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Ocean Outdoor: what really makes a winning combination?

Delivering 'super impact' from digital Out of Home

By Richard Malton.

A couple of weeks ago I sat in a room in London with 300 other people – creative teams, brand owners, Ocean business partners and our UK colleagues. The occasion was Ocean UK’s 15th annual Digital Creative Competition.

Sitting there, I had the satisfaction of knowing that across five other Ocean countries, the exact same event was happening at the exact same time – in Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Oslo and Helsinki. Over 1,100 people joining Ocean to celebrate the very best of more than 300 new creative ideas submitted by brands and agencies this year.

The energy was palpable. And serendipity was afoot. While I was in London, British legend Sir John Hegarty (left) was a special guest at our Stockholm event where he was sharing his sage advice. One of his points was quite simple. “We don’t talk enough about creativity and creativity is the main driver for all forms of growth.”

As it happens, that’s precisely what was happening at that very moment across Northern Europe. Creativity was being talked about. 300 new ideas. 300 creative teams thinking about their clients’ issues. 300 creative brains exploring the vast opportunities that come with Digital Out of Home.

We’re all part of the creative process

I’m a huge believer that creativity has to be at the heart of every media owner’s business. If not, what is it we offer brands – data enhanced impacts? You can get those anywhere. Is this what will deliver true growth for our customers? I get the impression Sir John doesn’t think so.

Great advertising happens when we are all part of the process – creative agency, media agency, planning agency and media owner. We have a collective responsibility to help create great advertising. We can’t sit in silos. I fundamentally believe that by working with our creative partners, media owners can 100% enhance creative execution to drive growth. (How about that as an idea?).

To single out another piece of wisdom from Sir John – Advertising principles never change but practices do. A successful media owner should understand the creative palette they are offering and, in my experience, the better creative teams understand the palettes on offer, the better the outcomes. Maybe a change in practices is now due?

At Ocean we have always held the belief that not all impacts are equal. The differentiator for the Ocean business has been to develop a creative canvas based on iconic placement, full motion and smart tech, allowing creative teams to enhance that impact – the delivery of the creative idea delivers the “super impact.”

Yet, how much of today’s conversation is really about creativity and the canvas and how much is more about data and the automated platform?

In early 2025 we will be announcing the first Digital Creative Competition Grand Prix winner, a creative shoot-out between the winners of our individual country competitions.

Until then, there’s a conversation still to be had. I say let’s talk about creativity and media together. It’s a winning combination. What’s your view?

Richard Malton is group CMO of Ocean Outdoor.

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