On The Couch With – Glen Wilson

In the latest edition of On the Couch, Glen Wilson reflects on his career in out-of-home, shares the lessons he’s learnt along the way, and discusses the opportunities and challenges shaping the future of the industry.

Tell us a little about your first job?

My first job in advertising came after studying science. 

I had been fascinated by advertising from an early age. There was a book called ‘The 100 Greatest Advertisements of All Time’, that opened my eyes to the industry. I think I still have it somewhere.

Like a lot of people, my route in was through media sales. I started selling advertising space for the  publisher of Construction News.

It was a start. And once you’ve sold advertising to a cement-pumping company, almost everything else feels easier.

Tell us a little about what you do today.

These days, I work as an adviser to a broad mix of businesses across the OOH industry. From media owners and technology platforms to landlords and almost everything in between.

The part I enjoy most is the variety of people I get to work with. This includes experienced founders, start-ups and people at the very beginning of their careers.

What is most rewarding is being able to pass on some of the things I have learnt over the years. Ideally, that helps someone avoid at least a few of the mistakes I made. 

How, and why, did you get into the OOH industry?

My first move into out-of-home was with Transport for London. At the time it handled its own media sales. This was where I gained an understanding of media planning fundamentals. It was, and still is, an extraordinary advertising asset. 

From there, the agency side felt like the natural next step. That was where many of the decisions were made. The opportunity to influence those decisions was very appealing.

Why Transport for London hired me is perhaps another question. A wonderfully flamboyant man called Joe Putnam took the trouble to interview me at my home. I wonder whether anyone reading this will remember him. I hope they do.

The advertising and media industry was full of genuine personalities and characters in those days. That was a large part of what made it such fun.

You spent many years leading Posterscope. What’s one lesson from agency life that still sticks with you today?

Over the years, I was lucky enough to work for, and learn from, some exceptional mentors and leaders.

But the phrase that still comes back to me, particularly when things get difficult, is: “It’s only posters.”

Take the work seriously. Care about it, and do the best job you possibly can. But keep a sense of perspective. We are not saving lives, and the sun will still come up tomorrow.

What do you see as the biggest challenges in the OOH industry?

The biggest challenge is breaking beyond OOH’s current share of the advertising market.  Both logic and the media channel’s performance suggest it should be higher.

The route to growth is straightforward to describe, even if it is harder to deliver: make OOH easier to plan, easier to buy and easier to measure. It needs to become as accessible as the major digital platforms. My mum could buy an ad on Facebook. She could not buy an OOH campaign.

This will require genuine collaboration across the industry. It’s encouraging that we are beginning to see more of it. For example,  media owners and agencies are producing strong research together, and competitors are sharing a stage to communicate a common message about the value of the medium.

What do you think will drive the next phase of growth for DOOH?

For DOOH specifically, growth will come from removing friction.

That means making it simpler to plan, buy and measure, while connecting it more naturally into the systems advertisers and agencies already use. The technology largely exists. The bigger challenge is coordination across media owners, agencies, data providers and platforms.

Additionally, the next phase of growth will not come from more screens alone. It will come from making those screens easier to access and more accountable.

What’s the one misconception about the OOH industry that frustrates you?

You have to go a long way in advertising to find someone who does not love out-of-home. Whether they work on the creative or media side.

But we still need to keep banging the drum for what the medium can actually do. It amazes me that some people still believe OOH cannot be measured properly. Or that it is somehow less accountable than other channels.

The evidence has moved on. Not everyone’s perception has moved with it.

Who in the industry do you admire the most? And why?

I have admired many people in the industry, but there can really only be one answer: Annie Rickard, my former boss at Posterscope.

She remains a passionate advocate for out-of-home, and for the people and businesses within it. Annie  has always been highly principled –  willing to do the right thing even when it was not the easiest thing, and acted with a complete lack of self-interest.

That combination is rare, and it has stayed with me.

What’s one piece of advice you would give someone starting a career in OOH?

I would broaden that advice beyond OOH.  It’s vital that anyone starting a career in advertising or media educates themselves about AI, and takes personal responsibility for doing so.

AI is transforming many industries, but in all my years in media I have never seen a moment quite like this. It will change how the advertising industry works; how decisions are made; and what many jobs look like.

Do not wait for your employer to teach you. Get on the train now, because it’s leaving the station.

Finally, tell us something people might not know about you.

My first job was not actually in advertising at all. It was in an infertility laboratory, where I helped design computer software to measure how fast sperm travelled.

From there, I moved into advertising.

Where did it all go wrong?

Glen Wilson is a business leader and innovator, specialising in the Out-of-Home media sector.it