Amusement parks increasing ad spend on Outdoor Advertising

The Indian amusement parks industry is at a nascent stage which is expected to grow at a rate of 20% annually. According to the 'Indian Association of Amusement Parks & Industries’ (IAAPI), for a population of 1.2 billion in the country, there are only 120 amusement parks and 45 family entertainment centres (FECs). This indicates that the growth potential of Indian amusement and theme park industry is substantial and therefore, the investment on advertising has also gone up. The latest ad spend suggests that during the summer season, these parks have significantly increased their budget on outdoor advertising to tap into the interest of families and youngsters.

Anticipating this demand, Sanjeev Gupta, MD, Global Advertisers, says, “Amusement parks have now become a new source of entertainment for discerning Indian families, given the fact that they have more disposable income and are ready to spend on leisure. As per the data, this sector is going to touch $1.8 billion with nearly 500 new parks by 2020. With this kind of potential, we are hopeful to see great demand of outdoor advertising in the near future."

 He further added, “Recently, we executed the outdoor campaign for Snow World, Adlabs Imagica and Water Kingdom. They have varied messages to communicate to their potential customers - such as introducing summer packages, launching new rides, celebrating special days such as women’s day or festivals, adding new themes such us snow village - through an outdoor campaign. We have witnessed 15-20 percent increase in the engagement of hoardings by the entertainment parks in this summer season."

 50 million people visit these parks annually in India and this sector is expected to grow by 10-15 per cent (CAGR). Consequently, this number is likely to touch around 75-80 million in a few years. With the help of outdoor advertising along with other media such as TV, Radio and Digital promotions, this sector can expand its reach further.   

Brand Cadbury Bournvita,tastes the impact of outdoor advertising with Global Advertisers

Mumbai :

Cadbury Bournvita, the popular health drink brand, has recently launched an integrated marketing campaign for a new variant of the beverage – the Cadbury Bournvita Badam Booster. The brand has been promoted on Global Advertisers’s large size hoarding, creating awareness about the new variant.

Commenting on the campaign, Sanjeev Gupta, MD, Global Advertisers, said, “It’s a very strong brand with a noble intention of strengthening our children with right nutrients. The brand has been in the market from last many years and has successfully captured large market share in this segment. Our hoarding is further expanding its reach and tapping new customers for its new variant.”

Global Advertisers curates OOH campaign for Rumwal group

Global Advertisers, India’s widely acknowledged outdoor agency has launched the campaign for Mumbai’s popular builder-Runwal. The agency has engaged beautifully placed hoardings for the publicity of their new luxury project, Runwal Elegante at Andheri.

Commenting on the campaign, Sanjeev Gupta, MD, Global Advertisers, said “Mumbai is a commercial capital of India and hence gives immense opportunity to outdoor advertisers. Its a  hub of superior residential and commercial complexes to accommodate 1.2+ billion people .  Being densely populated the city has many real-estate players looking to grab the attention of potential buyers. Everyday a commuter is bombarded with more than 10 thousand ads in Mumbai, so it is difficult to make an impression on your target customers. However with new advertising tools, one can reach upto their bedrooms to sell the product. So in this competitive market, positioning your brand correctly is the biggest challenge and that’s what we do at Global Advertisers.”

Runwal Elegante is a luxurious residential complex having 2BHK - 6BHk apartments in the most sought-after location of Shastri Nagar in Andheri (West), Mumbai. The project provides easy access to a number of civic amenities and well-connected through local railway and bus network.

Union Budget 2016: Industry experts and Analysts hail pro start-up budget.

The Union Budget 2016 which was presented yesterday centered on 9 key pillars----agriculture, rural sector, social sector, education and job creation, infrastructure investment, financial sector reforms, governance and ease of doing business, fiscal discipline and tax reforms.

Although there wasn’t too much direct impact on media and entertainment The focus on rural and start-up development could have an indirect effect on the sector, especially on the back of consecutive droughts and shrinking rural demand. 

"It appears that there is very little directly for the M&E sector. Except for the point about subjecting sales of spectrum to service tax. For ENIL however, the service tax will be fully set-off, so overall impact should be neutral. This aside, there is a provision for higher Dividend Distribution tax that would affect all corporates, not just those in M&E," said Prashant Panday, CEO and MD of ENIL -Radio Mirchi.

Harrish Bhatia, CEO of MY FM also agreed that none of the issues highlighted earlier were addressed, for example, exemption of service tax as is the case for print publications, OTF to be collected in installment like in telecom industry and waiver of custom duties for import of broadcasting equipment.

On the government’s decision to levy service tax on radio spectrum, he said, “We do not appreciate this move, there is no service that the government is extending to radio broadcaster by providing spectrum.”

Partha Iyengar, VP & Gartner Fellow and Country Manager Research (India) of Gartner, said the budget had a number of "baby steps"; focus on rural skills development and improvement of rural digital literacy, incentivizing the creation of domestic IP and driving domestic innovation, focus on infrastructure outlays, creating a favourable environment for startups, continuing the ‘Make in India’ focus with a few more specific ‘catalysts’ announced in the budget, etc.

"As always though, the devil is in the implementation of these schemes. It is good to see a mention of review of program effectiveness as one of the goals in the budget, but till we see that followed up religiously it is hard to give it credence,” he added.

Zafar Rais, CEO of MindShift Interactive said the budget made for “mixed reactions” though he admitted that it had gone beyond to encourage entrepreneurship across all boards and also of specific categories like the SC/STs. 

“The government in the past had mentioned to cut down the corporate tax and has proposed with regard to small units having a turnover of Rs 5 crore, reduction in corporate tax rate from 30 per cent to 29 per cent. ​This should prove to be rather advantageous. Service tax getting an increase from 14.5 to 15 per cent in the form of the Krishi Kalyan Cess​ is not an affirmative highlight as it adds pressure on negotiations, when looking at net billings that clients demand. From a media and advertising standpoint, an increase in service tax, especially on electronic goods doesn't seem favourable at all. We would have preferred a more future-focused policy regarding this particular aspect," he added.

Sanjeev Gupta, MD of Global Advertisers added that not increasing taxes was a major positive, especially given the pro-development stance taken by the government and the allotment of money to rural infrastructure, railways and road development. "We are also seeing great potential in expanding our reach to small cities now. The finance minister has also hinted at amending motor vehicles act for better transportation facility in the country. This may give us the opportunity to position our ads more effectively while on the move. We feel that in this critical economic condition, the budget has been so far satisfactory for the advertising industry,” he commented.

“As part of the budget proposals, India has levied an equalisation levy - what is known as ‘google tax’ globally. The tax @ 6 per cent of the consideration will apply on services relating to online advertisement, provisions on online ad space or other facility or services for the purpose of online advertisement, when such services are provided by a non-resident to either an Indian resident or a non-resident having a permanent establishment in India, the payer for these services are required to deduct 6 per cent prior to making the payment. This is the first time that online services are being specifically taxed in India on such differential basis. The impact of this levy will be that firstly, the income of foreign websites/ apps will now be liable to this tax. The taxes are levied under separate code and service providers may not be able to claim credit for the same in their home country. Additionally, there may be additional scrutiny on such transactions under Income Tax law,” said Rakesh Jariwala, Tax Partner, Media and Entertainment, EY

"FM gives impetus to the PM’s ‘Make in India’ dream by rationalising Customs and Excise duty rates on inputs, components used in IT, Defence and Textile sectors. Auto industry will be impacted by the whammy of infrastructure cess ranging from 1 per cent to 4 per cent levied on manufacture of motor vehicles," opined Amit Bhagat, Partner (Indirect Tax) at PwC India.

Siddhartha Roy, CEO of Hungama.com said, "The Union Budget 2016 has paved the way for rural digitization with a focus on digital literacy. The aim to connect 6 crore households will provide a stronger reach and deeper penetration for digital and technology driven services in rural India, thus allowing residents a plethora of services. The digital literacy scheme announced by Mr. Arun Jaitley in rural India will not only give rise to increased manpower but also boost employment generation. The budget is an indication of the government's resolve towards the ‘Digital India’ scheme."

 Neel Ratan, Partner and Leader (Government and Public Sector) at PwC India commented, "Renewed focus on ensuring ease of doing business will reinforce positive investment climate for global investors as well as foster a culture of start-ups with the much awaited amendment of Companies Act. This will have a cascading effect with youngsters becoming job creators rather than job seekers, constructively channelizing the energy of India's youth and catapulting nation into the league of developed nations. National Career Service is emerging as a robust go-to-portal for job seekers; the move to inter-link National Career Service with state employment exchanges will eliminate bottlenecks and fast-track the filling up of job vacancies. Moreover, the announcement of 100 model career centres for National Career Service Portal will revive the traditional job search and massively add to the reliability of the portal, making it the preferred mode for searching jobs."

Bhavin Turakhia, CEO and Co-founder of Directi praised the government's intent on revitalizing agriculture, infrastructure, skill development and higher education sectors. 

"Amendments in the Companies Act and the ‘Stand up India’ scheme will boost the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Most importantly, the government has indeed offered unique opportunities to start-ups, categorizing them as critical partners for the ‘Make in India’ programme. The proposed 100 per cent tax deduction for new start-ups for the first three years, along with the speedy registration mechanism is quite noteworthy,” he added.

Global Advertisers executes large scale OOH campaign for Mahindra Vivante

3 Feb, 2016, Mumbai:  Mahindra Vivante, the brand-new division of real estate builder Mahindra Lifespaces, has rolled out an outdoor campaign with Global Advertisers- India’s smartest outdoor agency. Given that Mahindra Vivante is head-quartered in Andheri East, the campaign has been primarily executed across key locations around Andheri East. Meanwhile, the campaign is also up on hoardings at distant locations including Mulund, Thane and Ghodbhunder. 

Speaking on the campaign, Managing Director, Sanjeev Gupta, Global Advertisers said, “Real estate as an industry has always been heavy advertisers on outdoor. We have customized packages and exciting deals for them. For Mahindra Vivante, our team has deployed big displays within market areas, around main road zones and also on highways to maximize the reach of the campaign."

Mahindra Vivante is spread across more than 3 acres of land and enjoys close proximity to all social facilities in Andheri.

Global Advertisers promotes Charagh Din's outdoor campaign for 5th consecutive year

1, Feb, 2016, Mumbai: Charagh Din (CD), one of the top textile brands in India, has rolled out an exclusive outdoor campaign across Mumbai. CD has engaged Global Advertisers for the 5^th consecutive time to promote the brand in the city.

Speaking on the campaign, Sanjeev Gupta, MD, Global Advertisers, said “Our long term partnership with CD is a result of our excellent services and products. We have always offered them the best deals - customized for their needs - even when market situations were quite adverse. Our hoardings, bus shelters, transit vehicles, POPs all have been deployed in making CD campaigns successful since the last 5 years. Our partnership is a great example of how to earn and continue with a good customer. We wish to be associated with CD for their promotional activities in the future as well.”

The campaign has been executed on large-sized billboards across Mumbai. 

Pride Hotel flags off outdoor campaign with Global Advertisers

20 Jan, 2016, Mumbai: Widespread hoardings across Mumbai are announcing the launch of “Pride Plaza”, a new launch from the luxury hotel chain -  Pride - in New Delhi. The mandate for the outdoor campaign has been given to India’s premiere out-of-home agency, Global Advertisers. The agency is using strategic locations and multi-sized billboards to create an integrated mix for the outdoor campaign.

Sanjeev Gupta, Managing Director, Global Advertisers said, “Our intent is to reach out to the target audience of our client in Mumbai. We have offered them the best of our hoardings with excellent reach, during peak and rush hours. Our media and research team have designed this campaign with great insights to deliver the best results in the most cost effective way.”

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OOH to grow 7-8% in 2015 on back of e-commerce, real estate spends

The outdoor advertising sector saw an increase in ad spends in the quarter ending September and is on track to register 7-8 per cent growth in 2015, said OOH owners and media agencies we spoke with.

According to OOH agency heads, the increase in ad spends could be attributed to a number of reasons. For example, Nabendu Bhattacharyya, MD of Milestone Brandcom says Q3 has been better because of spending by categories like mobile handsets, m-commerce and e-commerce and media and entertainment. “Previously, we have not seen the m-commerce category spend this strongly. I would say that ad spends have gone up by 20-25 per cent in July-September’15 as compared to the same period last year,” he said.

On similar lines, Sanjeev Gupta, MD at Global Advertisers, welcomed the positivity seen in the market in this quarter, claiming that the market had picked up momentum after a recessionary trend in Q2. He said that ad revenues for OOH would have increased in the range of 70-80 per cent in Q3 as compared to Q2. When asked about which categories have spent the most money, he singled out electronics, real estate, entertainment channels and event companies. “Even among e-commerce companies Amazon has clearly been the biggest spender. Apart from Amazon, there were just 2-3 others that have spent big, but Amazon has spent a lot of money on all mediums,” he said.

Noomi Mehta, Chairman and MD of Selvel also agreed that, overall, ad spends on OOH had increased across India with Mumbai and Delhi seeing a lot of spending and with Bangalore remaining steady. However, he pointed out that the ongoing tussle in Kolkata with the municipal corporation has caused clients to drop investments in outdoor. “We cannot understand what is going on in Kolkata. They (The municipal corporation) say that out of the 400 sites given to us, 250 are illegal. So even clients have lost interest and don’t want to advertise,” he explained.

On the other hand, Rajiv Saxena, MD of Blue Ocean Media, feels that the OOH sector will not grow till the inventory crunch being faced is addressed. “There has hardly been any new media or new inventory introduced for a long time. So long as the industry remains local it will not grow,” he said. Saxena, however, agreed that Q3’15 had been much better than Q3’14 due to government campaigns as well as spending by e-commerce sector even though some sectors like the film industry have not been doing any promotions on OOH for the past 6 months. 

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Global acquires over 100 premium billboards sites across Mumbai

 

 

Global Advertisers, India's leading innovator in outdoor media solutions, has acquired over 100 new properties in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), and plans to acquire 150 more in the city over the next six months. The move is in line with the company's focus on MMR, when it comes to creating outdoor properties, while handling campaigns pan-India.

The billboards are located either at sites in areas where Global had low presence or at sites that where Global has zero presence. New locations include Juhu-Vikhroli Link Road (JVLR), Mankhurd, Sion-Chembur Link Road (SCLR), Opera House and Mulund. Old sites with increased Global Advertiser presence include multiple locations in the Western Suburbs and some on the Central Line like Vikhroli.

"Creation, acquisition, and maintenance of outdoor properties are central to our ability to serve clients. The location and the costs involved in creating or acquiring a property affects the rate we offer to our clients. We are happy to let you know that the acquisitions will allow us to offer greater exposure in the city to our clients, offer lower rates that clients are used to paying for these locations and also give more discounts on bulk bookings," explained Sanjeev Gupta, MD, Global Advertisers.

Global owns the most number of premium location hoardings in Mumbai, including Asia's biggest hoarding in Bandra. We also own multiple big-format hoardings that offer the most number of corridor branding opportunities in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

Global has executed approximately 1.5 lakh successful campaigns, 1 lakh product launches, 80,000 in-film branding contracts and over 2 lakh event sponsorships in the last 18 years. Global's creativity, innovation and ability to deliver out-of-the-box OOH media solutions have won them 350 awards, and over 500 letters of appreciation.

A recent British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) report surveying the world hoarding industry makes a special mention of Global Advertisers’ billboard site in Bandra.

Wadhwa Group ropes in Global Advertisers to dazzle Mumbai

Wadhwa Group ropes in Global Advertisers to dazzle Mumbai 

Outdoor campaign by Mumbai-based OOH giant sets sale registers ringing for real estate company 

9 February 2014 Mumbai: Global Advertisers, the specialist outdoor media solutions providers to the Indian real estate sector scored a fresh goal with a dazzling campaign for The Wadhwa Group’s products W54, Anmol and Atmosphere - all located in prime Central Mumbai. The campaign that began towards the end of January is expected to extend to most of February and spans multiple locations in the city.

A variety of media have been pressed into the campaign including hoardings and bus shelters.

"We have managed to put a great campaign in place thanks to the team at Vijas Graphics, which was entrusted by Wadhwa to handle the campaign. After several meetings, protracted discussions and several site visits we have managed to create a campaign that is creating tremendous buzz for the client. It feels great to exceed client expectations," said Sanjeev Gupta, MD, Global Advertisers.

Global Advertisers has a reputation for being the leading provider of outdoor media solutions to the real estate sector with barter deals, easy payment terms, bulk booking discounts and some of the best outdoor media sites Pan-India/Maharashtra.   

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.

Global Advertisers ‘Triumphs’ with German inner-wear brand campaign

International innerwear brand Triumph has recently buttoned up an OOH campaign in Mumbai to introduce its new product line. The campaign, titled ‘Body Make-up and Lace All-Over’, promotes Triumph’s products positioned to be ‘high quality, fashionable and durable, at affordable prices’. The 15-day campaign, which was rolled out in mid-January, will continue till the end of the month and has been executed by Global Advertisers at multiple locations in South Mumbai and suburbs to launch the new product line. 

  “This is a rather special campaign as it bridges the aspirations of Indian women and a high-quality German brand like Triumph. We selected locations for the sites rather carefully based on the intended demographic of the new lines, delivering an effective, low-cost customized campaign for Triumph,” says Sanjeev Gupta, MD, Global Advertisers.  

Triumph undertook extensive research before introducing the lines that have been specifically selected and designed on basis of the bodies and lifestyles of Indian women. According to an industry report, Triumph had about 175 large format stores in the country with a plan to add 25 more in 2014 and also a plan to offer double of what it was offering in 2013. Last year, the brand had introduced its ‘Body Make-up’ line at the Triumph Fashion Show held in Hyatt Mumbai as part of an aggressive product push.  

OOH signs up for growth

Submitted by admin on Tue, 03/18/2014 - 11:00

 

By ABHINNA SHRESHTHA

 

No matter which party comes to power in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, it is the outdoor advertising industry that stands to emerge winner. Vendors of the Out Of Home (OOH) industry are optimistic that the elections, coupled with other factors, will again provide a much-needed fillip to the industry, which has been growing at a steady pace for the last couple of years.

Compared to previous years, 2013 has been a somewhat better year for the sector. Here are some numbers to get things into perspective: The outdoor industry formed 6.2% of the total advertising spends in 2013, according to the Pitch-Madison Media Advertising Outlook (PMMAO), in fourth place behind TV, Print and Digital. This Year Next Year, a study by Group M, too says that 2013 saw the OOH industry grow by about 6%, a remarkable achievement, considering that the growth in 2012 was about 2%. Despite many brand managers shifting significant budgets to digital and mobile spends, 2014 is expected to be another strong year for the outdoor sector (PMMAO predicts it will grow by 8.2%, while Group M’s studies peg the growth rate at 8.8-9%). So, what are the factors driving this general sense of optimism?

Q & A: ‘Concentrate on a particular area, format or niche’

 

THE POLL DRAMA

We have already seen the aggressive push towards advertising adopted by the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Industry sources estimate that nearly Rs100 crore of the Congress’ ad budget has been lavished on outdoor advertising. It would not be wrong to assume that BJP will spend a similar amount too. The importance of this one event can hardly be overstressed. The outdoor sector generally starts picking up during the second half of the year, but with the elections in May, political spending on OOH advertising has been a welcome addition to a traditionally slow first half. We saw the same trend during the state assembly elections in 2013, which proved how vital OOH is for political parties.

Since most cities have banned posters, Outdoor remains the only viable option available for propaganda, along with radio as both are cost-effective and ensure reach. “All national parties such as BJP, Congress and NCP are geared for outdoor campaigns. Beside this, the outdoor industry will also get benefit due to its extensive reach in rural areas and Tier II and Tier III cities,” says Sanjeev Gupta, MD, Global Advertisers.

Analysts and industry experts also expect the general business sentiment to improve post the elections, which will further serve to loosen the advertising purse strings.

 

NON-TRADITIONAL OOH

Though hoardings and their ilk are considered the driving force behind OOH, the last few years have seen a lot of development in new forms of outdoor communication. We are all familiar with the remarkable growth story of transit media (including street furniture and bus/radio cab advertising). The medium grew at 13.9% last year and has consistently outgrown the overall OOH advertising space over the last couple of years. The Pitch-Madison report forecasts it to grow at 10% this year too. But transit is not the only ‘other’ option that is growing. Says Haresh Nayak, Regional Director of Posterscope Asia-Pacific, “The OOH medium has evolved in malls and multiplexes, whether it is pure display, engagement, or events. 

We have also seen growth in niche ambient environments, for example, cinema has grown by over 200%.” Electronics major Philips is one of the brands that is a strong believer in the efficacy of ambient media. “The efficacy and proficiency of ambient media is very strong as it creates a differentiated platform for the brands,” says Amit Tiwari, Country Head (Media) for Philips. “A lot of consumption of outdoor media, these days, takes place in malls and multiplexes. Also, since most LFRs are present in these places, it creates a direct connotation to the point of sale.” Another emerging option is captive audience advertising, which is digital displays, the ones seen at malls and coffee houses. Though still nascent as compared to its cousins, transit and ambient media, this is another interesting space. For example, Rajan Mehta, Co-founder and CEO of LiveMedia, which boasts of clients like Big 92.7 FM, CavinKare, HDFC Bank, etc., claims his company, which specializes in captive audience advertising, has been growing at a rate of 20-25% YoY. So, there is definitely an interest being shown by advertisers in this medium. “In the West, digital OOH is already mainstream. As the technology improves, it will also become cheaper and, hence, more viable,” he says.

Says Bharat Dhuppar, Omkar Realtors & Developers, “Real estate is now opening up to alternative OOH media vehicles such as cinema theatres, airport branding and even in-flight advertising campaigns. It works better because of the simple reason that the audience is in a captive environment and has to pay attention to the communication. It is a definitive component today in any media plan that gets made for a successful campaign.”

Even the entertainment sector, which is among the largest spender on traditional OOH, seems to believe in BTL activities. For example, when asked how significant mall activations were as part of OOH strategy, Amit Nair, Business Head, Zee Khana Khazana said, “We have always been strong when it comes to BTL activities. We do a lot of road shows across cities as well as workshops within malls. They are a great tool for creating consumer connect and brand recall also increases through these activities.”

Studies on the growth of traditional OOH sector and the current blueeyed baby - transit media - are easily available. However, there are not many comprehensive studies available on other outdoor media platforms. With better data, interest in these platforms will continue to increase.

NEW INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS

A major reason for the growth of transit media has been the rapid infrastructure development seen in the country and this will continue to boost the outdoor industry in the coming months. Ad spots at locations like the Metro in Mumbai and New Delhi and the new airport terminal at the Mumbai International Airport are highly sought after by advertisers. “Revenue growth will only happen through new infrastructure projects such as the Metro and new airports,” says Rajiv Saxena, MD of Blue Ocean Media. However, Sunder Hemrajani, MD of Times OOH cautions that though infrastructure development would be a growth driver, it needs to be looked at from both the demand and supply side. “New infrastructure projects improve the supply of good, high-quality media but one also has to consider the demand side of the equation. We need to provide innovative and complete solutions. There is need to show the advertiser the right value proposition,” he said.

Echoing this view, Sanjay Chitkara, Head (Marketing) of LG says, “Outdoor is an evolving medium – urbanization and new infrastructure such as shopping malls, offices, express highways, etc., have   created tremendous opportunity to innovate with the outdoor medium. Concentrated joint efforts by all the stakeholders will help leverage this opportunity in a more constructive manner.”

ALL EYES ON DIGITAL OOH

Digital OOH, or DOOH as it is referred to, is perhaps one of the most exciting new things to emerge in the OOH space. According to a recent study by PQ Media, the average global consumer was exposed to various DOOH media for 14 minutes per week in 2013, a 75% increase from eight minutes in 2007. The report names the US and China as the largest and second largest markets for DOOH in terms of revenues respectively. Other significant markets in terms of exposure and revenues are the UK, Canada and Australia. Interestingly enough, an earlier report by the same agency had stated that global DOOH revenues will expand at a 21.3% CAGR in the 2011-16 period.

The situation in India is not that rosy, though inroads are being made over the last few years. Though brands seem to have welcomed the concept, regulatory issues are proving a hindrance. A report from consulting firm PriceWaterhouse Coopers for the period 2013-2017 states, “Growth markets and the impact of digitization will drive the rise in global OOH advertising spends. There will be double-digit CAGR growth in two countries: India (11%) and Brazil (10%).”

“As with most technological advances, it isn’t what the technology enables you to do but what you do with it. Creativity is the game-changer that will make the difference between a bland communication and one that’s breakthrough,” comments Farrokh Madon, Chief Creative Officer of Y&R Advertising. Brands are obviously excited about the possibilities of digitization when it comes to OOH. “It (DOOH) will be crucial and cause a positive disruption. All the current rules will go out the window. The agility, responsiveness and the ability to track that it will bring is going to be phenomenal,” says Satinder Juneja, VP (Sales & Marketing) of NIIT Technologies.

Sudeep Narayan, Director (Marketing & PR) of Volvo Auto India, also calls digital OOH a “game enhancer”. “Digital signage can be compatible with other devices like smartphones, profile the audience and target ads accordingly. This implies both personalization and customization,” says Karan Bajwa, MD of Microsoft India. For now, we can take a look at some examples from around the world to see the kind of potential digital OOH holds.

CHANGING EXPECTATIONS: CREATIVITY & INNOVATION

Customer engagement is the new mantra for advertisers and the OOH space is no different. The problem, as Amitesh Rao, Director (Brand & Media) of MTS India puts it, is that you just get a fraction of a second to take in the ad. Brands want a way to break the clutter and many large outdoor agencies are increasingly working with brands to develop innovative and creative solutions. Says Rajneesh Bahl, CEO of Percept Out Of Home, “It is more about creative enhancement. Over the last few years, we have seen brands demanding creative ideas from outdoor agencies.”

With the outdoor industry needing to compete with new advertising mediums such as digital, mobile and social media, the industry needs fresh perspectives, says Chitkara. And this has been happening over the last few years. An even more interesting development is the way advertisers are utilizing technology to carry out innovative cross-platform promotions. For example, recently Mahindra Reva combined Twitter with the OOH medium in an integrated campaign. There a few other examples of brands experimenting with new technologies like RFID tags, QR codes, augmented reality, etc. With OOH advertising now having to compete with rapidly evolving and highly engaging platforms like digital and social, the integration of technology into OOH campaigns is bound to keep increasing.

THE BOTTOMLINE

There is a general perception that the digital medium has eaten into traditional OOH’s share and this is true to an extent. Lack of a measurement metric, among other issues, has hampered its growth in recent times. However, the emergence of new technologies and innovations, as well as growing interest in new mediums other than traditional hoardings, looks set to boost the OOH industry in the coming months. The challenge for OOH players is whether they are able to use this as a springboard to perform even better beyond 2014.

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