Trung Phan

In 1958, Warren Buffett spent $31,500 to buy a modest home (where he still lives). 

If he slept in the street and put all that money into Berkshire Hathaway — when he fully took it over in 1964 — it would now be worth $882,000,000. 

Lesson: Don’t buy real estate. https://t.co/shsA9Rp4AF

Could someone good at math tell me what a 2,810,526% gain on $31,500 actually is? https://t.co/zJWYdtXZIA

Follow @TrungTPhan for other big brain insights https://t.co/1xnVhFwokq

Ok, this Buffett tweet is taking off. 

Some people think it’s investing advice. 

I literally do a podcast called “Not Investment Advice”...so pls don’t sleep on the streets (unless you can compound 20% for 50yrs straight...still not advice, though) https://t.co/4CfT3Y2p4v

Smart threads. Dumb memes. Write on tech @TheHustle. Sold comedy film to Fox. Not Investment Advice (NIA) podcast: https://t.co/NfjmiP41my

Trung Phan 🇨🇦

One of the most interesting leaked Sony emails from 2014: Snap CEO Evan Spiegel and Sony CEO Michael Lyndon. 

Spiegel was only 23yo, writing crazy insightful notes on markets and valuation: https://t.co/Y0sRTJ4Sdj

Some backstory on Spiegel turning down Zuck’s $3B+ offer ( $SNAP is a $94B company today): https://t.co/ToLVWk1Lzx

Links

Turning down Zuck: https://t.co/XLEk7uoeFt

Markets & Valuation: https://t.co/PhzKhYmXx9

Social apps in 2014, explained https://t.co/OqnUub03zE

1/ Brex raised new funding at a $7.4B valuation. 

Interestingly, the corporate card startup launched in 2018 with a very successful $300k out-of-home (OOH) ad campaign. 

Here's a breakdown of Brex's OOH strategy 🧵 https://t.co/gw8n4cP7oh

2/ First, what are out-of-home (OOH) ads? 

There are 4 major categories:

◻️ Street furniture (bus benches, phone kiosks) 
◻️transit (taxis, busses, airports)
◻️place-based (arenas, shopping malls)
◻️billboards (traditional and digital)

Billboards make up 60%+ of OOH inventory. https://t.co/DCzQj5WIey

3/ What's interesting about OOH is that if used correctly, the cost to reach 1k people (aka CPM) is cheaper than other ad options. https://t.co/78qhaOQ6zl

4/ In OOH campaigns, there is usually a trade off between:

◻️ Frequency: How often your target demo sees an ad 
◻️ Reach: How many *total* people see your ad 

Brex launched to a very specific demo (startup founders in SF), so it optimized for frequency: https://t.co/mzAM6q7pTM

5/ Brex spent $300k for a 3-month campaign to "dominate" its chosen area.

"Dominate" entails:
◻️ Owning 50%+ of the ad inventory in a selected region
◻️ Capture attention quickly and be omnipresent

Brex really did feel like it was "everywhere" https://t.co/7zSVPIC2hI

6/ Brex used the "Anchor and Amplification" strategy.

An ANCHOR is a big attention-grabbing ad unit that a large % of your audience sees (eg. Brex took over the platform station next to Oracle Park)

Once you establish an anchor, AMPLIFY your message around the city w/ more ads. https://t.co/PUq6pcz5x9

7/ Choosing locations 

With so many options, it's important to do "market rides" (a "from-the-ground" POV)

A well-known Brex billboard is “Money Tree”. This ad space was long devalued b/c a tree obstructed it. 

A market ride found it had the opportunity for a clever creative. https://t.co/7lxABy04Nf

8/ Creative tips #1 

◻️At the start of a campaign, the message should be very direct and clear ("the first corporate card for startups").
◻️ After brand is more established, you can ad some mystery ("this will catch your 'interest'") to drive curiosity https://t.co/IhReFlOYvh

9/ Creative tips #2 

◻️ OOH happens in a flash (keep copy to 7 words or less)
◻️ Color contrast is key to make ads -- often seen at a distance -- legible (stick to primary/complementary color combos)
◻️ Don't forget the CTA (https://t.co/ZBSQXFJo4H) https://t.co/ScmbNggCvV

10/ The playbook is from a Q&A I did w/ Brex's Head of OOH last year for Trends. 

Brex rolled out a similar strategy for 2 other demos: ecomm (in LA) and life sciences (in Boston)

For more biz gold, smash that FOLLOW: @TrungTPhan 

https://t.co/sfXmozSpcF

11/ Read the fulls Trends Q&A here: 
https://t.co/tH0cMpa2oJ

12/ More OOH Resources 

Geopath (for initial OOH mapping and measurement): https://t.co/kYz7i1pMQ0

List of 200+ OOH ad companies: https://t.co/LdXcqb67SJ

Rate card for Clearchannel (an OOH vendors) to see inventory costs: https://t.co/XyY7S9wbQY

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