Billboard Insider noticed on LinkedIn that there is a new educator focused on the digital and programmatic OOH world. We reached out to Jeff Gunderman, founder, for more information on The Digital Out of Home Academy. We are doing this in two parts. Today we will focus on Jeff, his background and the reasons for starting the DOOH Academy. Tomorrow we will get into
Jeff, tell us what is the DOOH Academy?
The Digital Out of Home Academy is a global out of home media initiative to educate the media industry on the fast-evolving world of digital and programmatic out of home media. At its core are unbiased certification courses plus a growing catalogue of thought leadership, company spotlights and case studies so students can learn and then see how real companies and real people are applying that learning in the real world.
Tell us a little about your background?
I have been involved in the out of home media industry in one way or another most of my professional career. During college I worked as a photographer and often photographed real estate agents for billboard ads. I then worked for Kodak Professional, and sold the materials and digital technology used to create and print ads for out of home billboards and 6-sheets and also ran a marketing group, planning and buying media. I then spent a couple years in online direct response media, and from there I ran the US operations for an Australian based OOH media company which I then acquired and ultimately sold. I now do a fair amount of advisory and consulting work for media and AdTech companies specific to cross border market expansion, sales strategy, digital conversion and programmatic sales and connectivity. I have also started the DOOH Academy.
Why did you started the DOOH Academy?
There have been many advancements in the ooh media industry over the last 100 years, but none as extensive and fast moving as the conversion to digital and the advancements in programmatic digital out of home buying and selling. There is a lot of confusion in the industry and a lack of educational support to help fill that gap. DOOH Academy was created to help educate the industry and prepare people and businesses for the digital and programmatic future.
Why is digital and programmatic education so important?
If you look at agency media planning and buying jobs and publisher ad sales and operations jobs in our industry, a growing number are looking for digital and programmatic experience. There are some amazing tenured employees who are rockstars and super connected but don’t understand the digital and programmatic side of buying and selling. Companies in our industry are looking at ways to train both tenured and new employees without having to build it from scratch and employees are looking for ways to upgrade their skills for the digital and programmatic future.
Media companies (publishers) are also seeing demand shift to programmatic and automated buying and if they don’t figure this out, they will lose revenue over time. Simply, if demand is coming in programmatically and your ad network is not connected, or connected but not optimized, you can’t get that revenue. If you are connected and optimized, but don’t understand how to sell your network to the trade desks and digital buyers, again you lose revenue. DOOH Academy courses will help you understand this.
How is the course curriculum designed?
We work with Industry Advisors from industry trade associations and some of the industries most experienced and successful AdTech, agency, data, measurement and publisher companies to help guide the curriculum.
Do you teach the courses?
The design of the DOOH Academy is to use industry experts to teach the majority of the course content. I do teach some segments, and I fill in when I think content needs to be supplemented, but for the most part, I act as the host and let subject specific experts teach the content. We do this through interviews with experts. For instance, the first course Digital and Programmatic Fundamentals uses more than 12 industry experts from 10 different companies to teach the 20-modules.
Are DOOH Academy courses expensive?
The DOOH Academy courses are by design, inexpensive so they are accessible to everyone, thanks to the support of sponsors. The first course Digital and Programmatic Fundamentals is a 5-hour 20-segment streaming video course that is only $49.99 and sponsor companies all have discount codes to further reduce that price. The thought leadership, Spotlights, and Case Studies are all free. Future courses will continue to be low cost. And much of the additional content we release will be at no cost.
How do you get started?
To start just go to www.doohacademy.com and click on the button in the upper right titled “Enroll in Courses” or just click on “courses” in the navigation bar. From there you will see the course “Digital and Programmatic Fundamentals” and under that is “Enroll Now”. The cost is $49.99 but using code Billboard20 (valid through 3/31/2024) and you can get the course for only $39.99.
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