Outdoor specialists pick Morley as chief

The Council of Outdoor Specialists has elected Chris Morley, chief executive of poster specialist IPM, as its chairman for the next two years.

Morley will work in tandem with outgoing chairman Alan Simmons, managing director of Concord, for the next three months to overhaul the body’s structure and objectives.

An agenda for change was passed by COS members at a meeting last week, and includes ways of expanding its membership to include smaller specialists, publicising the council’s activities and “rejuvenating” its relationship with the poster contractors’ Outdoor Advertising Association.

COS will also consider the merits of setting up a mechanism, such as a magazine, to sell the medium generically by concentrating on the specialists role in looking after advertisers’ rights, planning an increasingly complex medium and supplying local knowledge.

“The specialists’ role is not well understood,” says Morley. “We have had a low profile and we need to spell out what we do.”