NEC’s VUKUNET Hiring Digital OOH Media Salespeople

March 1, 2012 by Dave Haynes

When NEC Display announced VUKUNET in Nov. 2009 the company rather boldly planned to get into the ad media sales business, with media pros carrying Vukunet cards doing the rounds at agencies.

That changed, and VUKUNET evolved into more of an enabling technology that other media sales people could use – the idea being the VUKUNET player/agent/thingie that would co-exist with existing digital signage software platforms could be utilized by multiple companies. VUKUNET would be universal.

After some initial hoo-hah and fuss, I think it is fair to say VUKUNET hasn’t lit the Digital OOH world on fire. It is being driven in Europe by a sharp guy in Dirk Hülsermann but things have been pretty quite in North America.

That appears to be changing, and in the absence of SeeSaw (folded) and the rumored directional changes by my friends at Adcentricity, NEC Displays appears to be going back to its initial plan of getting into the media sales business.

NEC has job posts up for National Advertising Sales Managers in New York and San Francisco.

We are currently seeking a National Advertising Manager to sell its digital out-of-home assets in New York. Digital place-based media is one of the fastest growing advertising mediums in the world today. There are digital screens everywhere – retail, schools, hospitals, stadiums, airports, shopping malls, offices, etc. and you can capitalize on all these locations in this growing space.

As a National Advertising Manager, you will be responsible for building and maintaining relationships with national advertising agencies and brands that require a customized and targeted solution for digital place-based advertising. You will be driving national revenue and contributing to the company’s bottom line.

The ideal candidate would be a hunter and a closer and who will generate revenue by aggressively identifying and qualifying agencies and brands. This person will have a background in ad serving technologies and ad sales, ideally in the outdoor, online or digital out-of-home space. The right candidate needs to be an expert at building relationships with ad agencies and clients and pinpointing new sales opportunities in enterprise-sized accounts.

Responsibilities:

•  Identify and implement new strategies for revenue development with major national agencies and brands in your territory
• Maintain effective, revenue-generating relationships with client-direct and media agencies within territory
• Plan and manage national ad sales for digital place-based ad revenue
• Work collaboratively with corporate strategic team and other departments to drive national advertising revenue
• Grow business from infancy stage to multi-million dollar business
• Achieve quarterly and annual revenue goals according to sales plan
• Provide ongoing internal reporting and analysis via a sales force automation tool for accurate revenue forecasting
• Assist Management in defining and identifying potential sales targets and opportunities for expansion in new markets
• Must be willing to travel nationally and be comfortable entertaining clients

Qualifications:

• A Bachelors’ degree in advertising, sales, marketing, business or related discipline.
• Proven track record of sales success with high close ratio
• 5+ years of advertising sales experience working with national clients and agencies.
• Must have a solid understanding of online or outdoor ad sales, digital place-based ad sales, ad serving platforms and national advertising trends.
• Must have strong knowledge around analytics and the importance of numbers in this space.
• Possess outstanding communication skills, both verbal and written
• Able to hit the ground running with 20+ potential agencies and brands