Digital Signage Today
00:18:00 · Chris Grosso
[00:18:00] S2: think outside... Leaving aside our stuff, you know, just as an industry observer, I think a lot of the large format work in in three d in places like Times Square has been very, very impression... Impressive aesthetically and really, really good, like hat tip to the folks doing many of those campaigns. Going back to some of the stuff that we do, the things I like best are our ability with products like Link to take over a city at scale at a moment in time. So, you know, in New York, there's this thing called Manhattanhenge, where the sun lines up with the street grid. And, you know, we sold a sponsorship for someone to sponsor and take over the entire city at that moment. And the ability to have all the screens basically with an ad referencing Manhattanhenge with the sun, like, you know, lined up right on the street grid was really cool. And I think the ability... As I said, I think these... The ability with our medium and in our media to be able to take over a city at scale very quickly at a moment in time and really bring a city together in a way that is very hard to do, as the thing I like best on what we do. But, you know, as I look at, you know, when I think about our, some of our competitors, because we're not in the billboard space, I think what folks are doing with these big, format screens in some of these places is also really, really impressive. And, you know, I think what's great about our medium is these products really work together in in in tandem in a pretty compelling way.
00:19:38 · Daniel Brown
[00:19:38] S1: And by the way, the public safety benefits, that's growing as well. So that's a great benefit. And I think it ties into one thing. What are your thoughts on making your digital out of home, whether it's football, smart city, retail, beyond, sustainable, making it privacy friendly? And can you do that and also be super successful? What's the mix?
00:20:00 · Chris Grosso
[00:20:00] S2: Yes. Well, look. Privacy friendly is is core to what we do. We work with municipalities, so they... We need to do right by them, and they're they're pretty clear on their expectations around privacy. So we... Everything we do is extremely privacy friendly. We don't use personally identifiable data. We do not target people in public space. You know, the minority report world of, hey, Chris, we know you looked at something online and we're going to retarget you in public space. We don't do that. I don't think that's something that can be done in a privacy friendly way. So you have to do that. As for sustainability, I agree it's something that we take very seriously as well. Things we've done, you know, on the static side and the printed side is a little bit easier. So for instance, we've got shelters where we do have lighting in the bus shelters and the the printed screens are backlit, and we power those by solar panels, which is a double win because it's better for the environment and it's actually cheaper to install because you don't have to pull power and about the same or a little bit cheaper to operate. And, you know, we're testing electric vehicles to go out and service our our our signs. On the digital side, it's a little bit harder, but we are looking at environmentally friendly, sustainable, renewable energy sources for many of our digital products as well. And then look, inherently in our business, we are very sustainable give back to society because the biggest, one of the biggest levers the city has to reduce this environmental footprint is mass transit. And our whole business is based on supporting mass transit. So as I said earlier, if, you know, brands that wanna do good, support your mass transit systems. Right? Sponsor the electric vehicles or electric buses that are taking people around cities, which are taking huge amounts of carbon out of the... Well, not taking carbon out of the atmosphere, but avoiding carbon footprint. Is it very easy that if if brands want to associate with environmentally friendly causes, the transit system's about as environmentally friendly cause you can get.
00:21:54 · Daniel Brown, Chris Grosso
[00:21:54] S1: The message I keep hearing from you and just from watching the industry is, hey. Let's all let's all grow together. [00:22:00] S2: Yeah. This is an industry that... We are a small industry in the grand scheme of advertising. Advertising. Right? In The United States, out of home advertising is $9,000,000,000 It's a very small portion of the industry. It should be a lot bigger, but, you know, all of us as an industry together have... Is more likely to be able to grow and get our fair share given our audience than any of us doing that individually. The the the last thing I'd say is just getting back to the football is I think the Giants are going to have a terrific season, so I'll leave that... I'll leave you with that. [00:22:29] S1: Alright. I'm gonna hold you to that. We're gonna come back. We're gonna have a follow [00:22:33] S2: If the Giants win the Super Bowl, you gotta bring me back on the podcast.