I've been working in out of home for 15 years. During this time, I've been involved in hundreds of campaigns. I say this with pride, often feeling co-responsible for the outcome and joy when everything works as it should.

I Choose Time

When looking at campaign planning and having to point out one factor, I choose time. From an implementation perspective, it is crucial for launching an OOH campaign. Any of us can put ourselves and half the company at attention. Launch an outdoor campaign in two days. Sometimes this happens, although even the client doesn't know the reasons behind such pace... However, for everyday operations, I recommend staying calm and always having a buffer day.

In January, I called a client with a campaign proposal and collaboration idea. March was the month of meetings - we needed to talk. In April, I received the brief, and in June, I signed the contract. This situation isn't common. Especially since the campaign itself will start in November and run until December. However, it shows that our joint work on refining the idea, defining the goal, selecting media that will show it most precisely, and making reservations can take several months. That's good. Ideas sometimes need to settle, designs need to be created, slogans need to be invented, and media need to be booked. When we have time, we can identify and select very good OOH locations that have a chance to be available (in outdoor advertising, the best locations rarely have free spots on short notice, some of our Motorway billboards are booked up to a year in advance due to their location). Creatives have time to prepare designs and, knowing the precise formats and locations beforehand, think about contextuality and relate to the surroundings. PR has time to prepare communications. We calmly produce materials and prepare for installations.

So why have a buffer day? A buffer day comes in handy because gremlins never sleep, and everyone preparing campaigns well in advance, already busy with other things, can forget at the last moment that it's tomorrow. That's why you need a buffer day - and to know this, you need many completed campaigns under your belt.