing of posters, street furniture, bus panels, or media without lat/longs? No problem, draw your coverage area on our interactive map.

Excel Compatibility

We improved our platform’s compatibility with excel; now accepting Excel’s standard .XLSX, .XLS, and .CSV file formats.

Want to learn more? Schedule a demo with our team, just email us at support@adstruc.com.

A Creative Review: The Walking Dead

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 10:00:48 -0500

Welcome back to A Creative Review with James Cooper. Today Coop casts his eye at an indoor installation for Season 3 of The Walking Dead.

Digit-al Marketing

One could make argument that its ‘easy’ to do great ads for a show like the Walking Dead. Certainly as a creative, if you get that brief you’ve got to be pretty happy. But it’s not always the case that great work is produced. Sometimes people get lazy, they think they have such a great product that they actually don’t need to do anything with their advertising (ahem….Apple). So whoever got this particular piece through - well done!

Photo credit: hart_andrew via instagram

Ok, it looks gross and is a spectacle you can’t ignore - that’s your basic housekeeping - but the fact that it countdowns the days to the show with each finger coming off, that’s what really makes it cool. I always like to stress the difference between digital work and interactive work - they are not the same. This is a great interactive piece with nary a pixel in sight.

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That’s all folks! Want to get involved? Send us shots of the best [or worst] outdoor advertising you’ve seen, and we’ll choose one every week. Just email coop@adstruc.com.

A Creative Review: The Grammys

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 10:00:56 -0500

Welcome back to A Creative Review with James Cooper. Today Coop rocks out to the hashtag heavy ads for this week’s Grammy Awards.

The World is Listening

It’s always tough to follow a really good campaign. The Grammys ‘We’re All Fans’ campaign with Lady GaGa a few years ago was somewhat of a watershed moment. GaGa was at the top of her game, she was the undisputed Queen of Social Media. Kids were uploading stuff on YouTube - genuinely - rather than because a brand told them to. It was a time, and the Grammys nailed that.

A few years later and we have a hashtag #TheWorldIsListening.

I did a brief search on Twitter and it seems the world is not. Apart from a few retweets from people like Carly Rae Jepsen, no one is using that hashtag. It’s not natural. For starters it’s too long. The best tweets are short. They travel the most. But it’s also confusing.

Photo credit: marianne237 via instagram

If the Grammys was on radio only, then yeah maybe. I bet they thought about the ‘world is watching’ but then went ‘no, it’s about music’. And then someone said, “How about just #Grammys’ and some smart ass said that would be too boring.

Photo credit: xaviscorner via instagram

But even with a boring hashtag, they still could have done some amazing work - the promo film with Rihanna is pretty cool. In fact, I bet it would have made everyone concentrate on producing better content rather than worrying about a ‘hip’ hashtag.

By the way, when the band The #Hashtags finally launches, you’ll know that’s the time to pack it all in and go live in the desert.

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That’s all folks! Want to get involved? Send us shots of the best [or worst] outdoor advertising you’ve seen, and we’ll choose one every week. Just email coop@adstruc.com.

A Creative Review: Kraken Spiced Rum

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 11:00:54 -0500

Welcome back to A Creative Review with James Cooper. Today Coop dives headfirst into a gripping 3D wallscape from Kraken Spiced Rum.

Release the Kraken!

Disclaimer first. I have an affinity for Giant Squids. Just before the holidays I released a kid’s book for the iPad called The Little Giant Squid (it’s free, download it, go on)

So when I saw this piece for Kraken Spiced Rum, it immediately lept out at me. And I don’t think I’ll be the only one to feel like this. Kraken are doing what every small, challenger brand should do, creating work that stands out.

Photo credit: ADWEEK

I like the attitude of this wallscapes. You have to be a cold hearted person, or a very, very bleary eyed commuter, not to do a double take when you see this enormous tentacle scooping someone from their window. Whether the name and the product is enough to stand out in a crowded - and well funded - market remains to be seen. But, the ads are doing their job and we can’t say fairer than that.

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That’s all folks! Want to get involved? Send us the best or worst billboards you’ve seen and we’ll choose one every week. Just email coop@adstruc.com.