A Little Circus Never Hurt the OOH Industry...
...as long as they spell my name right.
by Nick Coston
Posted Good Friday, April 18th, 5:00AM
Way back in 2018 when I had darker hair and more of it, not to mention could walk a straight line without wiping out a small catering crew, I made a pledge to cover the expenses for the following year’s “OOH Sales Rep of the Year”. While I don’t think I was too tipsy at the time I decided to make this pledge, or as some called it a “bet”, I always think fondly back to that time. Choosing from five reps (companies) around three months prior to the 2019 OAAA/GeoPath OOH Conference in Las Vegas, I made the announcement, picking a hardworking, honest rep (the winner was the only salesperson at the company) from a small OOH plant in Baltimore with around 90 static bulletins. I didn’t care much about the attention that it would garner, I just wanted the logistics to go well, show up on time and share what I feel is the pinnacle of the OOH industry with a deserving first-timer. Eastern Outdoor and their manager, Kurt Rutherford was the perfect winner. The plan worked, nobody died (my bar for success was very low) and we had a blast. By the end of the 4 day excursion, everyone knew who Kurt was.
I began planning to make the same pledge for 2020, even had a winner picked, airline and conference tickets bought for the Phoenix show. By spring of 2020, Covid shut it all down. No winner, no show. I think I did announce who was the winner, so I guess there was a winner, Dave Battaglia of Clear Channel Outdoor, but alas, it never got off the ground. Dave and I did lunch locally. Likewise with 2021. By the time the 2022 show was announced, I was in a different position where I was no longer working with multiple ad reps. There was no contest, no winner. I went alone to Marco Island, no circus.
At that point, I’m thinking this was a one-hit wonder. What I didn’t figure on was that no other agency or brand would pick up this contest, improve on it and run with it. My one-man contest died on the vine as we say. Crickets. I thought for sure it would be an ongoing hit; reps would raise their game, dress better, tell funnier jokes, bring freshly baked goods with fruit in them, buy pizza for the agency or brand cleaning crew, surprise them with a kiss-cam moment at a Knicks game.
But no bueno.
I’ve always been appreciative of the way OOH Today described the contest, what it meant and the attention it brought to the unsung heroes of our industry, the salespeople. I often write about them (us) and always refer to that one quote I heard on my first day as an ad rep “nothing happens until someone sells something”. It still applies today, especially with all the place-based networks scrambling to fill unsold space. Ad sales are what makes our biz run.
I don’t know where the 2026 OOH Conference will be held, and I have no idea what it be called or even if it will happen based the trajectory of our economy. But bet on this: when it does take place and isn’t held in Bora Bora, count on me to run my silly little contest a year from now. Bank on it.
The circus is back in town.
Brought to you by the same knucklehead who drove cross-country to the 2024 conference. No reason to stop now.
From OOH TODAY, 2019:
Nick Coston Pledges Money Where His Mind Is
Local OOH Reps Belong at Annual Conferences and Nick will Pay
By OOH TODAY Believes All Voices, Not Just the Loudest, Must Be Heard Last updated Sep 1, 2023
In a recent LinkedIn post Nick Coston writes:
As I begin packing for 4 days for #GO2018 in Austin, that’s 28 days of clothes in dog years for me, I want to reiterate how serious I was about the big OOH companies inviting their well-deserving, local ad reps with them. So serious that for next year, I will select one, outstanding local OOH rep to attend the whole convention, & will pay in full for their expenses. They will be my guest, sort of an OOH scholarship. Free/gratis, zilch cost, no charge, a true reward for a job well done. #bemyguest2019
Nick Coston, Private OOH Planner, Buyer & Industry Consultant/Counselor, has made a generous pledge via LinkedIn. The offer, posted in its entirety above, is a full ‘ride scholarship’ for an outstanding local OOH rep to attend the next OOH Convention in 2019. Nick writes that he will pay in full for expenses as his guest. Nick is a generous person obviously and he is putting his money where his mind is and that is for the greater good of Outdoor Advertising.
Many times, over the 25 plus years of attending the premier OOH convention event, i wondered why ‘the people who might benefit the most’ are not in attendance. From an educational, motivational and networking perspective, every Conference attended has rekindled the fire in the belly for OOH. Some years more than others but always stoked upon returning to the office.
We understand the expense may be a concern for OOH Owners. But come on, if Nick can cough up for one deserving person, why doesn’t the Big 3, 4 and 5, bring a proportionate number of local sales reps comparable to their revenues? Even if it were just one rep per market, that is a start.
The story told, by those ‘who know’, responding to reasons for leaving sales reps ‘back home’ are:
1. the dollars, 2. employee defection and 3. the responsibility lies with managers who attend, to bring back a full report, sharing the details of the events and speakers. How many times has that happened?
We agree with Nick. Attendance would be equally beneficial to both the local sales reps and the rest of the attendees who will gain insights from them as well.
A noble commitment Nick Coston. We salute your pledge to the industry and to the OOH people, as OOH Today refers to, as ‘the people in the trenches’. The one’s who don’t receive the opportunities or recognition, though as fully committed to Out of Home, as the ones who do.
