On today’s Billboard Insider podcast we talk with DJ Jennings and John James about OutdoorLink’s recent purchase of SignBird.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 13:58 — 19.3MB)
Here are the highlights.
DJ Jennings on OutdoorLink’s history
OutdoorLink was created by my father Dwight to service the billboard industry to help operators with the day to day pains they have managing inventory – things like managing lights, making sure their clients are happy with illumination issues, rising utility costs…
Billboard Insider: Our out of home plant in Minnesota and Indiana uses your product. It adjusts all our lights automatically based on sunrise and sunset. We don’t have to reset timers. It pings our manager every time we have an outage. And we can turn off signs remotely if we have a vacancy so we don’t have to pay for utilities.
That was why OutdoorLink was started and created. My father was an independent operator for years and years and when he sold his plant he wanted to get back into the business and decided he was going to solve some of the issues he faced every day.
Managing digital billboards
The SmartLink is basically a smart control device that allows users to customize inputs…From time to time digital billboards have issues. That may be freezing up. The ad copy not displaying properly. A security threat. A board hack. It gives you a quick failsafe method of rebooting or shutting down the face without having to roll a truck.
Why OutdoorLink bought SignBird.
John James is what stood out for me. SignBird has a great product, a great service. That is undeniable. From the time John and I first spoke we just connected. I found somebody who was passionate about this industry and who was just as dedicated to his clients as I am.
What does the SignBird acquisition mean for Outdoorlink clients.
Where Outdoorlink has historically been operations focused, insuring lights are on. Reducing utility costs. Focusing on the bottom line expense. This allows us to aid clients with their top line. New revenue. Pitch to proof. Helping with the sales pitch.
John James on SignBird’s history.
The journey for SignBird has always started inside of a billboard company. I worked as an account executive for a large billboard company. There needed to be an improvement on the way out of home is being marketed to advertisers. We were pitching inventory on a four week flight on a digital…for $3,500/slot…but we were using a 15 year old photo to market the premier digital location in out DMA…That is the origin story of SignBird. SignBird is in 27 states and counting…I’m excited to plan out the future with a phenomenal partner like OutdoorLink.
SignBird and independent out of home companies.
The small to mid-sized independents are one man or one women armies. They are the real estate person. They are the sales person. They are the billing person. They are doing all of these things…Marketing tends to be on the back burner. SignBird has positioned itself to be the marketing engine for a billboard company to take advantage of…
Will SignBird remain an independent brand?
SignBird stays the same. The name’s not changing. I’m not leaving…We just have a fantastic parent company to help us develop new products and services.
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