Blair Robertson Accepts Outdoor Media Association Industry Award

The Outdoor Media Association (OMA) recently held their annual awards show at the Crown Sydney in Australia where our own Blair Robertson was honored with the OMA Industry Award. Blair, the region manager for Daktronics’ Asia-Pacific market, received the award which is given to a person that goes above and beyond, and has made significant contributions to the success of industry initiative.

Countless hours and meetings show Blair’s dedication to the progression and development of the digital billboard technology and specific, strategic locations for those billboards. This includes Australia and New Zealand evaluating and updating the s standards for the control of the obtrusive effects of outdoor lighting, similar to the standards in places like the United States and Europe. The goal is always to find balance between OOH advertising being bright, bold and gaining attention and keeping the environmental impact protected.

“The OMA formed a working group to understand the technology and what was going to be an acceptable level,” recalled Blair. “Myself and others from the OMA joined the Australian Standards committee and set about doing case studies and education sessions both internally and externally with the goal of finding an acceptable balance between digital advertising and the environment, proposing new limits for the Australian Standards going forward.

“I’m pleased to say that we’ve landed on a position that has been widely accepted by the Australian Standards committee and a redrafted standard is out now for consultation and review.”

Many of the talking points and considerations surrounded brightness, Nits and luminance. Technical specifications for manufacturers to follow for these points have been discussed to keep drivers on roadways safe, neighborhoods protected from ambient light of billboards and automated brightness for time of day implemented.

Shannon Mutschelknaus from Daktronics engineering took a scientific approach in developing a case study on the environmental impact of Digital Billboards. The review scope included display legibility, illuminance levels and the analysis of stray light within the environment. Mapping this data within an environment impact study, Shannon was able to demonstrate the necessary minimum brightness levels for display legibility and an acceptable level that immunizes the environmental impact. Identifying a balance and proposing new display operational brightness levels that were acceptable to both the billboard operators and the Standards Committee.

“LED display technology is often misunderstood as being a ‘light polluter,’ which is in fact the opposite of the truth,” Shannon said. “LED display technology enable options to manage where the light goes, which static, reflective and backlit signage technologies cannot.”

What are some other considerations? Be cognitive of viewing distances, display locations and the brightness needed and allowed in those areas. Don’t forget about the content on these displays as well. If it’s too complicated, a passing motorist won’t have time to ingest the message in a safe manner. Make sure it can be understood with a safe glance, understand what it means and keep moving along their way.

At the World Out Of Home Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Blair included some thoughts from this process:

• Gain knowledge and get educated to make better decisions around both the technology that you need for your business and to help manage conversations with councils and governing bodies which are setting these standards, because if they get it wrong, it will make a big impact on your business. Be proactive with the OOH standards.
• It’s okay to reduce the display brightness at night. In fact, it’s environmentally friendly and an eco-friendly way to manage your display for a long period of time.
• Use automated brightness control with high quality LEDs. You’ll get a great image with high contrast and your advertisers will be happy with their images.

With his dedication to the marketplace in Australia and the advancement of the OOH industry, we’re proud to see Blair honored with this OMA Industry Award!