Lucy Markowitz, Vistar Media's SVP of US Marketplace, says she joined in its early days as a salesperson when the company was only a year and a half to two years old.
Vistar Media only launched a fully transparent marketplace on March 10, 2020, days before COVID, after Lamar Advertising joined in 2016 with billboards.
Markowitz argues relationships cannot be automated, and says programmatic is a way of buying rather than a separate channel as consumers move across screens and billboards.
How Vistar Media turned billboards into a programmatic marketplace
Vistar Media's story is how out-of-home advertising became something buyers purchase programmatically. The company began automating an industry whose vendors resisted it, then brought in billboard operators like Lamar and opened a transparent marketplace. Lucy Markowitz argues the technology works only alongside relationships, because clients betting on out-of-home still need people who listen.
Takeaways
Programmatic is a buying method for every screen. Lucy argues programmatic describes how media is activated and purchased rather than a separate channel. Consumers move between phones, streaming screens and billboards, so out-of-home belongs inside the same buying workflow as other media.
Automation still depends on personal relationships. Lamar president and chairman Kevin Riley holds that technology should aid people rather than replace them, and Lucy agrees relationships cannot be automated. Clients need personal attention, and Vistar's team works on the principle that no job is beneath anyone.
Big campaigns reward clients who take risks. Vistar's West Coast team partly funded a Los Angeles Usher concert for Ian and 12 other clients, before about 30,000 people. Lucy frames such events as celebrations for clients who bet on out-of-home. Ian argues these campaigns create more buzz than social or search.
Consultative selling starts with questions. The WNBA's budgets are a fraction of the NBA's, so Vistar asks before pitching. It offers pharma brands script-lift measurement through Crossix or IQVIA and, under T-Mobile ownership, on-device streaming data. When clients decline, Vistar asks why and improves.
Scaling a team needs varied personalities. Lucy rose from early seller to leading sales as Vistar grew past 300 people. She says managers need different personalities rather than copies of themselves, that people can prove themselves with one year or twenty, and that she has become more data driven.
Vistar's path to a transparent marketplace
Vistar set out to automate out-of-home, an industry where many vendors did not want automation and programmatic was not yet a term. Lucy joined at 25 as employee number 12.
The early pitch framed the product as an extension of location-based mobile, with people's movements acting as a real-world cookie. Lucy's first deal was $14,000 with a telecom later bought by T-Mobile.
Ian's first programmatic sale was an $83,000 General Motors campaign, and his first full programmatic year brought about $100,000. He recalls thinking Vistar might last six more months.
Lamar Advertising joined the marketplace in 2016, adding billboards.
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On this episode 2
Show 1
On March 10, 2020, days before COVID, Vistar launched a fully transparent marketplace. Before, it could say an ad ran on billboards but not which operator carried it.