Emergency response efforts for the recent hurricane Laura have spurred a new program between government, nonprofits and corporate donors to deal with a long standing OOH industry problem of managing and disposal of spent vinyls once a campaign is complete. Billboard Insider met up with Chris Cowlbeck, General Manager of IBOUSA about the new OOHven program.
How did the program come together?
Most media owners know the difficulty in managing spent standard vinyls (not ecoflex). They either get sold for a nominal amount to local farmers for hay covering, etc. or wind up at the local dump. We, in Oklahoma, tend to stack them up and when a tornado hits, a few of us would arrange to get them on food trucks, church trucks or drive them to the devastated area ourselves. It dawned on a few of us during hurricane Harvey that it would be terrific if we could store these in a convenient location ahead of the time of need.
So what happened this time to make such a difference?
The only thing different was that in early 2020 we had begun a conversation with Scott Austin Key, the founder and CEO of Every Shelter down in Houston that is trying to repurpose vinyls into more sustainable housing for third world countries after an introduction by our friends at Meadow Outdoor and Johnsen Fretty. Once Laura became inevitable, Scott received urgent calls and some availability for shipping vinyls and called to see if our IBOUSA group had any vinyls stored. Of course we had a few and the difference was that Scott was able to introduce me to Uber Freight, a corporate donor of backhaul space, who then connected me with the key liaison at FEMA, and from there with NVOAD and ALANaid, the two groups that coordinate supplies and logistics.
Why are NVOAD and ALANaid such an important component of OOHven?
Without them, this wouldn’t be possible and why in the past things have been a bit scattered and response oriented as we media owners faced the unknown of who to communicate with and how the significant cost to get the pallets to the correct locations was absorbed. FEMA coordinates federal resources but doesn’t directly deal with nonprofits or corporate groups. NVOAD knows every significant church, nonprofit and government location in all 50 states and a team that communicates with them on a consistent basis. They also know every available warehouse location, their capacity and willingness to participate, whether governmental or corporate oriented. ALANaid amazingly does the logistical coordination between warehouse networks, trucking unions and makes the pick up to delivery destination happen. Both of these work hand in hand with FEMA, who solely manages government activities of purchases, storage and logistics.
Why are they so interested in OOH industry heavy duty vinyls?
FEMA buys the grommeted blue tarps as they have been easy to source in the past in bulk. However, it’s common knowledge that they don’t hold up as well to winds and the heavy duty vinyls can last several years or more. Many times the blue tarps have to be reinstalled which is a cost to the system. If they had a consistent, known source of vinyls, the funds could be better used elsewhere and be more effective while solving a problem for our industry.
How will the program work?
Fortunately now, while being detailed, I feel that there can be a long term benefit for all involved. Although this program is open to all independent or public media owners, our IBOUSA network already has a significant amount of media owner contact information and in many cases the shipping (pick up) locations based on our advertising buying platform. All we need to do is have the media owners and/or their installers properly stack their spent vinyls on pallets. While we are still fleshing out the protocols, thresholds and processes for the long term program, we are using Laura as the baptism by fire to identify the areas in need of smoothing out. Once we know that a media owner/installer has enough pallets to warrant collection, they simply contact us and we kick the rest of it into motion with the correct contacts at NVOAD and ALANaid. They then align with corporate freight liners that have donated backhaul space and then coordinate the pickups to be delivered to the nonprofit in need of the vinyls. They even have arrangements with Lowes and Home Depot for pickups for those that may not have pallet lifts or loading docks (which is most of us). The beautiful nuance is that in times of non-emergency, NVOAD coordinates with available prestaging locations across the country for various needs from temporary housing, to tornado relief or hurricane damage. This is a real win win win for all involved and allows us to manage our storage in a manner that is efficient and helps the corporate donors smooth out the backhaul logistics to best fit their needs. Everyone feels good even though going through rough times.
Is there a tax deduction for the vinyl donation?
Yes, absolutely so. If the media owner will count the vinyls on each pallet by the size, we can set a dollar amount. So for example, a 12 x 24 may sell to a farmer for $50, and NVOAD can issue a letter for the donation that can be used in the tax return.
How does a media owner get more information and start getting involved?
Simply visit the new website (under construction) www.OOHven.org for links and other information like how to stack a pallet. Contact IBOUSA’s coordinators, Daron Henry daron@IBOUSA.org or Marcus Brinlee marcus@IBOUSA.org and share your pickup information and let them know what shipping facilities/equipment you may have at your disposal. We’re really excited to be a part of this solution and every media owner has little reason not to participate.
About IBOUSA
IBOUSA is a networking group of companies that have a common interest in promoting all things of importance to the OOH Industry. We bring together some brilliant minds and cutting-edge technologies and services in our industry in some fun and engaging ways. Billboard operators, vendors, consultants, agencies and advertisers enjoy the fruits of our collective efforts and we have forged wonderful friendships over the years. These relationships have evolved to build the IBO COOP Speedway where the inventory of our operators is combined into a large national footprint that is easy to access. Learn more by calling 580-226-2234, support@IBOUSA.org or visit IBOUSA.org.
[wpforms id=”9787″]
Paid Advertisement
