'F*ck it, Let's Ride', a new campaign for international spin studio Soulcycle, as their CEO explains why

And Lamar rolls up its special purpose acquisition company just a year after registering it and after a thirty million dollar investment in Vistar.

Finally, despite record fuel prices, find out how understanding the evolving logistics landscape could be a critical key to a new era of growth for truck side advertising.

This is your OOH Insider Daily Tear Sheet for June twenty-fourth two thousand and twenty-two. Well, the weekend is here and fireworks season is in full bloom so if you're celebrating Independence Day this weekend, like many communities around the country are, then enjoy and be safe.

Now for today's news...

SoulCycle has had it with the pandemic and doesn't care who knows it. Before the pandemic, the boutique fitness brand was known for its long waiting lists, high-priced classes lit by candles, and among the most sweat-drenched workouts available.

It's introducing a new campaign called "F*ck it, Let's Ride" from agency VCCP NY. 

Evelyn Webster, CEO of the Equinox-owned brand says…We have been living our lives in some version of lockdown over the last 27 months. And whilst the human spirit is resilient, it's also extremely impatient. We felt that there was never a more important time to reclaim joy.

So this very audacious statement -- “f*ck it” -- speaks to this overwhelming sense we are getting from our community. There's this pent-up energy to get back out into the world.

And while I’m not exactly sure who is STILL locked down, I completely agree with the sentiment and love the posture of the brand for this campaign. 

SoulCycle calls it “a call to arms” and features the energetic instructors that inspire rooms full of sweaty people to peddle harder. The brand says it’s using Out of Home, “digital”...whatever that’s supposed to mean anymore and connected TV.

If anyone sees this campaign in the wild, please tag @OOHInsider on whichever social you see it on. I checked the Googles and the brand’s Instagram, but alas…nada in the way of Out of Home, which is baffling to me because this is such a perfect campaign for our format so it’s confusing to not see it front and center on socials.

With Out of Home, the campaign often times IS the content, so to see SoulCycle take the creative risk it should have is promising, but we’ll put a “TBD” in whether or not it translated to the real world.

With 83 studios across Canada, the UK, and the United States, hopefully, someone out there hearing this can get some pics of the campaign in the wild.

If you do, and want to be a real friend of the show, we’d love to see them so please send any SoulCycle f*ck it let’s ride Out of Home pictures to outofhomeinsider - all spelled out - out of home insider at gmail dot com (no OOH abbreviation, all spelled out). Email -  outofhomeinsider@gmail.com

These are the types of creative risks that brands should be taking with Out of Home so SoulCycle, congrats on doing just that across the entire campaign.

And out of Baton Rouge, fourteen months after the announcement of the registration of a special purpose acquisition company, Lamar Advertising Company is no longer pursuing a $300,000,000 public offering via the SPAC.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Lamar said it was withdrawing its registration of the subsidiary, Lamar Partnering Corporation, “because it no longer wishes to conduct a public offering of securities at this time.”

The filing said the SEC never formally approved the subsidiary’s registration, so no shares were ever sold. Lamar asked the SEC to credit the fees it paid for the registration “for future use.”

In April 2021, the Baton Rouge-based advertising giant first registered Lamar Partnering Corporation as a special purpose acquisition company or SPAC. Also known as a “blank check” entity, SPACs are shell companies formed to raise capital for an acquisition or a merger. Lamar Partnering Corporation was registered in the Cayman Islands, a known tax haven.

Lamar’s proposed IPO was for $300 million, or 30 million shares at $10 each.

Lamar didn’t seem to have a specific company in mind when it created the SPAC. Filings said the company was looking for a firm at the “intersection of out-of-home, technology, and communications” and with “demonstrated growth potential.” Filings indicate Lamar was primarily interested in a company with expertise in transit and airport advertising, international outdoor displays, and digital advertising.

SPACs shot up in popularity in 2020 and 2021, but they’ve fizzled out this year amid economic headwinds and the potential of tighter regulatory scrutiny.

This comes after concerns rose from within certain camps of the industry this time a year ago after the announcement of the SPAC and an unrelated Lamar investment in Programmatic Leader Vistar to the tune of $30,000,000.

So, what does it all mean? I don’t know.

I do know this though, the concern about Lamar’s investment this time a year ago in Vistar was really without cause and is ultimately a good thing for all media owners on the Vistar platform, but an ESPECIALLY good thing for smaller media owners, vying for their share of the pie.

The investment by Lamar, in Vistar, enables the platform to continue developing its ecosystem, further enabling entrepreneurs of any size to build a network of digital screens and plug them into the existing infrastructure. 

Pretty sure there aren’t a whole bunch of media companies just itching at the idea of also becoming product-led tech startups, so let the rising tide lift all of the boats and enjoy the ride.

As for the SPAC, I’m sure this isn’t the last we’ve heard from Lamar on the acquisition/investment front for tech companies in the Out of Home space. 

And Finally, despite record fuel prices, find out how understanding the evolving logistics landscape could be a critical key to a new era of growth for truck side advertising.

In a world contending with the unrelenting impact of the Great Supply Chain Disruption and its attendant worry of the moment, rising consumer prices, a shortage of truck drivers is frequently cited as an explanation for shortages of many other things — from construction supplies to electronics to clothing.

Last year, trucking companies in the United States suffered a record deficit of 80,000 drivers, according to the American Trucking Associations, a trade association. Given that trucks move 72 percent of American freight, a lack of drivers spells substantial disruption.

The average trucking company has a turnover rate of roughly 95 percent, meaning that it must replace nearly all of its workforce in the course of a year.

While the piece is mostly all killer, no filler, naturally there is a bit of, let’s call it, manipulation of the narrative, which is this part here…

The average trucking company has a turnover rate of roughly 95 percent, meaning that it must replace nearly all of its workforce in the course of a year.

As the trucking association itself noted, more than 10 million Americans held commercial driver’s licenses in 2019. That was nearly triple the 3.7 million trucks that required a driver holding that certification.

“This shortage narrative is industry lobbying rhetoric,” says Steve Viscelli, a labor expert at the University of Pennsylvania who previously worked as a truck driver. “There is no shortage of truck drivers. These are just really bad jobs.”

Mr. Viscelli, if there are more than enough licensed drivers, but they don’t want to do the job because, as you described it ‘these are just really bad jobs’ then there is in fact a driver shortage. The shortage is a lack of people willing or wanting to do the job, so let’s just call it what it is so we can better operate our own businesses.

And specifically, this is for anyone selling truck side advertising…

I am a bit of a Chatty Cathy and just like talking to people. The other day I was at the convenience store and they were out of something I was looking for.

I commented to the cashier that the shelves looked a little light and his reply really got me thinking about the impact of micro-elements like this on a brand that may not even get considered most times.

The cashier replied that the store was only getting half of the number of deliveries it used to get each week. Now whether that’s because of not enough drivers or not enough supply, is actually irrelevant. The impact on the brand is even greater than empty shelves…it’s the BIG impact that those fleets used to contribute to the marketing mix.

Now those fleets aren’t as big. They’re not making as many trips. This was a major convenience and gas chain, not some mom-and-pop place in the middle of nowhere. In fact, my town has 3 different gas station convenience stores by the same company. So now start to think of the compound effect on the brand as these trends continue.

How do you offset fewer deliveries and fewer miles with your brand on the road? By offsetting it with truck side advertising.

And I think the math on this one is pretty easy - how many fewer miles are your fleets driving (historical data) and how many miles of coverage do you need to buy to make up for it - i.e. how many trucks, over what time frame, format, market, etcetera.

Truck side, if for no other reason, is a hedge against rising gas prices impacting your own brand fleet because these trucks are already in operation. You’re not paying for fuel, maintenance, or hourly wages and benefits. You’re just paying to have the ad on the truck and everyone sees you everywhere again and assumes that you’re crushing it.

The reality is, that circumstances haven’t changed but your posture as the brand returns to where it once was and at a fraction of the cost while the rest of the issues get worked out.

Now again, this specific strategy is for businesses that have existing fleets that are making fewer deliveries and that understand the impact that having their trucks being seen brings to the brand, and how the absence of those trucks leaves a void.

The cost of shipping goods by road has shot up 23% since 2020 and is and is expected to keep climbing perhaps for the foreseeable future, and that’s your daily marketing minute by Motionworks.

Be sure to subscribe so you never miss an update and share this episode with a colleague, a friend, a client, or anyone who could benefit. 

Today we talked about the SoulCycle F*ck it campaign and the permission slip for brands to take risks with Out of Home.

Then we covered the Lamar SPAC news - just fourteen months after announcing the registration of the investment vehicle, Lamar announces it is no longer pursuing IPO.

And the case for truck side for retail brands, specifically for convenience-related shopping and CPG brands to offset driver and supply-chain shortages by hedging themselves with truck side ad campaigns.

Remember - Out of Home is the only fully-connected native ad platform in the world and marketers want to choose you, so give them a good reason to.

Articles Referenced:

SoulCycle CEO Explains 'F*ck it, Let's Ride' Campaign

https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/375136/soulcycle-ceo-explains-fck-it-lets-ride-campa.html

As SPAC craze fizzles, Lamar punts on $300 million IPO to buy a digital advertising company

https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/business/article_3936d6ac-f3e4-11ec-a2ae-3b7d7b62ce28.html

Vistar Media Secures $30M Series B Investment from Lamar Advertising Company

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210712005451/en/Vistar-Media-Secures-30M-Series-B-Investment-from-Lamar-Advertising-Company

The Real Reason America Doesn’t Have Enough Truck Drivers

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/09/business/truck-driver-shortage.html