Company:KEVANI

Markets:  California

Headquarters: 811 W 7th Street, 12th floor, Los Angeles, CA  90017

Phone: 310-579-9343

Email:  info@kevani.com

KEVANI is an out of home sales organization which specializes in high profile out of home assets.  The company represents projects like Circa LA, Marriott LA Live, The Wilshire Grand Center, Wilshire Landing, & Solair.  Kevin Bartanian is the company’s founder and CEO.  Insider talked with Kevin Bartanian last week.

How did you get involved with the out of home business?

I got my start with non-traditional/experiential formats back in 2005.

Tell us about your firm and how it helps clients.

We are a group of like-minds who work collectively to create memorable impressions for our local and national brand & agency partners. In our model, we have branched three groups of customers.  Our first group is compromised of individuals we interact with on a daily basis (our audience) – Our second group of customers are our developer partners (building/landowners/municipalities) and our third group of customers are advertisers and their agencies.

Our mission is straightforward – deliver value to all customer groups EQUALLY. We tend to get involved with assets that are unique,  premium and innovative. We believe in having a long-term non-commercial art (content) strategy that not only adds value to the community but in our view increases impressions for the advertiser.  We aim to create something that all of our customer groups are truly proud of.

What’s been one of your favorites out of home campaigns and why?

This is like asking me to select my favorite child – very tough to do!  If I had to pick, I  would have to go with a campaign we executed in 2016 for DOVE called #MyBeautyMySay.  The campaign teamed up with athletes to challenge media bias toward female athletes. In an effort to set the bar higher, Dove encouraged people to Tweet at media whose coverage perpetuates this negativity using the hashtag #MyBeautyMySay.  Those tweets later appeared on our displays on top of their creative.

Parts of LA are embracing digital billboards (e.g. the Sunset Strip)  but the city also has a ban on new digital billboards.   How soon do you think it will be till the rest of LA does?

We now operate close to 30,000 square feet of media space in Los Angeles and approximately 24k of that is full motion digital.  All of our assets are located in designated areas within central business districts. The city of Los Angeles is really a City of Neighborhoods.  Every neighborhood has a unique story with specific needs.  The city continues to struggle with maintaining a balanced and fair approach that deals with the ban citywide.