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.

Volini and a pain-free Mumbai Marathon

The pain reliever brand has launched a Mumbai-specific OOH campaign to reach out to more and more people for the Mumbai Marathon scheduled on January 18.

Volini, the pain-reliever brand from Ranbaxy, is running an OOH campaign in Mumbai to promote the 'Mumbai Marathon' scheduled on the 18th of this month. The idea behind kickstarting the OOH campaign is to gather more and more footfalls for the marathon and eyeballs for the brand.

The brand has put up large-format hoardings with innovative 3D images at various key junctions in Mumbai such as Marine Drive, Sion, Bandra and Peddar Road to reach out to a larger audience. Global Advertisers has executed the campaign. Says Sanjeev Gupta, managing director, Global Advertisers, "The Mumbai


 Marathon is a prestigious initiative. We are honoured to be part of the efforts by Volini to support and promote the event." Volini is the recovery partner for the Marathon that is organised by Procam International. The participants here include corporate
professionals, senior citizens, youth and other people.

The other partners for the marathon include Standard Chartered, Kingfisher, DHL, Procam International, Indian Navy, AIMS, TCS, Star Sports, Times of India, ASICS, CIGNA TTK, JABONG, SEIKO, TUI, Trident, Radio Mirchi and Asian Heart Institute.


Volini is available in two forms - Gel & Spray. It can be used for joint, back, neck and shoulder pain. It is effective for sprains too. The decade-old Mumbai Marathon is popular with the people of the city. It has also proved to be a good fundraising exercise for several NGOs.

Global Advertisers add heat to Girnar tea campaign

Executed by Global Advertisers, the campaign for Girnar has been implemented in various neighbourhoods from Borivali to South Mumbai and Sion.

Indian tea major Girnar recently launched an outdoor media campaign to capture the TG in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. Executed by Global Advertisers, the campaign for Girnar has been implemented in various neighbourhoods from Borivali to South Mumbai and Sion.

"The Girnar campaign is rather special. Firstly, it is a brand with a mass following with presence in the general category as well as niche segment thanks to its special teas. Also, the campaign was expected to cover a wide area. Keeping these two factors in mind, we created a rotational plan that involved moving the displays across the city over a period of time. The buzz has been very encouraging and we expect it to grow in the days ahead," said Sanjeev Gupta, MD, Global Advertisers.

Global Advertisers, with its ownership of premium hoarding spaces in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, which include large-format corridor display billboards and the largest hoarding in Asia has built a reputation for innovation, out-of-the-box campaign strategies, and 24X7 field support. The company is known for its innovative schemes like 'hoardings on barter', 'rotational plans' and 'Outdoor campaigns in EMI'. 

Rajinikanth- starrer Kochadaiiyaan engages Global Advertisers for outdoor campaign

Rajinikanth-starrer Kochadaiiyaan, which is touted to be India's first motion capture photo-realistic 3D animated film, has engaged Global Advertisers for its outdoor promotion in Mumbai.. Much aware of the strength and benefits of outdoor advertising, the movie has tapped interest of kids, youths and families across Mumbai via extensive outdoor campaign. The agency has deployed high impacting, clutter free, target oriented hoardings at tactical positions including premium locations such as Bandra, Santacruz, Andheri, Sion & Juhu.? ?Larger than life hoarding at Bandra which measures 120 x 40 has already caught thousands of eyes and created high buzz in the city
 Says Sanjeev Gupta, MD, Global Advertisers, “Today, Indian audiences are interested in high quality animated content. However, Indian animation films did not live up to the expectations set by their Hollywood counterparts. But with Rajinikanth-starrer Kochadaiiyaan expectation of discerning Indian viewer is once again rising. We have rolled out the outdoor campaign keeping the interest of target audience on huge billboards in Mumbai.”

He further adds, “The animation industry in India is still very nascent and undefined. This is in sharp contrast with our regional film industries and Bollywood, which have larger than life movie promotion plans before release wherein outdoor promotion plays crucial role in the success of box-office collection .”

For the record, Kochadaiiyaan is co-produced by Eros International and Media One Global entertainment.  The movie marks the directorial debut of Soundarya R Ashwin and is expected to release in 12 different languages. The film is set to release on 23 May, 2014.

Many Applauds for the new government of India- Sanjeev Gupta, MD - Global Advertisers

Global Advertisers congratulates BJP and its Prime Ministerial candidate Mr. Narendra Modi on the phenomenal win in 2014 Election.

We hope that his government keep their promises, fulfill our expectations and take India on the road of development…..

Mr. Modi’s ideology taught us to work first for your Nation, your Society and then for yourself, because once your community grows, you will definitely experience the fortune for your family. There are no freebies for anyone….

The cool new government is heartily welcome!!!

‘Cutting edge technology made election advertising stand out’

How are outdoor advertising campaigns for political parties planned? And how was this election season different from the previous editions?

As the election campaigning draws to a close in Mumbai, advertising across political parties is reaching a fever pitch. Lok Sabha 2014 has seen some of the most aggressive advertising campaigns from the country’s two principal parties – the Congress and the BJP. It seems that every available space, whether on print or online or on the air, has been taken up by election advertising.

The Metrognome spoke to Global Advertisers’ Managing Director, Sanjeev Gupta (in pic on left), to find out more about the business of election advertising in the outdoor space.

Excerpts from the interview:

How does the election season benefit a business such as yours?

Outdoor media is the most important channel of communication for political campaigns, which mainly rely on political marches, rallies, morchas, dharnas, and door-to-door campaigns to get the message across. All forms of political campaigning happen outdoors. Moreover, 2014 is particularly special because the campaigns are managed with unprecedented professionalism and there is a marked corporate flavour in the way the campaigns are being conceptualised, planned and executed.

These factors are translating into good business. Our media properties played a prominent part in campaigns of nearly all major political parties. 

What are some of the requirements from clients?

All requirements from clients ultimately seek to accomplish one task – of scoring with the voters. They want advertising to be visible to voters. They want the media to work its magic at the right time.

Typically, an election campaign follows four stages: One, the introduction. Two, meeting the voters. Three, spreading information about the candidate/party’s USP. While the fourth stage is getting voters to choose the candidate on the big day.

At every stage, companies like ours offer our clients outdoor sites/ hoardings and other media to help them achieve their goals. We must hand-hold the client through the campaign, at every step, from printing to mounting of flex, and ultimately, to providing post-campaign feedback.   

What kinds of strategies are required to stand out among hundreds of other outdoor campaigns?

Our strategy has been to coordinate very closely with clients, offer competitive rates, select media carefully and dish up the right media mix. Above all, we have been on our feet for 11 hours for the last three months to accommodate changes in plan, content and sites.

That said, the secrets of standing out in a crowded marketplace are not really new.

Be clear about what you set out to achieve. Be better at service, and with the quality of billboards and other media. Be different from everyone in the way you frame your message, offer tailor-made solutions that work within the budget and out-innovate the competition.

What are some of the new types of outdoor advertising seen this election season?

More mobile vans with mounted hoardings were used in this season than ever before. Parties used concepts like ‘chai pe charcha’ and ‘e-chaupal’ and successfully harnessed cutting edge technology and offered it to voters in different parts of the country, which created quite a buzz.

Even with traditional outdoor advertising, the complimentary role of online and mobile media has increased several-fold. These changes hint at the shape of things to come.

This time, special creative content was designed for specific locations for better impact. There were cut-outs, LED, back-lit, 3-D and digital displays. The power of outdoor advertising was displayed like never before in this election. You can see this from the unusually high voter turnout this time.  

In monetary terms, what is the kind of boost that your business gets in election season?

All things remaining same, this election season, we expect business to grow by 50 per cent compared to the same period in a non-election year. This is, of course, a rough estimate.

On an average, how much do political parties spend on outdoor advertising?

I cannot discuss figures without explicit permission of a client but if you know the campaign expenses that are made public, you can safely conclude that outdoors gets anywhere between 40 to 50 per cent of the total outlay in a political campaign.

How does outdoor score over other media when it comes to election campaigns?

People who step out regularly either to commute, shop, visit friends or places of worship are more likely to step out to vote on the big day, too. It therefore makes more sense to invest in outdoor advertising than any other medium because the target demographic (voters) and the medium (billboards and other outdoor media) and the desired outcome (influencing voter behaviour in favour of a particular candidate/party on the day of voting) are 1) in the same geographical area, 2) are likely to be the same people (people who are outdoors on other days are also likely to vote on election day), and 3) the campaign, message, brand positioning can be tailored to address the specific demographic in that particular area.

Traditional election campaigns focussed on communicating achievements. This has changed as this time the efforts were on convincing voters and not merely communicating. The entire outdoor media fraternity – vendors, creative minds, agencies, mounters – have taken up this new challenge and have gone ahead to do an excellent job of it.

EKTA World launches Orange Fiesta with surprizes!

Celebrating its 27th Anniversary, renowned developer EKTA World recently launched its month long ‘The Orange Fiesta’ with goodies like series of discounts and value adds ranging from electronics and consumer durables, for buyers from April 25, 2014 onwards.

Home seekers can avail discounts of ranging from Rs. 4.69 lakhs to 22.85 lakhs on residential projects like EKTA Tripolis in Goregoan, EKTA Oculus in Chembur, EKTA Parksville in Virar, EKTA California in Pune and EKTA Greenville in Nashik.

Apart from savings on EKTA properties, “The Orange Fiesta” will offer prizes like I-pads, mobile phones and more goodies on Spin the Fiesta Wheel and various spot contests at all EKTA World sites. Apart from this, Air-Conditioners are also on offer for customers.

Leveraging OOH, the real estate giant has come up with an outdoor campaign in Mumbai. The campaign has jointly been executed by Bright Outdoor and Global Advertisers.

Likewise, Global Advertisers has used large size hoardings at strategic locations with uncluttered view and vibrant artwork which successfully grabbed the attention of target audience.

Sanjeev Gupta, MD, Global Advertisers, said, "At Global, we make sure that our client gets the best visibility from the campaign. Our team selected the hoardings located in the target area of Ekta World, they are illuminated, clutter free and the size of hoarding impress the viewer."

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Dead time during commuting is an opportunity for OOH- Sanjeev Gupta

Mumbai: 8 May, 2014: The discerning Indian consumers are in the era of fast moving lifeline, from hi-speed internet to speedy metro trains, they are moving faster than ever. To maintain the pace with consumers, out-of-home industry makes effort to open up new opportunities for brands to engage with consumers on the move. The proliferation of smartphones is also a boon for the out-of-home sector by allowing people to interact with outdoor display immediately, from visiting a website listed on a billboard of a train platform, to scanning a QR code at the bus stop. As such, the outdoor advertising in transport hubs is on the up as brands take advantage of the ‘dead’ time people face while waiting for a train or to catch a plane, or while they are sitting in traffic. So there is an opportunity for advertisers to help kill that dead time.

Outdoor advertising sector becomes gradually digitised, it seems the options open to advertisers are limitless. It’s an exciting media channel to be part of right now, as the industry keeps growing because advertisers are recognising out-of-home’s potential.