Company: Pearl Media
Headquarters: 363 RT. 46 West, Suite 450. Fairfield, New Jersey 07004
Phone: 973-492-2300
Email: info@pearlmedia.com
Pearl Media is an award-winning Out-of-Home and Experiential marketing agency headquartered in Northern New Jersey with offices in San Francisco, Miami, Chicago and Los Angeles. The company is changing how people experience the world outside their homes, creating new ways to touch, talk and inspire. Every moment at any location is an opportunity to tell a story. Insider talked with Josh Cohen, founder and CEO of Pearl Media, about his company, its 10-year journey and his vision for what’s ahead.
How did you enter the out of home business?
During the real estate crash in 2006 and 2007, it became apparent that retail would be dramatically impacted. As the industry entered a period of great struggle and the number of closures was significant, I identified a silver lining and an opening to re-imagine the Out-of-Home space. Using vacant retail storefronts, I created a canvas for brands to bring the billboard to ground level, benefiting landlords/property groups, brands and consumers alike. Additionally, this approach overcame the steep financial barrier that comes with entering the Out-of-Home market, as there was little to no upfront investment. As I continued this journey, I began applying emerging interactive technologies in digital, mobile and social media within the windows storefront billboards, thus allowing brands to engage consumers in unique conversations they previously couldn’t have. This marriage of real estate and technology grew to be the backbone of Pearl Media, and they’re still the core competencies of the company today.
What makes Pearl different?
Out-of-Home is at every corner, creating a saturated market. This inspired Pearl Media to focus on high-profile opportunities only, putting an emphasis on quality over quantity. Between creating immersive property opportunities, to owning some of the largest Out-of-Home opportunities in top markets, we establish true communication platforms. We believe Out-of-Home should go beyond just a branding play and has the ability to create value by getting consumers to stop, engage and share.
What are a couple of your favorite Pearl out of home projects and why?
6201 Hollywood – This project has quickly become a favorite of ours due to the orientation of the signage. We placed four vertical display static signs on a newly developed West Hollywood mixed-use space to garner a great read for both sides of Hollywood Blvd traffic. What makes it so special to us is how brands have used the space to display multiple creatives that resemble a larger-than-life art gallery of sorts. It’s no longer just advertisement, it’s an engaging display.
Chelsea Market – One of our original large format signs in the heart of NYC’s Meatpacking District has lead us to a new venture in overall property development. Leveraging our relationship with Chelsea Market from our exterior signage, we developed and implemented a plan to flesh out the interior with a unique digital place-based network. The network blends relevant content with advertising to reach the right consumers, in the right place at the right time. Coupled with our expertise of brand experiences and interactive development, we transformed Chelsea Market into a 360-degree opportunity for brands to dominate the space!
Brookfield Place – Brookfield Place, the latest venture in our property development efforts, is weeks away from launching in October. We have really poured our brand DNA into this space, integrating our digital place-based network into custom screens that help enhance overall venue aesthetics. Additionally, we have sourced digital screens at 2mm pixel pitch, making them among the highest resolution screens in all of Manhattan. In many ways, you can call this the true coming out party for our property development vision.
What technical innovations will have the largest impact on your projects during the next five years?
The evolution of digital signage has us very excited. As the market sees improved display resolution, color, pixel pitch and the like, we’ll be following closely behind, implementing these new advancements into our upcoming projects.
The latest in mobile technology and other related data tracking tools are also of huge importance to our future. As any Out-of-Home professional knows, the accountability of signage should continuously be improved upon if we wish to service marketers better. Being able to understand who and how many are seeing and engaging with our properties and signage is going to be mandatory in the near future.
[wpforms id=”9787″]
Paid Advertisement
