Newad Spinoff Launches Targeting Platform For Canadian Digital OOH Networks

May 25, 2016 by Dave Haynes

Montreal-based media company Newad, which has a big digital out of home screen footprint through much of Canada, has announced a new spinoff company it says brings media targeting and a cost per view media placement model to digital OOH networks in this country.

Campsite Global is being described as an automated advertisement purchasing solution specifically designed and adapted for digital OOH inventory.

The Campsite buying platform, says a press release, provides the opportunity to seamlessly integrate digital OOH within digital media strategies using a cost per view (CPV) billing metric and data-driven audience targeting.

“This technology revolutionizes the purchase of traditional out-of-home campaigns typically based upon the purchase of fixed advertisement blocks of predetermined periods. It also gives advertisers the flexibility to activate targeted campaigns in minutes, based on geolocation, gender (sex), age, demographics and a set of fully customizable criteria based on factual information, taken from the venues where the DOOH ad faces are located. For example, an advertiser can purchase a campaign displayed exclusively during hockey games, and only in establishments broadcasting the game.”

“Advertisers will have access to premium DOOH inventory, activated by indoor advertising companies who are capable of detecting the number of people exposed to an ad, and will therefore pay solely for actual views. Companies equipped with this technology can easily connect their DOOH inventory to the Campsite platform.”

Campsite suggests its user experience is reminiscent of various web and social media buying platforms already used by agencies. “In a matter of minutes, audiences are targeted and creatives are uploaded and published to the network, where campaigns can be monitored and optimized in real-time.”

The company has a pair of high-profile test partners – the Cadreon, ad tech unit of IPG Mediabrands, and media placement giant ZenithOptimedia.

“Fully viewable video and display inventory is effective, in demand and hard to find,” says Tessa Ohlendorf, Cadreon’s Managing Director of Canada. “The advancement of a model for DOOH that is similar to programmatic display and video will enable us to dramatically increase reach, brand awareness and intent for our clients’ brands. Guaranteed viewability is increasingly critical to our advertisers’ purchasing decisions, and Campsite’s platform offers us an option to deliver on exactly that.”

The platform will be broadly available by July.

“With Campsite, we offer all advertisers a complete solution that maximizes the efficiency of their digital investments and delivers guaranteed viewability,” says Edith Gagné, Vice President, Development for Campsite. “It includes several web functionalities, such as specific targeting criteria, automated purchasing, payment based on views, real-time performance reports in addition to limiting the risk of fraud and advertisement blocking. Our goal is to make Campsite a privileged platform to significantly increase DOOH advertising investments, by allowing the advertisers to maximize every dollar. That’s why we look forward to working with all active players in the Canadian industry, to facilitate the adoption of Campsite as a preferred trading platform for DOOH.”

Newad is the first digital OOH company to connect its digital inventory to Campsite, which makes sense since the company initiated the concept, built Campsite internally and then spun the company off as its own entity. The company has offices in Montreal and Toronto, with Gagné reporting up to Michael Reha, Campsite’s President and, as far as I know, still the CEO at Newad. Reha founded Newad in 1995.

The company’s business model, Gagné told me via email, is payment of commissions per transaction. “Newad is now a free beta user but will be a paying client after the phase test. We believe that there are great opportunities for DOOH in rendering more accessible the Canadian inventory to digital buyers. The goal is to make Campsite a privileged platform to increase overall DOOH investments, which will benefit all digital media suppliers.”

I asked how existing digital OOH networks, running on platforms such as BroadSign, would work with Campsite: “An existing network run by BroadSign for example, can connect their inventory to Campsite using our API,” says Gagné. “Any supplier with the technology to detect views and a development team to follow the API will be able to connect their inventory to the Campsite platform over the next several months.

I don’t pay enough attention anymore to the digital OOH market to know whether this is what everyone’s been waiting for, or another entry in a crowded market. I also don’t know if this complements the platforms of BroadSign and another Montreal company, Ayuda. Maybe it does, but maybe it’s competition.

One thing I do know is Ayuda floated the pay per look concept five years ago, though I don’t think it really went anywhere.

Opinions welcomed in the comments.