Dallas Wiles, co-CEO of JCDecaux UK, says his commercial sales background gave him the confidence to push programmatic despite not knowing the outcome.
Wiles says JCDecaux is taking more money at weekends than ever, and out-of-home programmatic has grown significantly over five years and faster over the last two.
JCDecaux's new programmatic opportunity across more than 20 airports, including Heathrow and LAX, has two or three brands activated so far, with an ambition to reach 200 cities.
How programmatic opened JCDecaux's billboards to brands nobody had heard of
Programmatic buying has turned out-of-home, one of the oldest media channels, into something precise at scale and open to brands of any size. Dallas Wiles argues JCDecaux's 2018 bet paid off because it tested, learned and let early results create demand. The next phase depends on the industry investing in people and data and making its case louder, including globally.
Takeaways
Programmatic opened out-of-home to unfamiliar, smaller brands. Wiles says half the brands now activating programmatically with JCDecaux are names he has never heard of. Buying out-of-home is more accessible than ever, and he calls it a misconception that a brand must be scaled to run an out-of-home campaign.
Growth is accelerating, with weekends now strongest. Programmatic out-of-home grew significantly over five years and faster over the last two. More than a thousand brands ran programmatic campaigns with JCDecaux in two years. JCDecaux takes more money at weekends than ever, reaching captive audiences such as rugby fans travelling to the ground.
Fear of missing out solved the first-mover problem. Getting anyone to test first was hard, so JCDecaux leaned on its test-and-learn value. The more it talked about programmatic, the more FOMO spread among clients, including lapsed out-of-home spenders. Wiles credits the brave CMOs who tried it early.
Senior leaders must understand and back the shift. Wiles joined as a campaign manager in 1999 and has been co-CEO for nearly five years. Launching programmatic in 2018 felt scary because the outcome was unknown, but his sales background gave him confidence. Kozak says leaders rarely understand the platform this well.
The channel must invest and speak up. Wiles wants out-of-home to stay relevant, act as an extension of clients' businesses, invest in people as well as data and tools, and talk louder about its data and ROI case studies. Computers do not yet make decisions, and many buyers are now omni-channel.
Measurement worries are fading as the market matures. Kozak says measurement topped last year's research, The Time Is Now, but has fallen down the list this year. Wiles still sees marketers needing clear audience stories and planners short of time. Only one or two in ten self-described collaborators truly collaborate.
JCDecaux's global programmatic ambitions
JCDecaux has launched a programmatic offer across more than 20 airports worldwide, including Heathrow and LAX.
The airport product is in its test-and-learn phase, and two or three brands have already activated it.
Wiles's ambition is to let brands run one programmatic campaign across 200 cities.
Tap a name to go there · tap a line to see why they are linked
On this episode 2
Show 1
Kozak says JCDecaux reaches almost a billion people daily, which Wiles frames as one eighth of the world population.
Pitching programmatic to leadership
Make the case explainable in sixty seconds. If you cannot, that will always be the obstacle.
Bring research and case studies. Anticipating objections up front already signals disbelief.
Expect leaders to ask what it costs, what resources it needs and which accessible solutions exist. If you claim competitors are doing it, be ready for a request for proof.
The people influencing buying are not always the C-suite, and an early rejection does not end the road.