Ian Dallimore might have one of the oddest job titles in the Capital Region. But as Dallimore sees it, his work boils down to building consumer confidence in his clients’ products.
“We live in a day where consumers don’t really trust in brands,” he says. “People trust more in what other consumers tell them than what a brand says about itself.”
That’s why Dallimore focuses on connecting potential users of products with existing followers of those brands. And like other marketers these days, he relies heavily on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter to get the job done.
Dallimore began working for Lamar six years ago, when outdoor advertising was still fairly traditional, with catchy images and slogans posted on big boards along highways. As digital advertising capabilities emerged, “I saw that people weren’t educated on the technology,” he says.
Dallimore came up with a digital proposal and pitched it to his boss. The result: Lamar currently has 1,400 digital billboards across the country promoting such companies as Walmart, Nike, Miller Brewing Company and AT&T.
Each board links to an operating center in Baton Rouge, so that when a consumer in the Northwest tweets about the cool Nike tennis shoes he or she just bought, the tweet could instantly appear on a Nike billboard on the Gulf Coast.
Dallimore says Lamar became the first out-of-home advertising agency to use digital technology in this way, and while that excites him, he’s equally pumped that he has done this groundbreaking work in Baton Rouge.
“I like being someone who local folks can look at and say, ‘You don’t have to move outside the state to be successful and have an interesting job,’” he says.
