Bold Moves | Strategy in Perspective Watch This Space: How Blip is Disrupting Outdoor Advertising It wasn’t long ago that conventional advertising, whether television, print, or billboard was so prohibitively expensive that only major corporate brands could afford it. When the internet came on the scene, it looked as though it might make traditional advertising obsolete – or so some thought. For sure, the so-called “superhighway” helped make it possible for virtually anyone to score some advertising real estate. Outdoor ad spending has grown 15-percent annually, and as high as 35-percent since 2010. By 2020, digital billboards will overtake virtually all traditional outdoor ad spending. But when billboards went digital, the landscape was transformed again. The technology offered immediacy and the ability to accommodate even more content than ever before. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, outdoor ad spending has grown 15-percent annually, and as high as 35-percent since 2010. By 2020, digital billboards will overtake virtually all traditional outdoor ad spending. blip Why pay for an ad when the roads are empty? That’s the problem Blip has managed to solve. Still, the barrier for entry has been far too expensive for anyone but advertisers with very deep pockets. Until Blip Billboards came along. “We did a survey and about 98% of advertisers had never advertised on billboards. And the reason was that they couldn’t justify the budget because the requirement was too high.” Brent Thompson is CEO of Blip Billboards, a startup that has systematically disrupted the way billboard advertising is bought and sold. Brent Thompson, CEO of Blip Billboards. “We have about 1100 digital boards in our footprint. If we were a media owner, that would make us the third or fourth largest media owner in the country.” “The way we describe what we do is that we sell space on digital billboards for the smallest transactional time that exists, which is one display of one ad. The price per blip across a 24-hour period more or less matches the traffic pattern going past the sign. So weekends are priced lower than weekdays, and 8AM on a weekday is priced higher than 2PM the same day.” How does Blip do it? Across the country, digital billboard owners operate with at least some percentage of unsold space. Blip helps them by monetizing those gaps in revenue, uniting owners with advertisers who only need a limited time for their ad. Blip’s online platform makes it easy for advertisers to customize their ad location, date, and time of day, without having to deal with a broker. “Say you’re a restaurant, you can show an hour before meal time. Or if you’re selling business software, you want to target rush hour.” Blip leaves the targeting and regionalization to the advertiser. Through their website platform, an advertiser can easily determine the location, time of day, number of blips, and desired budget. Only have a hundred dollars? You can buy a Blip, although it may not be in prime time. ClearChannel A billboard for Bud Light targets Miami Dolphins fans on gameday. With Blip, advertisers can zero in on specific days and times to reach their desired audience. “Some of the highest blip values are after sporting events,” says Brent. “These are companies selling sports paraphernalia, so just after a game ends, their campaign will go live and the price will ratchet up, but they’ll budget maybe only an hour.” With this kind of easy-access, hyper-specific geolocation targeting, advertisers can have greater control and flexibility, not to mention better allocation of advertising dollars. “We now have lots of small brands using the medium the same way the large brands are using it. It’s sort of the same way that the internet democratized advertising online. You have small brands that could end up adjacent to the largest brands on the same platform.” Blip’s plan for the future? The world. “We have about 1100 digital boards in our footprint. If we were a media owner, that would make us the third or fourth largest media owner in the country. Our next ambitions are international. We’re going to keep getting more and more coverage domestically, but we’ll also keep expanding down the value chain into smaller and smaller formats.” Related posts:Lincoln MKX Finds Success with McConnaughey's Lonely CommercialsRetail's Elder Statesman: Ira Neimark on Bergdorf Goodman and BeyondCan Ellen Degeneres Make a Successful Bid as a Celebrity Brand? California Dreamin': Hollister Flagship Store Opens in Manhattan Leave a Reply Click here to cancel reply. You must be logged in to post a comment.