Feature | Measurability and innovation; Indian OOH industry poised to grow

Larger than life pictures, words that are visible as you whizz through the highway and messages that rapidly register in your thought process. Yes, we are talking of the Out Of Home (OOH) media. As the Indian consumer today has to pay attention to 1,00,000 advertisements a day on more than 250 channels, OOH medium has worked well as a remembrance medium.

The medium for years has gone through the phase of being disorganized and non-measurable. However the OOH industry leaders have been coming together to create a benchmark of professionalism for the industry at large.

Adgully caught up with a few industry leaders to gauge what does the OOH industry lack today and what are some of the trends that the industry will witness in 2011.

When asked if marketers are readily integrating the medium in their communication strategies, Ashish Bhasin, Chairman India & CEO South East Asia, Aegis Group, says, "The marketers understand the importance of OOH media. However the medium lacks a measurability tool. The MRUC has been trying to resolve this by working on the Indian Outdoor Advertising Survey. If professionalism has to be built across this medium, it has to be a collaborative effort between OOH media owners and media agencies in the country."

He further adds that marketers usually end up extending their brand's creative thought meant for a television medium or print medium over to OOH media. "So in this bargain the creative thought becomes the lowest denominator while designing a OOH campaign. The industry has to seriously look into it and have to really integrate the media at the ideation stage," Bhasin adds.

Outdoor media options today range from the cornerstone of Outdoor the billboards, street- furniture (bus- stops, walls etc.), transit media such as buses, railways and mobile-vans to new alternate media such as mall kiosks, building boards etc.

Pointing out some of the key trends in OOH media in 2011, Ashish Pherwani, Senior Manager- Advisory Services, Ernst & Young India Pvt. Ltd, says, "Premium properties, rural OOH and street furniture will be some of the prominent trends across OOH media in 2011. The medium will see an increase in rates as the ad will get better than the medium. The industry will also witness a 12-15% growth year on year. An OOH campaign today is not a lead campaign because the marketer does not know what will be his ROI. It will be very important for the industry to build measurability."

OOH as estimated by PWC is expected to become Rs 2,000 cr industry by 2010. Though the part of media-spend in OOH is only 6% for now the industry has shown promising growth.

So to get a marketer's perspective, we ask Sanjay Tripathy, EVP & Head - Marketing & Direct Channels, HDFC Life, to put out how OOH fits the bill for his brand?

Tripathy says, "As more and more people, especially the working population is spending time out of home; OOH has become an effective medium to engage this segment. At HDFC Life, we have used OOH as part of our 360-degree campaign to intensify the brand experience. OOH helps us in increasing awareness and visibility through billboards, digital signage, street furniture etc. It also helped us in experiential marketing through activation at malls, multiplexes; etc."

"OOH has expanded from conventional hoardings to newer forms of media, like ambient / new media, transit advertising, street furniture, digital signage etc. It is now possible, to interact with the customer at each touch point, through planning 360 degree OOH campaigns which takes care of visibility and linking it with the experiential marketing through activations at malls, multiplexes and large retail outlets. It also provides much more innovative options through use of better technology and is helping to create a bigger impact in engaging the consumer and occupying the mind space of the TG for a longer duration," he adds.

So is the Indian OOH industry ready for an innovation?

Indrajit Sen, Chief Executive Officer, Laqshya Media Pvt. Ltd, says, "I think India is certainly ready for a complete revolution in OOH media right now. Though it's a gradual process but the OOH industry is completely focused in resolving its shortcomings and making the medium more measurable. The industry leaders are looking to build it as a stand-alone medium. The industry is collaboratively working towards creating a regulatory body and coming up with changes that are conducive to OOH media's growth in the country."

Sharing a marketer's worry, Tripathy says, "In the outdoor advertising category, currently, the big factor - creativity ' has not been utilised by all players and is an exception rather than the rule. Creativity is extremely critical for OOH communications to be effective and touch the right chord with the target audience. Proper planning, innovative use of OOH creatives and trying out new and innovative mediums will help in a better campaign impact in future."

He further adds, "Technology is a very important factor in OOH today. LCDs, LEDs, floor graphics, bluecasting, WI-FI, 3G applications, digital posters are some of the new formats which are getting introduced in Indian Markets. It will require a great degree of innovation and thorough understanding of the medium to use these effectively. Understanding of the consumer, medium and technology will go a long way in creating an engaging campaign. The agencies and all stake holders, including media owners, technology companies, and advertisers will have to collaborate to get the best out of OOH. OOH Medium can perhaps draw lessons from online media on how it succeeded to grab a share of pie in the ATL category with brilliant innovations and definite measurability on ROI."

Though the medium currently grapples with its shortcomings, the OOH media is growing constantly and is expected to cross the Rs 2,000 crore mark in the next five years. Only time can tell how many innovative ideas will be spread over the horizon! | By Prabha Hegde [prabha(at)adgully.com]

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