Good times ahead for OOH sector, but attracting talent still a challenge

The past two years have been quite productive for the OOH sector. And, 2015 has started with a promise that the outdoor industry’s representative body, Indian Outdoor Advertising Association (IOAA), will play a more proactive role, which is bound to bring more positive news for the industry in years to come. One area where the industry has traditionally lagged is in attracting new talent compared with other mediums.

TV has its glamour, print prestige, digital excitement and radio charm which has often led the humble OOH space getting the shorter end of the stick.

In an earlier interview to exchange4media, CEO of Percept OOH Rajneesh Bahl had said, “More and more professionals are getting into the industry and people are investing in it. The only concern is that the knowledge domain is not increasing. If this increases, the sector will do really well. No new talent coming to the industry, which stagnates growth and inflow of new ideas.”

This analysis is quite common when it comes to the OOH industry, but outdoor agency heads feel that the scenario has improved a lot and is changing for the better.

A reason for this, says Nabendu Bhattacharyya, CEO and MD of Milestone Brandcom, is that for a long time OOH was run and controlled by second and third generation media owners and given the nature of the business, it was largely an unorganised and complex industry with high fragmentation.

“The A&M industry adopted the OOH medium only during 1995-2000. Once agencies showed interest and began to take the medium seriously, clients also started to show interest and push agencies to deliver,” he said.

   So how difficult is it to find the right talent, especially from different fields?

Laqshya Media COO Atul Srivastava says talent is now coming to the OOH industry from all sectors. Recruitments, he said, are happening from campuses as organisations now have long-term plans and projects. However, he agrees that attracting talent could be a bit difficult because of the perception of the industry. “But once they are in (the industry), retention is natural. Recognition of individual excellence is a key differentiator to this industry, which binds the challenge-seekers to it,” he added.

Sanjeev Gupta, MD of Global Advertisers, says experienced talent is expensive and experience might sometimes create an unbending mindset, which is not ready to adopt new ways of doing things. “There are factors such as increased competition, price cutting and rising HR costs. Also, talent seeks better packages, perks and more attractive responsibility profile,” said Gupta. This is a point to which Bhattacharyya also agrees.

“All new B-school grads want to join industries with proven returns. All of them look for a good pay package. That’s their mindset from the beginning. I don’t blame them as the OOH sector should first get the ‘industry’ status. Being the third largest medium, we still don’t have any industry unified currency. There are a few initiatives from the advertising association to address these challenges faced by the industry. Hopefully, we would receive positive responses shortly,” he said.

OOH industry buoyant after landmark NDA win

Following the BJP-led NDA’s sweeping win at the Lok Sabha Elections, there is a sense of optimism among India Inc. The general opinion is that this feeling of well-being will lead to further investment by brands and a loosening of purse strings, which will also help the advertising industry, including the outdoor segment.

A government change, pointed out some agency heads we spoke to, usually increases confidence. For example, Sunder Hemrajani, MD, Times Innovative Media gave the example of 2009 when the UPA did much better than expected. “We saw an increase in positive sentiment even back then. It is the same this time; I am seeing a lot of positive sentiment. April and May have been very tight for all media but I feel that things will be even better this time than 2009,” he said.

Though sentiment from India Inc. has been leaning towards a Modi-led government with its promise of development and progress, the new prime minister’s recent statements and energetic first few days since securing victory have also helped. “He (Narendra Modi) seems to be continuing with the same motto that he used in Gujarat. Since advertising is perception driven, we could see an increased spending this year,” said Rajiv Saxena, MD, Blue Ocean Media.

On being asked whether there were any specific changes that were expected for the OOH sector, Saxena opined that spending from real estate and telecom, two sectors which had reduced spending last year, might increase.

The election year saw a windfall for most OOH agencies, who normally expect a slow start to any year with business usually picking during the festive seasons. For example, even after the results were declared, BJP launched a massive outdoor campaign thanking voters for their support.

The Mumbai leg of the campaign was handled by Bright Outdoor Media and Yogesh Lakhani, CMD of Bright Outdoor Media informed us that it comprised of some 135 hoardings across Mumbai. Given the general sense of optimism in the market, he mentioned that business could improve by as much as 10 per cent. “In any business there is always a positive and negative cycle. For the last few years we have had a negative cycle, so things definitely have to change now,” he said.

Another way of looking at the massive OOH campaigns run during the elections by political parties is that it showed the strength of OOH advertising in creating recall and spreading awareness, opines Sanjeev Gupta, MD, Global Advertisers. He expects more and more brands to spend on OOH advertising. When asked for his expectations, Gupta said that June-July will see a lot of advertising from FMCG brands, tourism, real-estate, e-commerce, automobile and education sectors also.

The OOH sector has had a good start to the year and with the positive sentiment in the market, it is no surprise that most OOH agencies are expecting a boost in ad spends by brands in the coming months. What remains to be seen is whether this will continue past 2014 and how do OOH players make use of this perceived change in the business cycle to create a more robust outdoor advertising ecosystem, which is even more attractive to advertisers.

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