Gail Chiasson, North American Editor
This month we welcome Shaun Gregory, CEO, Exterion Media, London.
- Your background was, I believe, largely in the telecommunications sector. Why, do you believe, you were chosen to lead Exterion Media, and what attracted you to make the move?
I’ve spent 27 years in the advertising sector, with the last 6 looking after Telefonica’s Global Advertising business. Unlike most people in Media, I’ve served my time across all areas – newspapers, magazines, radio, television, digital and more latterly mobile. I think that experience, plus my international credentials, provides Exterion Media with the necessary leadership qualities to transform the business.
There are three key reasons I felt – and still am – really excited about the role. Firstly, I was hugely attracted to the sector, having served as a non-executive director at Ocean Outdoor for over two years. I know the sector has potential, and it’s consistently grown, against the onslaught of new media and digital expansion. Secondly, there’s an obvious ‘transformational opportunity’ in this sector, so the chance to lead that change was incredibly appealing. Lastly, running a privately owned business gives you scope to do things quickly and without the ‘political baggage’ of a huge corporate.
- You’ve been CEO for just over a year now. What do you feel is the most significant move within the company that you’ve made so far? And the result?
We’ve transformed the business a great deal, both in the UK and internationally. In the UK, we have consistently outperformed the market. Alongside this, we achieved market leadership in a couple of countries and completely turned our Spanish business around. It’s hard to put your finger on one thing, but I’d say that we’ve put this business on a solid financial footing for the first time in many years.
It’s provided some great foundations to accelerate the changes we’ve been making, as we enter a new phase of investment and growth. When I joined, I talked a lot about growth, and if we’ve done one thing, we’ve certainly created a very different kind of company – a strong growth company.
- There have been numerous rumours that you or your Private Equity owner have been in ‘merger/acquisition mode’. What is your current thinking on M&As and consolidation in this space?
Like every good business, we assess opportunities as and when they present themselves. We’ve done a fantastic job of turning the company around, establishing Exterion Media as a growth company and creating a valuable platform for future expansion. We’re focussed on driving more growth, and when the right opportunities present themselves, we’ll obviously take a look.
Having witnessed consolidation in other media sectors, I think you need to be firmly focussed on your own business, without being distracted.
- You have offices in the UK, France, Netherlands, Spain and Ireland and have international partnerships in other countries. What percentage of your business is outside the UK and do you have any special partners you work with in these countries?
About half of our revenue is outside of the UK. As such, we have an International Team who service all our businesses, but also work with partners in other countries outside of our geographies. Our International Sales Director Marleen De Backer manages a team that generates business from across the world.
Each country is very different and has a range of partnerships, some sales based, others are platform/technology based. As the sector matures, you’ll see a range of new technology partners enter the fray to help expediate the opportunities at both a national and local level.
- How many of your own advertising faces do you currently have, and what percentage of them are digital?
We have a portfolio of over 425,000 displays across eye catching billboards, iconic buses, city subways, national railways, transit shelters and lots of digital sites. Ten years ago we were the first to pioneer digital through the Underground, and today it’s around a third of what we do across our portfolio.
- For your digital assets, you still use a relatively old content management software. How much thought have you given to changing that going forward?
We are making a number of changes, in terms of our content management software, and digital has been a real focus area for us recently. Unlike a lot of other digital OOH players, we have a huge legacy business that needs considering. That’s why we’ve been focussed on ensuring we have the right IT infrastructure (back end) in place, so that when we roll out the ‘shiny stuff’, it actually works!
What most people forget is that we were first to launch Digital in the UK nearly a decade ago, and in fact we’re now on second generation solutions. That means we’re living with a complex challenge in the UK, but one that I’m happy we’re dealing with appropriately. We shouldn’t forget the other countries – in France we’ve been successfully rolling out full motion digital on the outskirts of Paris.
Ireland continues to grow fast with our CIE roll out, and in the Netherlands we’ve deployed a range of very exciting digital cubes’ which have attracted a whole host of major brands for launch, ranging from Coke to Google.
- You recently launched something called EM Solutions to ensure that all sales efforts are targeted with an increased focus on transparency, ownership and accountability. Why was this needed? And why was it only launched in the UK?
It’s natural for a business like ours to make changes, especially when operating in a sector that’s going through radical transformation. EM Solutions was one of many such changes, and we’ve simply put customers at the heart of our UK business. We’ve invested in new areas to underpin that structure – marketing, research and so on. Our customers have responded positively to those changes, and the structure sets us up nicely to integrate new channels and platforms.
It’s also afforded us the opportunity to bring in some new talent, like Suzy Jordan who joined us in mid-September from Mindshare. We wanted to get it right in the UK first (clearly a benchmark for other territories), and having proven the model, we’re doing the same in other countries. France will begin making their changes in September, others will follow in due course. It’s a natural evolution for a business like ours.
- You are the leading exponent of Beacons in the out of home industry, how do you see them working? Will it really change the industry?
It’s great what we’ve done with Beacons – from the initial trial, to a full blown roll out in London, we’re definitely leading the way there. However, I’m less bothered about the technology or solution, and more bothered that we continue to innovate. With Eddystone on the horizon, coupled with the ‘Internet of things’, I think the key is in continued innovation.
And that should be touching all corners of our business, from trading all the way through to bring static posters to life. As we cement our position as a growth company, I think the next challenge with be how we continue to innovate.
- Do you have a marketing strategy for Exterion Media to the outside world. Why do you think that is important?
Our job is to make other brands famous! We obviously have marketing strategies in each of our countries, and they differ to suit local needs, as you’d expect. However, they are all deep rooted in great insight (to aid smart buying decisions), designed to ‘super serve’ our customers and ultimately help brands and agencies realise the potential of the sector.
- You’ve been head of a major Out of Home media owner for just over a year now and are probably ideally suited to give both an outsider’s and insider’s view of the industry. What do you think about OOH / DOOH at the moment?
The sector undoubtedly has great potential, driven by digital and technology. However, there’s a void emerging in terms of talent. To realise the potential that we know is there, the sector will need to accelerate some of the people changes.
I honestly don’t think that we’re properly equipping ourselves with the right people, who have the necessary digital and technology backgrounds to lead the sector through its transformation.
There’s also a degree of ‘growing up’ that needs to happen in OOH – I can see the growing pains every day, but it needs to mature from the ‘gossipy, inwardly focussed club’ into a more ‘professional, outward facing embracing medium’.
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