If global markets embrace independent out of home (OOH) verification, the channel can “start to demand more” ad spend, Veridooh co-founder and co-CEO Mo Moubayed has told Mediaweek, as he eyes international expansion.
“If we can overcome this minimum standard that CMOs are demanding, be it independent verification, then the out-of-home industry globally could be on a better playing field than other channels, which have some broad issues,” he said.
“I would love to see this become a norm globally, so out-of-home can start to demand more spending from advertisers, rather than just the 4% or 5% we’re currently seeing today.”
‘We’re always interested in other markets that are also interested in us’: Expansion plans
Veridooh independently tracks, measures, and verifies the performance of OOH advertising campaigns with its proprietary SmartCreative technology. The adtech company – founded by Moubayed and Jeremy Yang in 2017 – is the preferred verification partner for IPG Mediabrands, Omnicom Media Group, and GroupM in Australia. Its clients also include global brands such as Google, Amazon, Mercedes, Pepsi, Unilever, Sony, and McDonald’s.
Since launching seven years ago, the business has opened a global office in London, and is currently investigating further expansion plans.
“We now have over 30 people headquartered in Australia, looking after Australia and New Zealand. We’re very excited about our success in these countries and feel like we’re just getting started,” Moubayed said.
The UK and the US are “natural progressions” for expanding the business, with Moubayed highlighting the UK’s market similarities regarding media ownership and makeup.
“We’re always interested in other markets that are also interested in us. If a market interests us, it might make us move there faster.
“Independent verification is very new to out-of-home. So, we do some education, and for each market, there is some ramp-up time getting agencies and advertisers up to speed with our world-first tech, but once that happens, it moves pretty quickly.”
Any further expansion will preserve the vision, though: to “build products that will help grow the out-of-home industry in the short and long term.”
Moubayed said that Veridooh has made some strategic hires, such as Nick Wong, chief of staff, and Alexander Fleming, head of marketing, to help the business prepare for its international expansion. The adtech company also hired Prashand Menon as group business director for New South Wales and Queensland.
Making OOH the ‘most attractive’ channel
OOH is the “most attractive” channel to invest in, Moubayed argued. “No other channel does big attention-grabbing creative that is hyper-localised, demographically targeted lower funnel advertising.”
Moubayed also noted that the modernisation of technology and OOH’s performance marketing capabilities serve advertising needs up and down the funnel.
He highlighted the recent Thinkerbell campaign for Lion that carried out sharp, one-off tactical brand-building executions around the arrival of Taylor Swift’s boyfriend, Travis Kelce, during her Eras Tour of Australia.
Moubayed said that modern marketers expect measurement and performance as a base standard and added that media planners and marketers’ teams use out-of-home in a “more sophisticated way.”
The programmatic out-of-home industry is growing every year, Moubayed said, and will likely become more pronounced. Overall, outdoor ad spend was up 15.1% in 2023, and down just 0.4% in February in a soft market, according to Guideline SMI figures released yesterday. Programmatic OOH, meanwhile, grew double digits.
Of Veridooh’s ambitions, Moubayed said: “From campaign automation that removes digital dispatch error through independent verification to measure reach and share of voice in the real world. That’s where we want to be.”
‘Record growth’: The rest of the year
Looking towards the rest of 2024, Moubayed said the team has a very clear focus: to give agencies and advertisers the confidence to invest further in out-of-home.
“We’ve helped out-of-home grow locally for the past five years in Australia with record growth quarter by quarter. Interestingly, we’re already seeing the effect of Veridooh on industry growth in other markets that we have entered in the past year, and we think we’re going to see a similar trajectory in these markets.
“We believe 2024 is going to be super exciting, not only Veridooh but out-of-home in general.”
See also: Travis Kelce invited to “real footy” in latest Tooheys work via Thinkerbell
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Top image: Mo Moubayed