What is proof of posting?

Proof of posting, defined

When a brand buys out-of-home advertising (billboards, Wild Posting® campaigns, bus benches, window clings, signs), it’s paying for the ad to be seen in specific places for a specific time. Proof of posting is the record that shows it happened: photos of each ad in place, with the location and the date.

For big digital billboards, the media owner often supplies proof through screenshots and play logs. For street-level media installed by hand, like wheat-pasted posters or signs, proof comes from the installers who put it up.

What good proof of posting includes

• A clear photo of the ad in place. Straight on, readable, and wide enough to show the surroundings.
• The location. An address or, better, GPS coordinates, so anyone can find the spot on a map.
• The date and time. Proves the ad was up during the flight dates that were sold.
• The campaign and market. So photos from a multi-city run don’t get mixed up.
• Notes where needed. A wall that was covered, a sign that was moved, a refresh.

Why it goes wrong

The usual process is photos sent by text or chat, collected by someone in the office, renamed and pasted into a deck. Along the way, locations get lost (many messaging apps strip them), times are guessed, and photos end up compressed. When a client asks where a specific poster was, nobody can answer quickly.

How to collect proof the easy way

The fix is to capture the facts at the moment the photo is taken. A proof-of-posting app like StreetPOP records the GPS position and the time with each photo, keeps the original image, and files it under the right campaign automatically. The office sees every photo on a map as it uploads, and the client gets a proof page instead of a pile of attachments.

Making proof client-ready

Clients want to see three things fast: what ran, where, and when. A map with a pin per location, a gallery of photos, and the dates covers it. Add a spreadsheet export for anyone who needs to reconcile against the media plan or an invoice.