by Nick Coston
In the last 12 months I’ve had the pleasure of posting up at over seven OOH related conferences including stalwarts like DPAA Global Summit, a couple of Independent Billboard Operators (IBO) Conferences, NYC OOH Day, Consumer Electronics Show (CES), POSSIBLE and National Retail Federation Show. Big shows, big crowds, terrific conversations, good eats with plenty of bathrooms.
All good, right? Almost.
My nagging issue is that with each one I found that something was missing. Something that pulls all the attendees, booth jockeys and even conference employees together, something that rounds out that feeling of complete community. Something that when I got back to my hotel room at night, whichever city I was in, just wasn’t there.
An empty feeling.
And I’m not talking about my wallet.
Nope. I’m talking about something that we all can participate in. For free. No cost. Gratis. I’m thinking like a game. Ok, not like a game, but a real game, something we all know how to play, something we’ve been playing since we were maybe two years old. A game that’s second nature for everyone and anyone, tall, short, fat, skinny, zero personality of which there are a few of you, disabled, non-verbal, or you just hate flat-out people. It doesn’t matter. It’s wide open to all that breathe.
The game I’m toying with doesn’t discriminate. It does not judge. It may go on forever with no declared winner. It’s also a game that may run right into the next show. Like in October, it could start in Phoenix at the IBO Fall Conference or maybe you’re at Advertising Week NYC followed up by the DPAA Global Summit and OOHNYC Week, bang bang, all in a row.
It’s up to you. You decide the boundaries.
I’m talking about a classic game of TAG. Yea, that TAG. You’re it, TAG, where one player is designated from the start as “it” where that person then chases other others, aiming to touch someone with their hand and yell, grunt, whisper, it really doesn’t matter how you verbalize it, just convey that one big, bad, beautiful line.
“TAG, you’re it”.
Maybe they take 2 minutes to TAG the next victim, maybe it’s an hour, maybe it’s a day? There are no rules. See, it’s TAG. It’s played for action, it’s played for mystery, most importantly it’s played for fun and giggles. You can be tipsy, sober, high, depressed, chilled, TAG don’t care.
Of course, there are a few International Rules of TAG (I just made part that up, of course I did). Because most of us are in advertising, we suffer some sort of attention issues, we’ll stick to your basic TAG, or “Freeze TAG”. When you get TAGGED, you must freeze in place, like a statue. We all know plenty of stiffs, I mean statues in OOH, righty? Then, you can only unfreeze if another un-TAGGed player TAGS you back.
Oh, this won’t embarrass anyone, will it now…
There are all sorts of TAG versions, as I recently discovered. There’s Band-Aid TAG, Hot Dog TAG, and of course my fav, Dead Ant TAG, that’s when a person gets TAGGED they become a “dead ant” by lying on their back with legs and arms in the air. For the “dead ant” to join back in, they must be TAGGED on each limb by four different people. When a player becomes a “dead ant” for the third time — we’ll call it “ant years” — they take over as “it”.
There are also 7 more suggested TAG games, including my families favorite, Toilet TAG. Don’t ask as I have no photos of this version and besides, I always lost.
So, there you have it. This is my version of adding some spice, some real pep, some zest, some oomph into what a few attendees, this one included, feel have become rather dry, repetitive and even (gasp), slow moving shows. No videos, no prep, no sound system, ok, maybe some walk-up music. Everyone in OOH loves us some walk-up tunes.
Which leaves us with that one looming question.
Who’s gonna be the initial “it” to start us out, who’s gonna take that first big leap, slap some unsuspecting soul on the back and holler (or whisper) “TAG, YOU’RE IT!”
No names yet, but I have someone in mind. Do you?
To receive a free morning newsletter with each day’s Billboard insider articles email info@billboardinsider.com with the word “Subscribe” in the title. Our newsletter is free and we don’t sell our subscriber list.
Paid Advertisement
