Have you heard of AB5? What is it and why does it matter to Out of Home advertising, specifically in the state of California? Find out.

And Geopath names a new Head of Product - what do we know about the new hire?

This and more on Out of Home Insider Daily, THE tear sheet for YOUR battle plan.

TRANSITION

Earlier this week, the United States Supreme Court denied review of the Circuit’s reversal against the injunction of Assembly Bill 5, also referred to as AB5, in the state of California. The law most directly impacts owner-operators and is being cited as cause for concern of a complete up-ending of the state’s logistics system. As previously reported by Logistics Management, truck drivers are divided on AB5, which limits when workers can be contractors instead of employees. 

Previously, an injunction had been in place keeping AB5 at bay and truckers on the road but as it is lifted,  complying with AB5 will be a reality for trucking companies in California. Motor carriers are being advised to immediately evaluate their California operations to determine what steps if any, should be taken to respond to the changing backdrop for trucking.

So, if you’re running truck side advertising in California or operate a truck side advertising company that runs campaigns IN California, the question becomes that…”do the motor carriers we work with have owner-operators under contract in the ‘conventional or traditional structure'?” And depending on that, will they be converting those owner-operators into employees or keep them as independent contractors?

Obviously, for the owner-operator truck driver, the decision to become an employee or remain independent is a significant one and only time will tell what the outcome will be but to determine if you’re potentially working with carriers that could get you, your brand, or your company in hot water, there is an easy test that the state is applying to make that determination.

It’s called the “ABC test,” which the Reuters report said was created by the California Supreme Court in the 2018 case Dynamex Operations West Inc v. Superior Court to determine whether workers are truly independent contractors and it works like this…

• A-the burden is on the motor carrier to prove it does not control the details of that owner-operators work;
• B-to see if the owner-operator is in the same trade or occupation profession as the motor carrier meaning that the work can not be satisfied by an existing employee of the company and REQUIRE the use of an independent contractor to achieve
• C-that the owner-operator is an independently-established business, with an EIN, the whole 9

You now arguably have fewer truck drivers as a result of this, because at least some percentage of motor carriers will either not do business in California because they feel that there is too much risk of class action lawsuits or regulatory action by the California government,” he said. “You have another slice of motor carriers that will say what we want to do is only use employee truck drivers as a result of this law…so any of you owner-operators who want to be employee truck drivers, we will continue to work with you, but, if not, then we cannot use you. 

Fewer trucks on the road means just that, fewer trucks on the road. It COULD mean that value of truckside attention becomes more valuable in California, or it could be that the risk is just not worth it and that it’s not as scalable a format option in California so how might that limit brands in their desired use?

Estimates are between 50 and 70,000 fewer trucks will be on the road in California than even just last month so any time that supply goes down and demand stays constant, the price generally goes up with the respective value of having that supply…in this case, a truck with your ad on the side of it. It could mean that other formats become more valuable if truck side were to become LESS interesting due to scalability concerns or lawsuit liability, so the question becomes - who will answer the call and take the leadership baton for truck side?

With diesel prices at an all-time high, trucker shortages already, and supply chain constrictions that have already impacted global logistics but specifically here in the united states, the answer for truck side can not be a commoditized race to the bottom but rather a strategic alignment to the restrictions in place and what matters most for brands.

If you are in the truck side space or logistics industry at large, I’d love to hear from you. 

Drop me a line at out of home insider at g mail dot com. All spelled out, no OOH, spelled out - out of home insider at g mail dot com.

And more new blood at Geopath as they Taps PatientPoint's Chris  Luken To Head Product, Facilitate New Strategic Path.

Prior to PatientPoint, Luken led product strategy and design of cross-platform video measurement products at Comscore, as well as branded content measurement at Rentrak, which was acquired by Comscore.

Luken’s preceding company, a venture capital-funded start-up named SponsorHub, was acquired by Rentrak for its innovative experiential marketing and social analytics measurement products that quantified the advertising value of brand marketing within emerging media channels.

Geopath did not disclose the explicit nature of Luken's new role, but in a statement, President Dylan Mabin said it is part of the not-for-profit's "strategic vision initiative, which will include a "comprehensive cataloging and inventory auditing across all OOH media formats," as well as "facilitating data interoperability across the OOH and larger media ecosystem."

Certainly an exciting addition to the team at Geopath and something we’ll all be tuned in to, for sure.

And for your Motionworks Marketing Minute of the day - did you know that 1 in 20 Californians work in the transportation or warehousing industry? This one definitely shocked me and amplifies the cause for concern regarding the AB5 decision and is something we’ll continue to monitor over the coming weeks and months.

Please make sure to subscribe and please share this episode with a colleague or client today and start a conversation about finding hidden value. Until tomorrow, this is Out of Home Insider Daily, THE tear sheet for YOUR battle plan.

U.S. Supreme Court denies review of reversal of California AB5 injunction

https://www.logisticsmgmt.com/article/u.s._supreme_court_denies_review_of_reversal_of_california_ab5_injunction

Geopath Taps PatientPoint's Luken To Head Product, Facilitate New Strategic Path

https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/375418/geopath-taps-patientpoints-luken-to-head-product.html