2014: A year of challenges and achievements for OOH

The year 2014 has been a challenging one for some sectors of the economy and a time of hope for others with the coming of the new government at the center. Overall, both trade as well as manufacturing have been sluggish. Outdoor like other advertising platforms is a barometer of the health of the economy. OOH grew by a 15 to 20 per cent in the last one year despite increased competition, unenthusiastic buyers and galloping inflation.

In this scenario marked by rising operational costs, stiff competition and high inventories, Global responded by innovating its price, product as well as service offerings. We created Asia's biggest hoarding in Bandra, threw a rope to cash-strapped real estate firms by offering barter deals and flexible payment options and offered complimentary PR and social media support.

We have entered an interesting phase as far as the real estate sector is concerned. High rates of interest on home loans coupled with rising unit prices have built up big inventories as high as 15 months in some parts of the country. In this situation marked with serious cash flow issues, real estate players are offering discounts, easy payment facilities and other facilities to attract clients. Global is meeting this challenge by offering hoardings on EMI, and on barter to its builder clients across India. Mumbai’s buyers, who wish to invest in a second home as well as holiday villas and plots, have to be made aware of projects in markets that offer more reasonably priced properties with better ROI. We are making special efforts in this direction and have executed several campaigns in the last few months – the latest being for XRBIA in Pune which was a grand success. 

   

If I have to note one big highlight in the year behind us, it would be the marked improvement in political campaigning. All parties led by the ruling party at the centre used OOH as a primary medium to send their message across to voters along with digital and social media. The last Lok Sabha campaign has changed the face of election campaigning in India for ever. This is good news for OOH as well as for advertisers in general as it underlined like never before the power of OOH as a medium.

OOH has a long way to go before it can serve the grand designs of our PM to turn India into a global manufacturing hub. We continue to struggle with red tape, lack of standard norms and arbitrary levies and delays in decision making. There is also an urgent need for transparency, regular monitoring and a system that measures OOH media on the basis of accepted metrics. In several cities there are restrictions on erecting digital billboards that come in the way of developing new properties. These factors come in the way of growth of those in the outdoor business and also create trust issues between service providers and clients. One hopes that the PM will look into all these issues and work towards the creation of standardised guidelines for outdoor properties that include new, better, and transparent rules for the erection, leasing and licensing of billboards and other outdoor media.

Global Advertisers gives muscles to Thomas Cook’s Visit Mexico campaign

Thomas Cook’s ‘Visit Mexico’ Mumbai campaign executed by Global Advertisers has recently come to an end. According to Global Advertisers the campaign that covered Mumbai, was a short duration high impact drive that highlighted Thomas Cook’s push for Mexico Tourism. The campaign featured creatives that urged the Indian audience who are taking international vacations to book holidays with Thomas Cook and explore Mexico, headlining the country’s Spanish heritage and culture as well as Incan roots.

Sanjeev Gupta, MD, Global Advertisers, says that the initial reports have been very encouraging. “Indians are familiar with Mexican food, music, dance and culture. A rising number of Indians speak Spanish. We choose some of the best sites in Mumbai for the campaign. These are neighbourhoods that have substantial populations of international travellers who like to explore the world. The team did a great job with the site selection, the planning and the execution,” he adds.

The campaign was mainly focused around high traffic locations such as Marine Drive, Bandra, Dadar, Mahim, Kandivali, Andheri, Juhu, Sion, and Vile Parle as part of the Mumbai campaign that ran from the 8th of December to the 22nd.

The visit Mexico campaign, a part of a larger drive that was initiated by the Mexico Tourism board last year with the slogan ‘Live it to Believe it’ and according to international industry sources the six phased campaign is going to be spending six million dollars over all its phases.

BBC report crowns Global's much awarded site in list of world's best

Mumbai based OOH giant scores a first for Indian OOH industry by becoming first to attract international media attention

A report surveying the hoarding industry across the world by the British Broadcasting Corporation confirms that Global Advertisers owns India's most expensive hoarding site in Bandra. The report filed by BBC's Tom Heyden surveys the biggest, best and most expensive hoardings across cities like Tokyo, New York, Shanghai and Mumbai.

Amit Gupta, MD of Global Advertisers, is the only Indian outdoor entrepreneur, to be featured in the report in which Global's (120 feet by 140 feet) hoarding in Bandra finds notable mention. The hoarding is the only Indian hoarding to be thus featured.

Global Advertisers is a leader in outdoor media innovation headquartered in Mumbai with pan India reach and the largest number of premium hoarding sites in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. "We are delighted to be the only outdoor media solutions company to be featured in the report on the best hoardings in the world. Our clients, vendors and my team made this wonderful achievement possible. I thank all of them," said Amit Gupta.

Global Advertisers add muscle to international bodybuilding event

​​Mumbai-based outdoor media innovations leader promotes World Body Building and Physique Sports Championship

December 8, 2014 Mumbai: Global Advertisers is hotting up the Indian body-building scene with its ongoing campaign for the Indian Body Building Federation event in Mumbai from 1st December to 9th December 2014.

The 6th World Body Building and Physique Sports Championships endorsed by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India, and Sports Authority of India. The organisers of the event Indian Bodybuilding Federation are affiliated to the most prestigious body building federation on Earth - the World Body Building and Physique Sports Federation.

The events, which has come to India after stiff competition with other countries, provides a platform for 500 body builders both men as well as women from 55 countries to showcase their talent and compete with some of the best names in the sport.
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Global Advertisers, a leader in outdoor media innovations, is the biggest owners of premium hoarding
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sites in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. "India is becoming  more and more fitness conscious by the day. It is a positive development that needs to be encouraged in every way possible. We are happy to support this prestigious event with some of out best hoardings. A clever media mix, careful site selection and widespread reach is what has created buzz for the event. The buzz is generating very good footfalls at the event," said Sanjeev Gupta, MD, Global Advertisers