Whilst the sector has internationalised, it has been the software and screen providers, not the content and solution providers, who have crossed continents. The fact that Scala software and a Panasonic screen are available in multiple markets does not of itself do anything to assist the growth and strength of the sector. These parties are as far removed from the strategic and commercial drivers, and the client need, in the sector as it is possible to be, and yet still claim involvement. Similarly, there are a handful of UK content businesses that have operated beyond these shores but none has been able to secure sufficient financial support to build solid international businesses exporting the market leading learnings from the UK screen media sector.

During the last couple of years I’ve tried to reflect some of the market movements taking place beneath the surface of the water in the US and China in particular, in the hope that it would inspire - or at least forearm - other UK businesses. The Agencies got it of course but so many of them, like the Scala’s and Panasonic’s, are so far removed from the white heat of their clients’ commerce in sectors like retail that their solution where screens are concerned has been to ‘talk’ without learning to ‘walk’.

Consequently many of their clients who could by now be benefitting from out of home screen media as a robust and measurable component of the marketing mix are still being advised by organisations that pay lip service to the thing we all get up in the morning to do. There are exceptions of course, both Agencies and specialist providers, but given the scale of the opportunity, far too few!

Against this background, it seems to be of limited value to continue to provide Icing in the absence of Cake. And yet, the learnings from my own hard won experience over the last couple of years are something I would have given a great deal to have sourced from that of others. So, in parting, here is a short summary of some of the more expensive and transferable lessons:

• The sooner and with more conviction a US business person says Yes, the greater the chance that the final outcome will be No

• Everyone in business in America has a boss. And dealing with someone who believes that is not so in their case, will end in tears

• US retailers have been over-promised so many times by this sector that some actually believe it is possible to get something for nothing, notwithstanding the fact that their own businesses have made a science out of misusing the word ‘free’

• In China, partnership is a concept which is completely lost in translation and should not be relied upon in any situation where ‘labour is worthy of its hire’

• Experience is the single most valuable component required to make any screen media business model succeed but it is the last thing that any funding party is prepared to pay for

• Many of the most entrepreneurial individuals and organisations in this sector have been so financially taken advantage of in connection with the preceding point, that they are unable or unwilling to ever speculate in this sector again

Two years ago this sector seemed set for really significant growth. The trade show organisers here and abroad have found ways in which to manipulate market data to present such a picture in the service of filling their events but those of us at the heart of the business know that sustainable growth in this sector has been harder to come by than in any other marketing media established over the last 20 years. I suggest that this is not unconnected with the kind of marketplace behaviour summarised above.

Reassuringly, out of home screen media will continue to be deployed in growing numbers of applications but if the expertise at the heart of the sector does not begin to be nurtured and valued appropriately, the future will belong, somewhat less reassuringly, to the Scalas and Panasonics.

Goodbye, good luck and, as they used to say in Hill St Blues, “Be careful out there…”

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