Latcom-Worldcom defines itself as a specialized global Out Of Home (OOH) company, an expert in media strategy, planning, and trading. Its reach extends across a significant part of the Americas and Europe, and its expansion into Asia is already a reality. Founded in 2007 by Valentín Bueno, who also serves as the company’s CEO, its growth over the years has been unstoppable. Now, with the emergence of AI, there’s no challenge they can’t tackle. We spoke with Valentín to learn how they’ve reached this point and what the new reality of a rapidly expanding medium looks like.
Worldcom is a group of diverse companies ranging from various forms and locations of outdoor advertising to creative production, technology development, and even projects with global social and environmental organizations. How would you define the group and its work philosophy?
Valentín Bueno, CEO of Latcom-Worldcom Group: The group consists of Worldcom, a global company specializing in OOH, DOOH, and Programmatic media strategy, planning, and trading, which we founded in 2007 with the firm goal of providing global OOH solutions. Within a year, we already had operations in the USA and later in Europe. As we continued to grow, we identified comprehensive needs from our clients. This led to the birth of CAS – Contenidos Advertising SA – which is more than a company, it’s a concept: generating specific content for the entire outdoor ecosystem and brand experiences. From CAS, we generate and produce all sorts of ideas to activate brands, from mapping on the world’s most important buildings to drone shows and 3D campaigns. We design mobile content in all formats, videos with sound, etc. Along our expansion journey, we identified the need for a technological partner, and that’s how we helped develop TDT – Technology Development Tools – in the media industry. They offer digital solution development for media transformation and other segments, providing expertise in software architecture through customized products and solutions. With them, we developed our own Latcom Media Services platform and Worldcom Media Services, our OOH and DOOH marketplace with the industry’s largest database. It can process billions of data points in minutes to generate audiences or analyze campaign histories and design the best media mix according to campaign objectives.
Furthermore, over time, we realized we needed to do more for our environment. Together with brands and a team of organizations that share our values, we launched the Gestionar Esperanzas Foundation. It’s a non-profit organization that works on various programs with families in situations of social vulnerability in seven Latin American countries.
When you decided to found the group in 2007, what was your vision? What goals were you pursuing?
The objective has always been clear since the group’s inception. The idea was to provide the best service and the best OOH solutions, with technology, strategy, and innovation as our foundational pillars. During the company’s first year, with a strong sense of regional integration, we went all in by opening an office in the USA. In that same year, we won McDonald’s, our first major client. Currently, Worldcom OOH has an international network of operations in 24 countries, employing over 220 executives directly and over 1,000 indirectly worldwide. We provide services to companies like McDonald’s, Disney, Fox Group, Clorox, NBC, HBO, DIRECTV, Tourism Boards of Argentina, Chile, Mexico, USA, Brazil, and Spain, Spotify, Hyundai, Chanel, Calzedonia, Swatch Group, TNT Sports, Coca-Cola, Nestlé, Remax, Koxis, New Yorker, Freddo, BlackBerry, Nokia, Frávega, Santander Río, among others. In 2022, we executed 824 OOH campaigns in 218 cities across 34 countries, welcoming over 20 new global advertisers. In these 16 years, we’ve been fulfilling our objectives, and today we’re looking at entering the Asian market.
Certainly, the OOH sector is in a good place. Amazing things are happening, and I understand advertisers are increasingly betting on it. How would you characterize the current state?
The sector is undergoing significant development post-pandemic; consumers are out and about enjoying themselves, and technology and spectacle are undeniable allies. Brands are well aware of the impact a good OOH campaign can have on their brand. The outdoor advertising landscape has evolved significantly over the years, and advertisers are increasingly seeking new ways to capture consumers’ attention. Today, the path is paved towards greater hyper-segmentation of advertising messages, where facial recognition technology and other data allow us to develop real-time messages according to various audiences. We also increasingly have devices designed to better connect with audiences through gesture recognition and the use of augmented reality and 3D.
Additionally, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the world of outdoor advertising, offering significant benefits to companies looking to enhance their presence and effectively reach their audience. AI smartly connects five fundamental pillars: the audience, consumption situations, the message, the media, and sales results. The ability to do this in real time and learn from each model and advertiser makes a difference in achieving measurable and clear results, which is essential. Moreover, AI transforms cities into vast “Distribution Channels,” reaching billions of consumers, directing them to both physical and digital channels. With a projected growth rate of 29.6% by 2026 and an estimated market value of $13 billion, AI-generated advertising finds its place on mobile devices and various public spaces, from airports to shopping malls, delivering creativity and effectiveness to campaigns. AI in outdoor advertising not only enhances the impact of campaigns and the consumer experience but also adapts to individual interests and preferences, creating personalized visual content for different generations like Generation Z and Millennials. Furthermore, sectors like fashion and luxury can greatly benefit from generative AI, which employs algorithms and neural networks to create original content from existing data.
In what stage is the Outdoor sector in Latin America? Is there enough investment from a technological standpoint?
The Latin American advertising market grew above the global market growth rate of 7%, marking the world’s fastest regional growth. And this growth has been reflected in our sector. Latin American advertising budgets shifted rapidly from linear formats to digital as advertisers capitalized on increased digital device usage. Nonetheless, it’s important to note that while digital advancements have been significant recently, analog devices are still predominant in most cities. That doesn’t mean that technology isn’t compatible with them, quite the opposite. From our platform, for instance, we can link to a business’s billing data and identify moments of low revenue to implement a campaign that drives traffic to their points of sale. And these campaigns can be both analog and digital.
We also wanted to ask about TDT Global. We assume that right now, a technology services company has a strong market. Is that correct?
In the last year, we’ve been working extensively with our technology partner, which has been growing steadily because, indeed, the market increasingly demands services and expertise in software architecture through customized products and solutions. In this context, over the past six months, they’ve released powerful software for the industry, among which our efficient out-of-home, digital, programmatic campaign management platform stands out. They’ve also developed Post, a digital platform that enables Media Owners to comprehensively manage all stages of the OOH and DOOH business. Additionally, this month they’re unveiling S-District, the first fully integrated platform for community management in a fully intelligent and unified manner.
As for CAS, more of the same applies, as the generation of brand experiences, with consumers increasingly desiring a closer and more direct relationship with brands, we suppose, also holds significant potential, right?
With CAS, we’ve also solidified our presence in the region with projects developed for major clients, always pivoting around the company’s core pillars, giving space to creativity – supported by technology – results, service excellence, and flexibility. We’ve recently executed a significant event in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the iconic Levi’s 510 jean design, a substantial activation for McCafé, drone shows in Mexico, and a mapping projection on Santiago’s emblematic building in Chile, among several ongoing projects.
Finally, we’d like to ask in which areas you primarily want to focus during 2023.
Since the group’s foundation in 2007, our objective has been to globalize our operations and offer comprehensive services to our clients, and 2023 will be a key year for our expansion. In the current year, with Worldcom OOH, we’ve transformed our London offices into a business hub and doubled our team. For the second half of the year, we aspire to open offices in Chicago and Los Angeles. The OOH sector is in an exciting phase. Technology and spectacle play a pivotal role in current advertising campaigns, and we aim to be present in every corner of the world to be part of this new era of communication. Major brands like Amazon, McDonald’s, Samsung, Telefónica, among others, are increasingly turning to this medium due to its impact on connecting with audiences. Outdoor advertising has evolved significantly, and advertisers are seeking new ways to capture consumer attention, and CAS is there to support them as well.
Our original objective remains steadfast: to continue offering cutting-edge services, adapting to the evolving needs of our clients, and seizing opportunities presented by the market, both in terms of technology and geographical expansion.
