Russ Curry, Ministry of New Media
ACE, the Advocates for Connected Experiences has announced its formation, with the goal of uniting and empowering all constituents involved in DOOH, retail and venue-based digital experiences around key industry issues.
Its membership will include associations and companies involved in creating, selling, delivering and optimising digitally-connected initiatives that touch the Out-of-Home (OOH) industry.
We are told that it is a commitment versus an organisation, and was formed to bring ‘the connected experience’ ecosystem of influence together to advise, educate and lead on the most important topics from one voice.
Laura Davis-Taylor, Executive Board Member of the Digital Signage Federation told us “Last Fall, during New York Digital Signage Week, a compelling comment was made during our Coffee and Controversy panel. Amy Avery, SVP of Analytics, Research and Insights at Bank of America, pointed out that the DOOH industry is not educating consumers, the press and the government on the good that can come from our efforts as a united front. The context was in relation to tracking policies, but the point hit home–there are key issues that we will not solve if we don’t come together on them.”
A steering committee, including the Digital Signage Federation, Geopath, OAAA, LBMA, SEGD, ICX Association and Retail TouchPoints was formed. After five months of planning, ACE has been born.
Kim Sarubbi, appointed Chairwoman for the group, explained “Almost every industry today is facing unprecedented challenges, and we are no different. With that, however, comes opportunity. Due to IoT, consumer shifts and constantly evolving methods to connect with people as they go about their lives, we find ourselves navigating things we never saw coming. Many carry with them powerful potential for good, but require proper thought regarding public policy, standards and cultural acceptance. We can’t address them and steer them into use as well as the public spotlight unless we explore them from all angles–together, versus individually.”
Originally, ACE had planned to launch with revised cross-industry Place-Based Privacy Guidelines but as COVID19 has continued to impact us all, it quickly became clear that uniting the industry’s talents and reach to support the efforts to subdue it was more critical.
Founding committee member, Diversiffi Media’s Fiona FitzGibbon, announced last week, the creation of a global DOOH campaign to reinforce the Stay at Home instructions. Joining forces with the noted creative team John Dean and Gary Marjoram of Mullen Lowe London, they created eight brilliant, simple, witty but to the point messages, aimed at stopping the spreading of Coronavirus by sheltering in place, all of which are easily crafted to be transferable across the globe.
To support ACE’s mission, creative assets are being shared for any DOOH network to broadcast at no cost and they can be found here.
Fiona FitzGibbon told us “Every official department tells us that to stem the spread of the coronavirus we must stay at home, but the message isn’t getting through to everyone. Whilst there are some fantastic campaigns supporting our frontline forces, there’s little consistent messaging. This campaign is about awareness, it was created by amazing people, who have given their time on a pro bono basis, that want to do something that can make a huge difference to the outcome of this pandemic. DOOH is the most powerful vehicle to get it out there, if someone sees it, chances are they need to get back inside. I’m grateful for everyone that joined together to create it, and urge our industry to amplify it loudly.”
There is no cost to join ACE, as all member organisations, people and contributors are committing their time and effort for the good of all involved.
April 1st, 2020 at 21:06 @921
Call it what you want, but the ACE web site lists priorities as Advocacy, Education, Strategy and Standards. ACE is recruiting members. If it quacks and waddles, it is a duck. This is an attempt to become another industry association. The COVID-19 content is laudable, though certainly not the first offering of such content. It did not need a new organization to distribute it. I do not get the whole concept, and from what I understand, what the DSF Board was “sold” in December and what it woke up to today were two different things. Perhaps the founders are not aware of how much dialog actually occurs between associations already.
April 2nd, 2020 at 18:31 @813
Ken, sometimes people do things because they care and realize that coming together on key issues is a more effective approach. Things like metrics. Like privacy standards. Like cross-pollinating education across organizations that help members expand their skills and knowledge. Like how to come together to tackle unexpected, scary things like COVID. Not everyone has an agenda…we’re coming from a pure place, giving our own time graciously to be part of something important. This discussion started inside the DSF, and there was no ‘selling’ to do–the DSF has no vote on what it is or how it operates. Yesterday’s announcement was also an invitation for others to join us in growing the ecosystem together. It’s disappointing to see you choose this view and make it so vocal, but we do hope you’ll change your mind and support us eventually.
April 2nd, 2020 at 20:34 @899
Not going to air it out here (sorry, Adrian). You can check your email.