Suzanne Grimes

The world's top advertising and marketing luminaries, whose vision and creativity have showcased and built brands, are converging in New York City for the 10th Anniversary of Advertising Week.

These intrepid minds will debate and discuss the current and future state of advertising while exploring how to continue engaging consumers -- wherever they may be. And herein lies the challenge: reaching an increasingly mobile consumer juxtaposed against the backdrop of a fractured media landscape.

Advertising Week presents a major league opportunity for the out-of-home industry to reboot its image on a national stage, repositioning its enduring impact and its robust new digital capabilities to capture a larger share of the marketing ad spend -- something that is already in the works. In fact, the latest revenue figures from the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA) show solid growth of 5% in Q2, marking thirteen consecutive quarters of growth. Looking ahead, PricewatershouseCoopers has projected a 5 percent annual increase in OOH revenues from 2012 through 2017. I challenge those of us in out-of-home to do better.

For too long, the out-of-home industry has sold itself on the mantra, "location, location, location." As social, mobile and out-of-home have now married the digital and physical worlds, it's time to put the old way of going to market to rest. Likewise, advertisers and their agencies who are remodeling their media mixes should spend more time discovering what out-of-home can do for them.

As consumers read less print, use pop-up blockers, set DVRs and are constantly distracted with multiple devices, technology continues to transform how they absorb -- and also ignore -- information. In this context and with out-of-home's new digital capabilities, our platform becomes the ultimate real-time broadcast medium, as well as the only advertising media that is not threatened by today's connected and technologically empowered consumers, but rather enhanced. Simply put: out-of-home cannot be ignored. This sets the stage for brands to tap into the magic of out-of-home media as an immersive way to incite interest, spur commentary, spark social interaction and strengthen brand affinity.

To capitalize on this momentum, Clear Channel Outdoor is challenging advertisers to consider the new creative possibilities available with our out of home media -- conditional messaging, RSS feeds, digital roadblocks and takeovers, interactive technology, mobile integration, enhanced targeting and measurement -- the list goes on and on and is only beginning to be tapped. These new possibilities are delivered on top of the traditional qualities of out-of-home which are more salient than ever -- unparalleled visual impact, national scale and hyper-local connectivity.

Look at the list of brands that over-index in out-of-home spending and ask yourself if they might know something that you don't.