Las Vegas DOOH adtech company Adomni is using the giant CES, which attracts hordes of tech trade press around this time each year, to raise awareness and buzz for an interesting spin-out product the company launched last spring.
Called Shoutable, the platform enables people like social media influencers to easily post messages on digital billboards across the United States, for $40 a spot.
The proposition is that people can log in to the platform, find a billboard location (or locations), develop a DIY message from online templates, book a time window and pay for the ad spot with a credit card. The messages are called “Shouts” and the eight-second static spots will run 10 times in that 15-minute time window.
This is mainly tuned, it seems, for individuals as opposed to businesses – though it is fair to say there are many people who have made themselves into businesses. While I am on social media, I am old and have, very blissfully, absolutely no idea who Adomni is touting as high profile “Shout” users. In a gushing, almost cringey press release, the company notes:
This new billboard company is turning A-lister heads and has quickly become a celebrity favorite way to celebrate their loved ones! TikTok superstars, Charli and Dixie D’Amelio surprised their mom with a collection of Mother’s Day Shouts on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles and even took her to visit the Sunset Boulevard supersize billboard. The girls took to their Instagram accounts to show their fans how easy it was to do.
Family man/TV personality Mario Lopez used Shoutable on Father’s Day to surprise his dad in San Diego with a billboard saying, “World’s Best Dad Mario”.
Music artists Robin Thicke recently used Shoutable to engage his fans for the launch of his newest single with Yo Gotti.
Mom of 3, Ashlee Simpson-Ross surprised her hubby, actor Evan Ross, with a Shout on Ventura Boulevard in Los Angeles from her and the kids.
Shoutable gives both large and small creators the space to be seen and heard, blurring the line between advertising and social media.
Well that’s nice.
Setting the influencer angle aside, I could see how this could also be attractive to regular folks who are not productizing their personalities. Long before there were digital billboards, there were stories here and there about individuals buying a billboard to do things like make very public marriage proposals. The challenge with that is the cost, time and complexity of booking a billboard. With this, it can be quick and cheap – and if you know your Mom drives by a certain billboard every morning on the way to work, you could buy a time window and “shout” Happy Birthday!
Or ask her “What’s For Dinner???”
The challenge with this approach is getting awareness up so that people other than hyper-savvy media influencers know about it. Adomni has an arrangement with Lamar that makes this available on 1,600 billboards and other displays – like street furniture and taxi tops, across 42 states.
The DIY ad thing is not new, but web technologies have undoubtedly made it easier to make happen. The Canadian out of home media company Pattison launched something called The Ad Shop more than 10 years ago, and I’ve no doubt there have been others.
