Static, Digital, and Measurement That’s “Poorly Understood” (with Premesh Purayil) | Ep. 32
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Halloween costumes, bunny ears, and a candid take on out-of-home set the stage as Greg Wise and Charlie Riley welcome Premesh Purayil, CTO at OUTFRONT Media. Prem shares how he “actively avoided out-of-home” for years, then—after a three-month audit—shifted from “non-believer” to “hardcore believer.” He points to measurement that already exists but is “poorly understood,” the reality that the industry is still “bought, not sold,” and why digital and static share the same core measurement tech. The conversation covers CTV-era parallels, fragmentation, and the gap between “time and space” selling versus outcomes. Prem explains OUTFRONT’s AWS work—leapfrogging “phone calls and emails and pigeons”—and why modern buyers burn the channel with tiny, unmeasured tests. He argues for consistent measurement, education, and IRL experiences you “can’t skip,” tying it to enterprise brand solutions, cultural moments, and a foundation that makes transacting “easier” and “more connected.”
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👤 Guest Bio
Premesh Purayil is CTO at OUTFRONT Media with “about 20 years” in ad tech and software engineering. He cut his teeth in online media—early programmatic and header bidding—worked as CTO at Freestar, consulted, then joined OUTFRONT after auditing the stack and the perception gap around measurement, audience, and transactions in out-of-home.
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📌 What We Cover
- The journey from “actively avoid[ing] out-of-home” to “hardcore believer” in three months
- Why digital out-of-home gets confused with “CTV out-of-home” (Atmosphere, Gas Station TV, Reach TV) vs. digital signage
- Static vs. digital: same core measurement tech, different limitations and advantages—plus street furniture and experiential
- “Bought, not sold”: selling “time and space” vs. selling solutions aligned to outcomes
- Small, self-serve buys that don’t scale, no pixels, and why unmeasured tests burn the channel
- AWS partnership and an agentic step to “leapfrog” manual buying (beyond “phone calls and emails and pigeons”)
- Measurement fragmentation, GeoPath’s next iteration, and the need for a defacto standard
- Education and exposure: from Adweek presence to changing perception outside out-of-home
- IRL value you “can’t skip”: enterprise brand solutions, building wraps at the Super Bowl, drone shows, and the Severance activation
- Fixing the foundation first; then programmatic/digital “fun ad tech things” as OUTFRONT gets “easier to transact with and more connected”
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🔗 Resources Mentioned
- OUTFRONT Media
- Premesh Purayil
- AWS (mentioned)
- GeoPath (mentioned)
- LiveRamp “RampUp” (mentioned)
- Adweek (mentioned)
- Atmosphere TV; Gas Station TV; Reach TV (mentioned)
- HubSpot (mentioned)
- Apple’s Severance activation (mentioned)
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34 episodes