Today's podcast guest, Stephen Freitas (Executive Advisor to the OAAA and Partner in OOH Capital) says the out of home industry needs to make it easier to transact.  He also tells a great story about Malcolm Gladwell. Is the out of home industry doing a good job marketing itself? Yes....If you take a step back and look at what the industry has been doing over the last decade and look at where the industry was before the great recession in 2009 and where the industry is today I think that transformation has really been like night and day…there’s been consolidation in the industry in terms of how it thinks and how it presents itself... Stephen Freitas, Partner, OOH Capital If you could magically change one thing about the way out of home is bought and sold, what would that be? ...I think the magic comes from making the medium simpler to transact.  Easier to buy and sell…The data piece is only part of the equation.  The other part is simplification.  Because you want the buyer seller relationship to be streamlined as much as possible…We need to as an industry think bigger and think about ourselves as a channel…Yes it might be true that one media company has a streamlined buy/sell process in place.  But brands and agencies want to evaluate the total out of home ecosystem for all formats that are in the market…we have to step away from those walled gardens that some of the larger media companies have and think about the total media landscape and all that out of home can offer… OOH Capital We want to help cities understand how out of home can be integrated into their long term thinking about smart cities, franchises and planning and how out of home can be part of successful smart city buildouts.  We want to help real estate developers understand more about out of home.  We want to help companies that are investing in the space to better understand out of home… Sponsor of this Billboard Insider Podcast. Reach potential customers where they live work and play with AdWatch Media’s Digital Marketing Services. The top OOH story for 2021 The top story is the rebound after the covid lockdown.  Vaccines are going in arms now and communities and businesses are opening…and summer is coming…I have no doubt out of home is going to thrive.  I thing we’re going to see a strong rebound…The recovery was very slow after the great recession.  The industry was down in 2009 about 18%.  It actually took…until 2015 before the industry passed it’s pre-recession levels.  I think we’re in a better shape this time with the pandemic.  We could certainly see a rebound to pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2022 or early 2023… You’ve attended lots and lots of OAAA conferences and events. Any fun stories? It’s a fun story now but I was having high blood pressure at the time.  We had booked Malcolm Gladwell, the famous author of the Tipping Point and other books…He was very very expensive…He’s very low key.  A nice guy.  We always have the hotel tell us when the speakers check in so we know they are on-site.  I tried to reach out to him that night, “Hey Malcolm do you want dinner.  I’m happy to buy your dinner.”  “No, no, I’ll just eat in my room.”  He’s very quiet.  He likes to stay to himself…The next morning he was the keynote speaker.  He was going to lead things off…We always want the speakers there at least 30 minutes early.  He wasn’t there.  Where’s Malcolm?  No answer in his room.  Where’s Malcolm?…The clock strikes.  The house lights go down.  "Please welcome Malcolm Gladwell"…I'm backstage going oh, my gosh, what are we going to do?  And here he comes sauntering up the aisle from the back of the theater and he just took the stage and took over and spoke and mesmerized everybody…