Jim Wilson is the man behind Phantom Billstickers, which is celebrating its 40th birthday this year. A prolific writer and blogger, the book features extracts from many of Wilson’s unpublished manuscripts where he often details life as a junkie in 1970s Christchurch. Having done a lag for possession of narcotics, Wilson returned to promoting live music, something he had first done as a 16-year old. He started booking bands at The Gladstone and Hillsborough in Christchurch, just as the first wave of independent Kiwi bands (including The Clean) were looking for stages to play on. One of the regular patrons at The Gladstone was a young music retailer by the name of Roger Shepherd. Then Wilson moved into promoting all areas of the arts through his paste-up business, which has become this country’s longest running and largest. A biography of Jim and Phantom Billstickers will be released next year
Register here for advance notification of the book release
David Eggleton Poem Poster New York 2011Phantom staff Xmas do at the Dux de LuxThe International Brotherhood of Billstickers, South America BranchNik Pasting Bedford Row 1999Wordsworth St Office 1998Jim Pasting Up In Prague
As a property owner, you’re in the landlord business. Our clients – whether they’re indie bands or world-famous brands – are in the entertainment and marketing businesses.
And Phantom Billstickers? We’re in the communication business.
Since we’re all in business together, money is always going to be a factor. So we’d like to share a bit about how the market affects all our returns.
Here are three things we always keep in mind when we deal with commercial partners:
1. It’s a long-term payoff, not a quick buck
A lot of work goes into setting up a Phantom Billstickers site. It’s not just a case of whacking up some frames on any wall we can find.
We may have to spend a lot of time and energy working with Councils and rule makers to get the right permits. We need to analyse the business case for each site, which may involve measuring traffic flows to justify our clients’ investment in attracting eyeballs. And of course, we have to physically install and maintain the frames and other infrastructure such as lighting.
We make this investment of time and money because we take a long-term view. We believe posters are Flora For The Concrete Jungle, so it’s worth doing things right. And we want every one of our frames to make money for our advertisers.
As a landlord, you benefit from the unseen work that takes place before Phantom frames are installed on your walls. It’s an investment in creating a long-term, passive revenue stream for your business.
2. The unexpected will happen
There are the normal ups and downs of the business cycle – and then there are factors no one can plan for. ‘Black swan events.’ Covid-19 qualifies as one, but there have been others and there will be more.
During these times, it’s human nature to expect a return to previous conditions ASAP. But it may not be that straightforward. It’s no doubt obvious to you that, as with a fully occupied commercial property, fully occupied poster frames do not mean an immediate return to smooth sailing.
Once again, it’s about taking the long-term view.
3. We’re here to listen and communicate
Curious about how the market influences the frames on your building? Ask us.
We understand that you’re looking closely at the dollar amounts in the contracts you sign with Phantom. We’ve shared some of the factors that influence the revenue we generate and share with our partners But if you’d like to know more, ask us.
As we said up front, it’s a business after all.
We are always happy to discuss our targets for revenue from your site, the income it’s generated in the past, and our view of where the market sits. We will be as transparent as possible to help reach agreement on divvying up the money that flows from our clients to us, and then to you.
Phantom Billstickers invented the model that created a revenue stream for property owners by renting their wall space to people who wanted to communicate with the public via street posters. We’ve been doing it for over 40 years now.
It’s about creating a win/win scenario that’s sustainable and dependable. As the saying goes, we’re all in this together.
Tiger Crystal Ultra Low Carb is the cool new beer with all the bite but a lot less carbs. For its launch, Phantom used some clever printing technology to make the Tiger graphics appear to move and come out of nowhere as the viewer walks past the posters. It’s called lenticular technology and it was first seen on New Zealand posters when Phantom worked with Woman’s Day to scare up some interest around Halloween.
We love it when people ask us for something magic. Because the street is where magic (and tigers) happen.
No, New Zealand’s billstickers haven’t launched an international subsidiary. Nor have we started pasting up posters in Oslo or Abidjan (yet). But we have been checking out some of the most exciting developments on the world stage.
This May, I have been in Toronto for the World Out of Home Association Annual Congress. This is the first in-person congress since 2019 as the 2020 and 2021 congresses were casualties of the pandemic.
On the surface, this is a mutual admiration society of the big OOH companies and associations swapping notes on the latest model of corporate jet and working out how to pay the least amount of tax possible through their global subsidiaries. But there are also some diabolically intelligent, collaborative and creative people that can expand your world view.
I’m here because I want to know what everyone is up to and to ensure our strategies are unique in market, which in turn sparks new ideas. Phantom Billstickers has existed on the fringe for over 40 years. We survive by innovating; we don’t just copy what others are doing. Phantom are the originators and we’ve been doing this since it was illegal, man. Those that follow rarely know how to innovate.
‘NZ Town’ at the Congress consisted of a contingent from Lumo who are setting a high standard globally for pure play digital outdoor. And of course, I was there flying the Phantom flag for the world’s most innovative street poster company and reinventor of the premium framed street poster. It’s reassuring to see locally owned media leading the way. There were far too many Australians around so the best rugby banter was with the three South Africans at the conference.
Spreading the word.
It wasn’t all strategising and socialising. I managed to sneak out of the swanky AF hotel and stick up some Phantom Billstickers poetry posters by Janet Frame, Tusiata Avia, Daren Kamali, Tracey Slaughter and Serie Barford. A friendly policeman caught me in the act of putting up a Tracey Slaughter poem outside the Royal Canadian Yacht Club. In a firm but friendly way, he pointed me in the direction of the more acceptable places to post posters in the less sparkly parts of Toronto.
I used to think to myself, no way I’d want to be putting up posters by the time I’m 40. I’m somewhere north of that number now, and I can tell you there’s nothing I’d rather be doing. There’s still nothing that beats delivering a street-level message that surprises and delights the unsuspecting pedestrian.
Down to business.
Back at the Congress, highlights were hearing from US operators Scott Wells (CEO of Clear Channel) and Sean Reilly (CEO of Lamar), who is the grandson of founder Charles W Lamar. Lamar famously acquired the unprofitable Pensacola Posting Company on a coin flip. Had the coin toss gone the other way, Lamar would have ended up with the more profitable (at the time) Pensacola Opera House and the American OOH industry would be very different. Lamar is now one of the most profitable OOH operators in the world.
Clear Channel and Lamar have huge classic format networks and have realised that, while digital conversion has significant financial upside for the media owner, innovating classic inventory is an important pathway forward for the industry. There are a number of factors that mean some of the best sites will remain classic and a multitude of reasons that will prevent them being converted to digital outdoor.
The case for classic posters.
Wells convincingly made the case that, just like digital online advertising, OOH can offer targeting, measurable impact, scale, simplicity, flexibility, transparency, accountability and the ability to nurture consumers. This was a refreshing angle that I’ve been banging on about for several years.
Digital means so much more than the way the display is delivered. It should be harnessed at every stage of the supply chain. Reilly shared the secret sauce of a linear structure across their 200 US offices and a relentless discipline on operational excellence, something dear to us at Phantom. This renewed focus echoed calls from WOO president Tom Goddard at the start of the Congress to not forget classic formats and to continue innovating in this space.
And it makes sense, given that 63% of spend on outdoor is still classic posters.
While there is no doubt that digital punches above its weight, the percentage of inventory that has been digitised globally is still relatively small. Instead of shifting spend between digital and classic OOH, the industry can use the strength of digital outdoor to free advertisers from the shackles of digital online models. We can do this by demonstrating the real-world engagement power of the medium.
What’s measured gets managed.
Calls for unified and cohesive measurement and methodology featured frequently, along with entreaties for companies to collaborate with industry bodies. Perhaps it’s time for the local industry body in Aotearoa to break the hold of the triopoly of multinationals, rewrite their rules to include all formats, and to start collaborating.
At the moment, this seems like a challenge. You’d have to ask the locally owned operators to cross their fingers and hope that a body that has done nothing to support and grow their segment of the industry – and has even advocated for outlawing operators that don’t fit their mould – will start to act in everybody’s interests. Forgive me if this doesn’t fill me with confidence.
But let’s look at it positively. Australia’s award-winning CEO of the OMA, Charmaine Moldrich, was impressive in her ambition to unify the industry and create collaboration across the board. Under Moldrich’s expert guidance, a unified Aus-NZ OOH association starts to make sense.
Where are the Kiwis?
There was plenty of engaging content from some of the globe’s major OOH buyers, and it’s a shame there wasn’t better representation from New Zealand in this space. I’d gladly pitch in to get better representation from NZ media buyers to educate on best practice for OOH purchase. Any takers?
Here were some of the stand-outs for me. Jeff Greenspoon, President of Global Solutions for Dentsu, spoke about accelerating growth for OOH in the digital economy. Keith Kaplan (Kappy), Global CEO of Kinetic, and Jeremy Male, CEO of US outdoor operator Outfront Media, had an engaging fireside chat on how Kinetic has reinvented the outdoor specialist model. It can be best summarised by the following quote from Kappy: “We don’t buy media, we activate audiences.”
Rohan Tambyrajah, Chief Strategy Officer from PHD, and Adrian Skelton from the world’s largest independent outdoor specialist, Tailon, finished off day one with a presentation about harnessing the six forces of change to build the future of OOH.
While not repetitive, the presentations from outdoor specialist agencies did echo some common themes about engaging with creative opportunities in OOH, making buying frictionless, and of course, having a unified and cohesive measurement model.
Party time!
As usual, the social events were a highlight. A formal dinner and awards ceremony was held at the architecturally impressive Museum of Ontario.
A big winner on the night was the ‘Should have gone to Specsavers’ campaign from Tailon (which was executed by our billsticking mates at Build Hollywood in London). Stunning work that deservedly took out the award for best classic creative campaign. Proof that paste and paper still has loads of relevance in the age of pixels.
There you have it. The WOO’s first congress since 2019 was well worth the trip to Canada. It was great to take a step back and view the progress our industry has made in the last couple of years. And it was reassuring to see that New Zealand’s OOH sector stands comparison with the world’s best – and even beats it in a few areas.
Through the cloud of the pandemic there has been a lot of innovation, and there remains optimism for a sector that was hit pretty bloody hard by the lockdown era.
If anyone wants more information about the topics discussed above I’ll happily spill the beans in exchange for coffee.
Tigers are cool. Tiger Crystal Ultra Low Carb is also extremely cool, especially when you crack one straight from the fridge.
A brand like this deserves a thrilling poster campaign, so Phantom Billstickers worked with DB and Dentsu to deliver one.
It’s up now at our prime Symonds Street site in Auckland.
It involves lasers.
Create a sensation with a laser activation
We’ve installed lasers to help Tiger’s powerful creative shine even brighter in the city night. It’s our first ever laser activation campaign, and it’s hard to miss.
Our lasers are there to light up the Tiger brand and draw attention to their posters at night. Check out the light show on Symonds Street if you’re curious.
And let us know if you’d like something equally ferocious to grab your customers’ attention.
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