Outdoor Asia July

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Volume 4

Issue 1

July 2012

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News Indian Update Intnl Update Campaign Regulation Technology Creative Profile Innovation Branding New Media Acquisitions

News JCDecaux gains edge with new contract

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CDecaux India has made its foot stronger with 419 new Bus-Q-Shelters in the capital.

The contract is issued by the Delhi Transport Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (DTIDC) for a period of 20 years, which is further extendable to 5 years. The contract states that JCDecaux India is entitled to upgrade 319 existing shelters and construct new shelters at 100 different locations in Delhi including Central, North, South, East & West Delhi. In addition, the company is entitled for construction/ op gradation, operations, cleaning, maintenance & marketing of all Bus shelters.

Column

OAC 2012: Two days of Disruption!

New Service Tax Rules – Again !

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Milestone Brandcom ropes in senior level pros

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ilestone Brandcom, a leading and the fastest growing OOH agencies in India, has further strengthened its Out-of-home division by making two more senior level appointments.

Surojit Sen and Rasiq Sultan join the Milestone family as A.V.P - East India 360 Integration and Regional Head, South I n d i a r e s p e c t i ve l y.

Surojit Sen carries with him 13 years of enriching experience within the industry. His previous stint was with Percept as Regional Manager – East, where he took the branch to its highest peak nationally. He has worked on several brands such USL, Seagram, ABP, Zee TV, Allied Blenders Distilleries etc. Rasiq Sultan has over 9 years of experience in the OOH industry. He has worked with agencies such as Percept & OAP. Rasiq has worked on various brands including USL, Wipro, Lenovo, Levis, Indus League, Central, Tanishq, Titan, General Motors, Nokia, to name a few.

his June the Outdoor industry yet again came together, not to just mull over issues and make minor reprimands, but to collectively ‘Disrupt the Status Quo’. And the Outdoor Advertising Convention 2012 rendered itself to be the perfect platform to make the same happen.

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OOH to Tango!

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didas, the brand that is iconic to sports wear and sports accessories, has kicked off an effective OOH campaign to promote its adidas “Tango 12”, the Official Match Ball for the UEFA EURO 2012™ and football boot-Predator Lethal Zones. Outdoor Asia Page 28 gives you more details.

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Innovation

or the second year in succession, the Service Tax Department of the Government of India pulled a surprise for the Outdoor Advertising industry. Last year, it was about tax amount falling due immediately upon actual delivery of service or raising of invoice for the same, whichever was earlier. This year – surprise ! surprise ! – it was about taking the industry out of the purview of Service Tax – practically - altogether.

Resources

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Disruption = Change = Growth… or is it?

Change – a simple, innocuous six letter word. Change -- the seeds of thought transforming men and society. Change – the harbinger of revitalizing newness.

Change -- the disruption of status quo.

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hen we at Outdoor Asia with our think-tank sweated it out, pooling all our thoughts and ideas together for the Big Event (the Outdoor Advertising Convention 2012), there was this pressing, forceful, need to push boundaries, to go beyond tame discussions laced with nice sounding jargon and actually usher in some action generating ideas, make changes storm in with a complacencedisrupting urgency. In other words, we wanted to really pack a punch into those two days of brain storming sessions. And thus was born our theme for OAC 2012- ‘Disrupt the Status Quo’. And I must say we managed to do a lot of that. If you read this issue you will get an idea of what I’m talking about.

There were these folks, all representing different sides of the industry, from the client to the agency to the media owners’ side, all bright minds doing fantastic work, and all seeking answers to questions that have far too long been looming large in the industry. In fact, it was this collective voice, throwing questions out in the open, saying “Come on guys, let’s thrash it out” that really gave an edge to the event and which makes us feel vindicated about having chosen this theme.

And it all boiled down to getting our act together, sorting out our differences and putting our money where the mouth is.

And of course as many of you are aware, OAC is also

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about recognizing the best in the industry, so don’t miss the details on the Outdoor Advertising Awards -- 2012. What is remarkable about this year’s OAA 2012 is that it marked a new record by receiving the highest number of entries in its history: a total of 588! This obviously reflects the growing popularity of the Awards. The entries were judged by two separate and veritable jury panels comprising the best brains in the segment. What also gives me immense satisfaction is that the process of selection this year was a ruthlessly rigorous one, leaving no scope for anything less than excellent to enter the shortlisted category. Thus, in a way you could say it was like purging the whole system of anything that would encourage mediocrity. Further, Ernst & Young coming on board as the audit team enhanced the efficiency of the process. And we are glad we had them.

And then of course we have our staple diet for you in the issue – campaigns stories, innovations, updates etc. And it all only goes to prove that in spite of all the challenges, when it comes to it, Outdoor is still the most preferred choice to create instant recall, whether it’s a Uninor taking up a social cause, an Adidas promoting its Euro 2012 range or a Western Union wanting to break the clutter. Read on… and oh Happy Disrupting!

Vasant Jante

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CONTENTS

News

10

Indian Update

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Campaign Adidas

OAC 2012

OAC Convention OAA Awards 2012 Innovation is the key: Industry leaders unlock newer dimensions All For A Common Currency The Alexandrian Solutions!

Celebrate the streets, celebrate OOH Let’s be the right kind of Opportunists!

Innovation Western Union AXN

Ambient Advertising Ambush against AIDS!

Brand Talk

Volume 4 - Issue 1 July 2012

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Tel : 91-80-40522777, Fax: 40522727 Email: subscribe@vjmediaworks.com Website: www.vjmediaworks.com

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Delhi Office 3rd Floor, building No. 489/55/II, Corner Market, Malviya Nagar, New Delhi - 110 017, India, Tel: 011-4710 3402

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Sales

62 64

66

Uninor

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Resources

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Nimisha Shah 98210 84383 Vishal Shah 74981 81143 Akash Jante 97427 73627 Abhishek Agarwal 98116 94060 (Delhi)

93194 74711 (UP)

Outdoor Asia is a monthly. Owned, published and edited by Vasant Jante, printed by B S Suresh Pai, published from 1019/2, 1st Main, 1st Cross, Geetanjali Layout, New Thippasandara, Bangalore-560 075 and Printed at Sri Sudhindra Offset Process, #97-98, D.T. Street, 8th Cross, Malleswaram, Bangalore - 560 003.

The opinions expressed by authors and contributors to Outdoor Asia are not necessarily those of the editors or publishers. Outdoor Asia may not be reproduced in whole or in part without permission of the publisher.

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Advisory Board Alok Agrawal

COO Cheil India, SW Asia Regional HQ

Arminio Ribeiro

CEO Madison Outdoor Group

Gautam Chadha

Director Broadview Mediacom

Madhuri Sapru

Woman-in-Charge Encyclomedia Networks

Nabendu Bhattacharyya

N D Mehta

Founder & Managing Director Milestone Brandcom Chairman Selvel Advertising

Pratap Bose

COO, Mudra Communications

Praveen Vadhera

Country Head, 141 Wall Street

Deepa: 91-80-4052 2716 email: subscribe@vjmediaworks.com

July 2012

Vinod Kumar. V

Mumbai Office 201, 2nd Floor, Krishna Commercial Centre, 6 Udyog Nagar, Nr. Kamat Club S.V.Road, Goregaon (W), Mumbai-400 062.

Tel: 022-28769616

FOR SUBSCRIPTION INDIA

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Vasant Jante Archana Singh Nabamita Chatterjee Bhawana Anand

Editor & Publisher Sr. Reporter Correspondent Reporter Asst. Manager Production & Operation

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News

New Service Tax Rules – Again !

FINANCE ACT, 2012- CHANGES IN SERVICE TAX

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he Finance Minister at the time of introducing the Budget 2012, on 16th March, 2012 proposed change in the way services are taxed by introducing the concept of “Negative List of Services”. The Central Government has now issued Notification No.19/2012-ST dated 05.06.2012 appointing 01.07.2012 as the date from which the above provisions come into force.

The provisions of above clauses in brief, which includes concept of “Negative List’, are as under and will be effective from 01.07.2012.

1. CLAUSE [C] OF SECTION 143 OF THE FINANCE ACT, 2012 This clause had proposed to insert Section 65B in the Finance Act, 1994, which will now come into effect from 01.07.2012. This newly inserted section provides for interpretation of various terms for the purpose of taxable services provided.

2. CLAUSE [F] OF SECTION 143 OF THE FINANCE ACT, 2012 This clause had proposed to insert Section 66B, 66C, 66D, 66E and 66F in the Finance Act, 1994, which will now come into effect from 01.07.2012. These newly inserted sections have following provisions: i. SECTION 66B : This is new a charging section for levy of service tax and provides for levy of service tax @12% on the value of all services, other than those services specified in the negative list. ii. SECTION 66C : This section provides for determination of place of provision of service. For determination of place of provision of service separate set of rules are to be made. iii. SECTION 66D : This is a very important section giving list of services which would not be subjected to service tax (Negative List) as per charging Section 66C. All service except those in Negative List will now be subjected to levy of service tax. iv. SECTION 66E : This section has listed certain activities that have specified as declared services for the purpose of word ‘service’ as interpreted under clause (44) of new Section 65B. Most of these declared services are at present subjected to tax. v. SECTION 66F This section provides for principles of interpretation of specified description of services or bundled services.

SECTION 66D: NEGATIVE LIST. 66D. The negative list shall comprise the following services, namely:–– (a) Services by Government or a local authority excluding the following services to the extent they are not covered elsewhere—

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(i) Services by the Department of Posts by way of speed post, express parcel post, life insurance and agency services provided to a person other than Government; (ii) Services in relation to an aircraft or a vessel, inside or outside the precincts of a port or an airport; (iii) Transport of goods or passengers; or (iv) Support services, other than services covered under clauses (i) to (iii) above, provided to business entities; (b) Services by the Reserve Bank of India; (c) Services by a foreign diplomatic mission located in India; (d) services relating to agriculture by way of— (i) Agricultural operations directly related to production of any agricultural produce including cultivation, harvesting, threshing, plant protection or seed testing; (ii) Supply of farm labour; (iii) Processes carried out at an agricultural farm including tending, pruning, cutting, harvesting, drying, cleaning, trimming, sun drying, fumigating, curing, sorting, grading, cooling or bulk packaging and such like operations which do not alter the essential characteristics of agricultural produce but make it only marketable for the primary market; (iv) Renting or leasing of agro machinery or vacant land with or without a structure incidental to its use; (v) Loading, unloading, packing, storage or warehousing of agricultural produce; (vi) Agricultural extension services; (vii) Services by any Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee or Board or services provided by a commission agent for sale or purchase of agricultural produce; (f) Any process amounting to manufacture or production of goods; (g) Selling of space or time slots for advertisements other than advertisements broadcast by radio or television; (h) Service by way of access to a road or a bridge on payment of toll charges; (i) Betting, gambling or lottery; (j) Admission to entertainment events or access to amusement facilities; (k) Transmission or distribution of electricity by an electricity transmission or distribution utility; (l) Services by way of— (i) Pre-school education and education up to higher secondary school or equivalent; (ii) Education as a part of a curriculum for obtaining a qualification recognised by any law for the time being in force; (iii) Education as a part of an approved vocational education course; (m) Services by way of renting of residential dwelling for use as residence; (n) Services by way of— (i) Extending deposits, loans or advances in so far as the consideration is represented by way of interest or discount; (ii) Inter se sale or purchase of foreign currency amongst banks or authorised dealers of foreign exchange or amongst banks and such dealers; (o) Service of transportation of passengers, with or without accompanied belongings, (q) Funeral, burial, crematorium or mortuary services including transportation of the deceased.

To cut the long story short, the Service Tax will not be applicable, from July 01, 2012, on charges paid for

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advertising on Outdoor Media. Other media that has been similarly privileged are print and internet.

News

Obviously, while that is the overall message, the fine print has a lot to state as well.

For example, if any private or public authority or State functionary, has executed a contract which is, prima facie, for the lease of open space – on ground or on a constructed space like terrace – for the construction of hoarding or bus shelter for the purpose of advertising, then the original contract is subject to Service Tax because leasing or renting of space is a service which is not in the Negative List. By the same definition, when a contract is executed for use or “sale” of advertising space on an existing structure – hoarding or bus shelter or any other – then that is clearly in the Negative List and will not be subject to levy of Service Tax. As may be guessed, this is likely to result in a number of existing contracts being amended to redefine its main purpose very soon.

While this removal of Service Tax has been welcomed by most stakeholders, there have also been some strong complaints. These relate to the fact that hitherto the Service Tax paid on inputs like space rental, mounting, electricity, etc., used to be deducted from the tax chargeable on sales, and only the net balance paid to the Government. However, now that there will not be any Service Tax chargeable on sales, the entire amount of tax on inputs will become payable and, hence, will add to costs. The balance of this matter lies in that input amounts on which taxes are to be paid will be quite small and will not give rise to any substantial amount to affect profitability – especially in cases where sales is on a traded site rather than on a site constructed on leased land/space.

Significant relief for those affected negatively by impact of tax payable on inputs may come from renegotiating existing contracts to redefine object clauses. The issue that needs appreciation by all parties is that basic intention of all those who seek to monetize their properties is to sell advertising space on display formats that could be created on their premises. The focus then becomes one of how to protect themselves so that property – owner does not lose control. This often leads the property-owner to create a contract that emphasizes ownership of the land or building rather than define the actual nature of the service which is selling space for advertising, for which another party would pay a fee or rent to the property owner.

Besides the above, the Service Tax Department has also created some interesting new definitions or defined some new concepts like that of “bundled services” – which puts together all those services that are connected and essential for the main service to be delivered. For example, creative adaptations, making advertisement creative, mounting and providing illumination and maintenance would all be essential for the main service of advertising on a space to be completed. Hence, if all these were to be billed together, they would all be exempt from Service Tax. If, however, mounting or any of the above ‘collateral’ services were to be billed separately, then those would be subject to Service Tax.

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While a large number of these fine lines have already been discovered and ways to tackle them also found, there are bound to be new challenges that would arise – especially when the Service Tax officials themselves gear up to assessments and dispute every return with intention of extracting maximum possible tax. It’s quite safe to predict that this is bound to happen. The best way out of this will be for the industry to act in concert now and work with uniformity to treat invoicing and charging tax on certain services uniformly as a standard business practice. If different companies treat similar services differently, that would give any assessor opportunity to question classifications and valuations and impose maximum tax on all deals.

To take a step back, last year’s changes in Service Tax rules gave a strong impetus to the industry to adapt good practices for timely invoicing and release of payments.

This has brought about a good and perceptible change in the industry all over the country. Now that Service Tax has been removed this year, besides continuing previous good practices, the industry must take a cue and adapt new good practices like uniform billing processes. The key to facing new Service Tax assessment challenges will be for the industry to stand together and adapt common practices. Given the good lessons learnt so far, one can be sure the industry will continue to very firmly support each other and move forward faster than ever before.

On June 28, 2012, IOAA had organized a presentation in Mumbai to all its Members and national Advertising Agencies on the new Service Tax Rules. For this presentation, IOAA had commissioned KPMG’s Indirect Tax Advisory Group to study the enactments and current status of the business and provide clarity and recommendations.

Members from Delhi, Kolkata, Nagpur, Hyderabad, etc., besides Mumbai, attended the presentation and made the session a very lively one. Copies of this presentation, and a White Paper published by the IOAA Secretariat following this presentation, are available for Members from the IOAA Secretariat and those who want their own copy may mail directly to IOAA (Deepa@ioaa.co.in) l

Fastrack ropes in Milestone Brandcom as media AOR

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ilestone Brandcom has been appointed as the media AOR (agency on record) for one of Titan’s leading brands ‘Fastrack’. The account will be handled by agency’s Bangalore office. Milestone Brandcom won the account as a result of a multi-agency pitch held in April 2012.

This is the first time the brand has appointed a media agency at a national level and the new development can be attributed to the brand’s growth strategy going forward l

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News

OAA West Bengal embraces changes

from 1995 - 1996, and as Associate Creative Director with Grey Advertising from 1993 -1995. He started his career with J Walter Thompson in mid 1990 as an Art Director where he worked until 1993.

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Sanjeev Hajela, a marketing professional with almost two and a half decades of experience joins from DDB Mudra Group where he was President - Retail and Way finding business. A career that commenced with ITC (tobacco Division) from 1988 until 1995, has led Hajela places. From hereon he worked with Brown Forman Beverages Worldwide, a US fortune Sanjeev Hajela 500 Company marketing Sr. VP BTL-South BTL -SW Asian bourbon whiskeys and Markets-Cheil WW SW Asia prestigious Wines. Brown Forman went into a joint venture and floated the Indian operations with Jagatjit Industries in India where he launched two global brands before he moved on in Sep 98. Hajela then joined LG chemicals, Korea as Marketing Manager, to set up their operation in the Indian Market. In June 2001, he moved to Primesite as Chief Manager in the New Delhi office.

he Outdoor Advertising Association of Kolkata newly renamed as OAA West Bengal had its 40th Annual General meeting and general elections of the Governing Body on May 26, 2012 at. Out of the total 126 outdoor media owners, 88 members took part in the AGM. Many important resolutions were undertaken and amendments were made during the course of the meeting. Kesto Saha of Karukrit was unanimously elected President, while Arup Chowdhury of King Site, Ashif Biswas of Arun Sign and Deepak Samanta of Image Ad were unanimously elected as Secretary, Treasurer and Assistant Treasurer of the association respectively.

Some of the important resolutions undertaken during the meeting were -

OAA will propose that any of the Cabinet Ministers of West Bengal, or Mayor of Kolkata or any other eminent person become the ‘Chief Patron’ of the association

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The tenure of the elected body would be for a period of 3 years. An additional post of ‘Chairman’ was created to monitor the functions of the governing body

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Nirmal Thakur, ex-secretary of OAA, will be the spokesperson for OAA West Bengal l

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Cheil Worldwide greets three senior- level talents

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heil Worldwide SW Asia agency welcomed four new higher-level appointments and with this, Cheil has strengthened its board team with new talent acquisitions. The agency has brought in Ravi Narain as Executive Creative Director, Sanjeev Hajela as Sr. Vice President BTL -South West Asian Markets and Vikram Bhardwaj as DGM-Interactive.

Ravi Narain was Vice President – Marketing & Design. Narain gained tremendous marketing and communications insights during his 5-year experience with Emaar MGF. Prior to Emaar MGF, he was Executive Creative Ravi Narain Executive Creative Director Director with Bates David Cheil WW SW Asia Enterprise Advertising.

He has also worked with Contract Advertising as Associate V.P from 1997 - 2005, with Foote Cone & Belding in Toronto, Canada as Senior Art Director

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Vikram Bhardwaj brings with him almost 10 years of marketing management expertise and resourceful insight in strategic marketing methodologies.

He moves to Cheil from ThoughtBuzzIndia, a premier Social Media Brand Monitoring Company where he was Country Head.

Bhardwaj commenced Vikram Bhardwaj his professional life with DGM-Interactive Cheil WW SW Asia Jet Airways as Manager Inflight Services where he worked from 1998-2004.

He then moved into the technology space as a senior trainer at IBM, which was followed by Business Development roles at WNS and Annik Technology Services. In the recent past, he has worked as Director Business Development with Buzzintown.

From 2008-2010 he worked with Veda Informatics as Director Marketing, managing strategic planning business development, communication and service delivery aimed towards optimum client satisfaction.

Speaking on the appointments, Alok Agrawal, COO, Cheil WW, SW Asia said, “Cheil India is expanding at a rapid pace and as a fully integrated, one -solution agency we offer a great opportunity for growth of talent. With Ravi, Sanjeev, Vikram on board we see more client successes and acquisitions coming our way. Saswati’s joining us also demonstrates the power of brand Cheil even for Human Resource management”l

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Indian Update

Chasing a Greater Cause

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eeking to bridge the gap between the privileged India and the greater India that is still vulnerable and looking for support, Uninor, one of the fastest telecom service providers in the country, recently decided to launch public awareness campaigns for social causes. Leveraging the outdoor media mix, the brand has managed to elicit some good participation in these initiatives. Outdoor Asia explores one such initiative the brand kicked off in Kolkata recently.

Shimul is an NGO based out of Kolkata that works relentlessly for female rights and Uninor, as part of its social awareness campaigns, decided to support this organization and in the process lend a voice to the cause of women’s empowerment in Kolkata.

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Ronit Mitra further asserted, “On the day of the run, OOH medium added a new life to the whole scenario with effective banners, placards and poles making Uninor visible at every possible corner of the 5km stretch.” The entire staff of Uninor Kolkata and all their partners and vendors participated in the run. Said Kingshuk Haldar, Account Director, Leo Burnett, “Our idea was to put across the righteous message for which this project was taken up and outdoor has given a wide coverage here in the city.”

The company organized a run in the city in support of the cause. It began from Rabindra Sarowar Stadium at 6 am in the morning to Golpark and back (a stretch of 5kms) and ended by 9:30am and the event was well supported by different OOH elements.

Amitosh Roy, Marcom Head (Kolkata), Uninor, further added talking about the impact of the campaign, “The impact of the campaign was beyond our hope as there were more than 1600 people running for the cause who came from various walks of life and represented all kind of age group: Kids, teenagers, middle-aged people and even senior citizens. Thus the footfall was 60% more than our expectation.”

Speaking about it, Ronit Mitra, Marcom Head (ROBW), Uninor, said, “All the possible OOH mediums were thoroughly explored to communicate such a noble initiative, be it hoardings, Bus Shelters, Pole Kiosks, Traffic Consoles or Signages and no doubt outdoor played a phenomenal role in this project of Uninor.”

Such social cause marathons organized by the brand have already taken place in four other states and Kolkata was the fourth destination to experience it. The baton has now been handed over to Maharashtra and the next destination is Pune, which will now run for a cause with Uninor.

Indian Update AD Touch being the Outdoor Media partner for this campaign worked in detail with Uninor for securing the required permissions from the respective authorities: be it the Police, the KMC or others. “A comprehensive plan was chalked out by us with the client which includes a seven-day pre-registration camp installed in the respective registration desks along with a help line number for helping the participants give directions of the entire route map and other required details,” informed Tilak Dubey, CEO, AD Touch. He further added, “There has been much appreciation from other clients regarding this unique campaign and we have even been asked to replicate similar concept for their brands.”

Further, Mr. Arunava Ghosh, Event and Activation Head, Ad Touch added, “Though there was no prize money or reward involved in the run, there was an overwhelming response which was beyond expectation.”

Said Ranjit Banerjee, Group Account Director, Mudra Max, the partner in selecting the sites for the campaign, “We being the partner in selecting the sites for the campaign, realized that there has been great awareness regarding the cause of women empowerment. The positive urge to do something became strong for the commoners as they completed the run for a cause with Uninor.”l

Cementing happiness K

onark Cement wanted to promote its brand, especially its USP brand – the Dhalai Special Cement’ using the concept of ‘Khushiyon Ki Baarish’. The campaign executed by LOMS used backlit cutouts in a big way and had some innovative elements, the kinds not seen earlier in this segment in Bihar & Jharkhand. It was basically a Backlit BQS. But the innovation was in the form of a backlit cutout of a cement bag in a GSB pattern and fitted with light inside so as to glow in the night. The entire size of the BQS front was 25x4 (WxH). The cement bag cutout projection was of 2.5’ x 03 ‘(WxH) and installed on a bus shelter above 4 feet, so as to produce good impact in the night. Both sides of the BQS was 8’x4’ in size. The campaign was executed for a period of 6 monthsl

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Indian Update

JhalakDikhhlaJaa: From the studio to the streets T

he launch of JhalakDikhhlaJaa, the Indian version of BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing and ABC’s Dancing with the Stars that went on air on June 16, 2012, was supported by an extensive OOH coverage in Over 22 cities across a wide array of 1500 high impact media touch points. The campaign that included a mixed bag of innovative ideas has been conceptualized & implemented by Milestone Brandcom. The core communication objective was to create intrigue for the upcoming show, build salience for the brand and maximize impact through high visibility, scale and innovation.

To ensure that the right audiences were reached, a high intensity OOH plan across the key target markets –Mumbai, Delhi, UP, Gujarat, MP, Maharashtra & Rajasthan and across mass media touch points varying from billboards, bus shelters, metro signages and pillars to bus panels, lift branding, station branding & utilities, was executed. The two innovations executed for the show were conceptualized around the “disco ball” element that relates directly to dance. The first was a Gigantic Disco ball at a key arterial route in Mumbai – Mahim causeway. The disco ball, sparkling

through the night was set up on a rotating disc. It was visible from a distance of over 500 metres. The execution ensured that every passerby stopped and glanced at it. The second execution at Juhu, Tulip Star junction, was that of a “shiny disco ball.” The hoarding was lit from various points and it appeared as if the disco ball was glistening in the night. Well, the campaign certainly seems to have generated the desired buzz and hype around the launch of the show l

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Indian Update

MTS connects

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onverge Communications, an out of home media specialist Company, has executed the outdoor advertising campaign of MTS India, the mobile telecom service subdivision of Russian Mobile TeleSystems telecommunication company. It provides wireless voice, broadband Internet, messaging and data services in India. The campaign kick-started from April and will be an ongoing initiative. The objective of the campaign was

to target professionals and the youth alike across UP and Converge Communications tapped all out-of-home platforms such as kiosks, billboards, flyers, etc for the purpose. The idea was to give MTS top of the mind recall amongst the target audience and create greater brand awareness in the North region. A large dedicated team worked on the campaign which plans to further leverage the OOH platform in the next few months l

Nestle’s outdoor ‘funda’

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estle’s “Junior Daheez” is a first of its kind product in India specially developed for growing kids. The product’s tagline is “Growth ka Naya Funda” and it is available in real fruits variants of Mango and Strawberry.

The Nestle team decided to launch the product in Delhi using an extensive out of home (OOH) campaign with more than 50 + sites in the city. The creative of the campaign developed by Publicis Capital showcased an image of a Toy Train carrying the two cups of Junior Dahi . The creative also displayed the message, “Dahi - Just for juniors ” and signed off with the promise of ‘Growth ka Naya Funda’. The innovation in the campaign included the rotating cups on the train meant to catch more eyeballs form the driving traffic. The OOH campaign was executed by Milestone Brandcom and was spread across various outdoor formats including billboards, unipoles, bus queue shelters, located at major arterials roads of Delhi to optimize impact. The brief to the agency was very clear: to deliver the most impactful plan for the launch of Junior Dahi and the team seems to have delivered just that. The campaign kicked off on May 18 and continued till the 1st week of June l

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Indian Update

OLX’s blink and capture campaign

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LX is an online classified portal service and it wanted to extend its TVC campaign to the OOH space to ensure recall and continuity of the communication.

Vivaki was roped in to execute the same. Being a new entrant in the OOH space, the brand was very clear on its brief: To continue and take the TVC to OOH, to catch TG wherever possible, create the WOW factor and maintain a low cost, economical and logical campaign. The OOH strategy was therefore to target TG on the move, at work and at leisure, create recall through frequency and spread, use a media mix of large and small formats and create specific creatives for different locations.

Thus, specific sites in different location were selected to

ensure that they catered to the traffic movement for that particular location and catchment areas. Solus clutter free media was used to ensure that the communication stood out. The campaign was executed in two metro cities i.e.. Delhi and Mumbai. Given the budget constraints, the campaign was strategized economically to gain maximum out of minimum inputs. The brand message was taken to two key locations to capture the TG : the workplace and at their point of purchase.

Innovation was done at selected locations in Delhi using a 3 D cut out of the brand on billboards which was made to blink at night. This helped the brand garner greater recall during the campaign period and later l

Shuruaat outdoor se!

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et Max wanted to make a come-back after IPL and OOH was used for the same with the theme ‘Shuruaat Yahin Se’. The brand partnered with MOMS for this and the brief was to execute a high visibility OOH campaign in all the top towns and extend and

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strengthen the brand imagery as a Movie Channel.

Outdoor basically supported the TV ads for “Shuruaat Yahin se” wherein the channel highlighted certain movies that change our lives for the better. The campaign was executed in Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Pune, Lucknow and Bhopal. The creative used had snapshots of blockbuster hits & new movies and large format media was used in all the top towns with the focus being on key hoardings on main junctions and arterial routes. Frequency was created through bus side panels in Mumbai. The campaign was launched on 28th May and went on for 10 days. A total of 225 outdoor sites were used for the campaign l

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Indian Update

Toofani Activation

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ata Photon Plus is back in the OOH space and this time with projected dongles to show that TD Photon is an integral part of Web browsing. The dongles used

Sunboard cutouts with LED bordering. The concept was created by MOMS l

Vodafone’s Show Stopper

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olkata recently witnessed a unique OOH campaign of Vodafone conceptualized by Balaji Ads. It is an impactful and cost-effective campaign which had a high recall value. Show Stopper – as the name suggests, was a portable backlit LED display (3.5 kg total weight) with a GPS locating system that was carried by young and dynamic boys on their back. They went around the city attracting the target groups directly and ensured maximum visibility among the locals and tourists alike in Kolkata. The idea was about creating a fair mix of outdoor media using billboards in the form of portable backlit LED going across key traffic junctions, arterial routes and all the important stretches of the city and is a first of its kind. Some of the well-known spots it covered were Park Street, Camac street, Gariahat, Hatibagan, Hedua, Burrabazar.

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The Show Stopper helped Vodafone reach their campaign to locations where billboards couldn’t reach.

The activity went on during the evening hours and so the back-packs were lit creating the required hype in the market. This outdoor innovation was executed simultaneously in at least ten prominent areas l

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aters Corp is a company which for the past 50 years has developed innovative analytical science solutions to support customer discoveries, operations, performance, and regulatory compliance. The company decided to kick off an impactful campaign at BIAL (Bangalore International Airport) to create awareness about “Waters” by reaching out to the sophisticated and well-read passengers that comprised its TG. The brief to the agency JCDecaux therefore was to create strong brand awareness in the International arrival and common arrival areas in BIAL. Strategic locations were thus chosen to provide multiple touch points in the ambient airport environment, generating high recall.

The JCDecaux team created a dominating presence for Waters through a 3m x 29m (h x w) wall branding, a giant light box along with a state-of-the-art totem. So the moment the international arrival passengers enter the passport control zone, they are greeted by a massive wall branding of Waters, wherein the whole wall is converted into a huge message board with a striking creative highlighting their expertise in different zones of chemical testing. The impact gets stronger when passengers travel further. For example, the Giant Light box before the security control area provides repetitive recalls and so does the giant totem at the check-in area.

The repetitive exposure to Waters campaign delivers perfect visibility and helps in creating long-term recall for the brand l

Indian Update

‘Waters’ flows with the trend

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Campaign

OOH to Tango!

N Jayalakshmi (with inputs from Archana Singh)

“We believe OOH works and helps create brand’s largeness and impact, so the idea was to reach out to corporates, clients and our partners with a pure and quality impact.”

- Haresh Nayak

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osterscope India has once again designed an effective OOH campaign for adidas “Tango 12”, the Official Match Ball for the UEFA EURO 2012™ and football bootPredator Lethal Zones, which are already making waves around the world. The brand’s advertising strategy was moulded to its effective limits by embarking on an effective Out-Of-Home marketing vehicle that contributed to Adidas’ overall advertising campaign’s effectiveness.

Speaking about the boot, Tushar Goculdas, Brand Director, Adidas India said, “Insight from the world’s best a t h l e te s , l eve r a g e d through cuttingedge technology, has enabled us to introduce the most revolutionary Haresh Nayak Managing Director products. The Adidas Posterscope Group India Predator® has been the world’s most successful football boot over the last 18 years. Now it has been re-invented into its deadliest avatar, giving players the ability to dominate and win the game through unmatched ball control.”

To achieve its objectives, the company decided on locations of optimum prominence and made

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Campaign a remarkable presentation of the brand using unconventional, eye-catching methods. The focus was to give the brand’s hoardings and images, a life like experience and thus giving impetus to the campaign.

“The adidas Tango 12 is based on an iconic design which is known by players and football fans throughout the world, and it is great to see the design reinterpreted in such a creative fashion for the UEFA EURO 2012 tournament,” commented David Taylor, CEO of UEFA Events SA. Speaking on the campaign, Haresh Nayak, Managing Director, Posterscope Group India said, “We believe OOH works and helps create brand’s largeness and impact, so the idea was to reach out to corporates, clients and our partners with a pure and quality impact. Hoarding as a medium does not allow for much innovation, as almost all is done and dusted with, but we were able to deliver two very unique and different pieces of work.”l

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OAC 2012 Asia 2011

OAC 2012: Two days of Disruption!

The convention had an apt mix of brand marketers, specialist agencies, media experts, media concessionaires all speaking their mind and paving ways to disrupt the current status quo. Some of the key sessions at OAC 2012 were interesting panel discussions that ‘hit where it hurts the most.’

On 8th & 9th June’ 2012 OAC 2012 was hosted at Renaissance, Powai, Mumbai, and the event standing true to its vintage style had the Convention, Expo and Awards. This year OAC 2012 was fashioned around the theme ‘Disrupt the Status Quo’. The reason for this was obvious. You see, in spite of numerous efforts taken for significant transformations, the reality is different. Issues which are as old as the industry’s billboards continue to plague us. Thus, it was time to leverage OAC 2012 as a platform to try and ‘Disrupt the Status Quo’.

The interactions and plan for actions that happened at the Convention reflected well the vision and aim with which the theme was zeroed on. Day one of OAC 2012 convention had an enriching start with the Keynote Address of Mr. Ranjan Kapur, Country Manager – India, WPP an industry veteran who kept the audience spellbound with his suave style as he shared his valuable wisdom and spoke on the topic “Adapting the snowball parable for the OOH Industry in India”. His session set the perfect tone for the two day convention.

What followed was a blend of straight talk, collaborative ideas, and passionate and open discussions. The convention had an apt mix of brand marketers, specialist agencies, media experts, media concessionaires all speaking their mind and paving ways to disrupt the current status quo. Some of the key sessions at OAC 2012 were interesting panel discussions that ‘hit where it hurts the most’.

We had, ‘Cutting the OOH Gordian Knot’ Panel Discussion which was moderated by Sandip Tarkas, President Consumer Strategy (Future Group), and CEO Future Media, CEO (T24) and Meenakshi Menon, Founder &

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OAC 2012 Chairperson, Spatial Access, Kartik Sharma, Managing Director, Maxus who were the panelists and together they tried to untie the Gordian Knot of measurement in OOH by sharing their views and experience. The core point of discussion was: Even if you don’t have the metric in place, how do you grow your share in the pie?

Thus the discussion, instead of cribbing about the lack of metrics, gave workable alternatives that ensure big changes

The one idea that came through was that ‘Best practices’ and ‘Success stories’ would help fill the gap until metric comes in. Also, the onus of having a metrics in place is on media owners; they need to drive the mission as that needs to be driven by media owners as it is about their medium. Thus the discussion, instead of cribbing about the lack of metrics, gave workable alternatives that ensure big changes.

We also witnessed a straight talk in the Panel Discussion “Oligopsony: The arguments for opportunists versus obligation” which was moderated by Ajay Kakkar, CMO – Financial Services, Aditya Birla Group and the panelists saw participation from both ends, the media concessionaires, and specialist agency. It was a debate on a situation involving a few buyers and many sellers, and the causes and its consequences of this. We had Pawan Bansal, COO, Jagran Engage who brought out the typical frictions that prevail between media owners and agencies which are a clear result of Oligopsony, while Hemanth Shah, MD, Lintas Initiative Outdoor said the issue lay in the approach wherein the pitch does not begin with a brief at the core but with the media owners’ property at the heart. And Mandeep Malhotra followed with an interesting point of view: it’s quintessential for the OOH industry and its stakeholders to be opportunists but in the right sense, i.e. by inculcating the future in today’s action and growth. He used the old fable about a fight between two cats and the monkey taking the cake and walking away to drive home his point . Thus he drew the audiences’ attention towards the growing digital medium and the fact that if the OOH industry continues to compete internally, the external factors would grab

the opportunity and the share of the clients’ media pie.

Lucidly amalgamating all these point of views Ajay Kakkar, concluded by urging the industry to self-regulate and stop being petty. Adding a dash of humour, he quipped, “Or do we need an Aamir Khan to take up the OOH issues in the next episode of Satyamev Jayate?”

Well, all in all, they were two engrossing and action packed days. OAC 2012 sure managed to ‘Disrupt the Status Quo’ in some ways. Milestone Brandcom and Times OOH sponsored OAC 2012 and supported the need for disruption.

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OAC 2012 Asia 2011

OAA 2012: DDB Mudra, Milestone Brandcom steal the show

The creative jury constituted the best brains in the Indian advertising. They intricately observed, analyzed the idea, the execution and impeccably evaluated the entries. The media jury was an apt blend of brand marketers, specialist agency experts and media professionals and being the ones who live and breathe the medium, they sure put their best foot forward to ensure that the most deserving wins

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It was a day of recognition and celebration. On 9th June’ 2012 the Outdoor Advertising Industry celebrated themselves and their work as OAA 2012 honored and recognized people who have contributed to contemporizing, energizing and leveraging the possibilities in OOH for best effect.

Incidentally, this year OAA 2012 marked a new record by receiving the highest number of entries in its history: a total of 588 entries. This overwhelming response reflects the growing popularity of Outdoor Advertising Awards and the fervor with which the entries compete. The 588 entries were judged by two separate jury panels, one for the creative and the other for the media entries respectively and the judging was done separately on two different days. The creative jury constituted the best brains in the Indian advertising. They intricately observed, analyzed the idea, the execution and impeccably evaluated the entries.

The media jury was an apt blend of brand marketers, specialist agency experts and media professionals and being the ones who live and breathe the medium, they

sure put their best foot forward to ensure that the most deserving wins.

This year we also had an Ernst & Young team manage, oversee and audit the whole process, which sure is a mark and testimony to the authentication of OAA. Coming to the most awaited itself, a total of 53 metals were given out on the Awards evening, of which there were 18 Golds, 21 Silvers, and 14 Bronze. With 14 metals in their kitty DDB Mudra Max was leading, closely followed by Milestone Brandcom who took home 9 metals. And then there was Group M-Dialogue Factory and Bates Wallstreet who won 3 metals, followed by MOMS Outdoor Media Solutions, JWT, Lintas Initiative Outdoor and Platinum Communications among the other winners.

On the Media Concessionaire’s side JCDecaux India walked away with Gold in the National Media Owner of the Year category, followed by Atin Promotions & Advertising who won a Silver. Times Innovative Media (TIM) won the Bronze. Pioneer Publicity Corporation won a Gold in the Zonal Media Owner of the year (East) category, while Times Innovative Delhi Airport took the Gold in the Zonal Media Owner of the Year North Category. Macromedia Digital Imaging won the ‘Printer of the Year’ Award; and in the International Category Encyclomedia Networks won a Silver for its McDonald’s campaign.

Here are the Winners of OAA 2012. http://www.oacasia.org/winners2012.html

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OAC 2012

Innovation is the key: Industry leaders unlock newer dimensions Yogesh Kamath

Innovation emerged as the single most important factor in ‘Disrupting the Status Quo’ during the Panel Discussions on Day 1 of OAC 2012. Here’s a detailed update.

“If we start asking ourselves the question “why not?” for everything that we do, then it is most likely that we will find solutions that are out of the ordinary”

From L to R- Navin Talreja, Managing Partner, Ogilvy Mumbai; Sunder Hemrajani, Managing Director, Times Innovative Media Ltd, Nabendu Bhattacharya, Founder and MD, Milestone Brandcom; and Mukesh Manik of Man-in-Charge at Encyclomedia

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AC 2012 Day 1 was kick-started with an insightful keynote from stalwart Ranjan Kapur. This was followed by the first panel discussion of the convention on ‘INNOVATION - A Strategy for Survival & status quo? Or Differentiation and growth?’ which addressed the most prominent issue facing the industry. The panellists, all leaders in shaping innovative work in the country, thus positioned innovation as the single most important factor for survival and growth.

The first panel discussion of the OAC 2012 delved directly into the year’s central theme i.e. ‘Disrupt the status quo’ and the panel included industry leaders – Navin Talreja, managing partner, Ogilvy Mumbai; Sunder Hemrajani, managing director, Times Innovative Media Ltd; Nabendu Bhattacharya, founder and MD, Milestone Brandcom; and Mukesh Manik of Man-in-Charge at Encyclomedia. The panel literally disrupted the status quo in more ways than one – Navin who moderated the panel actually started the session sitting amidst the audience symbolising the view that there is “no point looking at the same places and hoping that the solution will be different”. He set the discussion in motion by presenting some OOH success stories from around the world and wondered aloud why such work couldn’t happen in India even as he presented some challenges and threw light on the solutions. Nabendu then took to the stage and as a reply to Navin presented some very innovative Indian OOH case studies. He did agree however that there were still many challenges and that there was a need for newer solutions.

Sunder gave a macroeconomic perspective to the discussion and highlighted the importance of meaningful innovation while speaking about his company’s experience as the leading provider of digital outdoor in the country.

Mukesh, on a lighter note, disrupted the status quo by presenting himself with a shower robe. And having driven home the point that he was relaxed, having just stepped out of the shower, he went on to highlight how innovations in creatives in outdoor can have unparallel results.

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“If we start asking ourselves the question “why not?” for everything that we do, then it is most likely that we will find solutions that are out of the ordinary,” announced Navin Talreja as he set the discussion into motion. He went on to wonder “why we can’t do OOH like the US, Europe and Tokyo?” And the proceeded to answer the question himself by stating the obvious and expected answers such as “oh there are 15000 players, we can’t consolidate, we are not tracked not measured, there are no entry exit barriers, US and Europe are very advanced etc“. And picking on the last point, he pointed out that these so called “advanced countries” were in the midst of a deep crisis while India is better positioned to drive innovation and change the status quo. To seek further answers, he invited the panel on to the stage.

Nabendu Bhattacharya spoke next as he shared case studies. These included: Vodafone - the brand that spent 50% of their budget on OOH until they went national and used land, water and sky in outdoor to put across their messages; Amul – one of the country’s best brand built only on outdoor and still relevant after 50 years; DNA – the brand that launched exclusively on outdoors, with 95% of the budget on OOH and overachieved its sales target; Mc Donald’s spicy OOH campaign executed in a few cities which travelled across the country to become a social media rage and a media tutorial; Colors for ‘khatron ke khiladi’ - the first ever video billboard in India with 3D mapped projection technology. Well, as he pointed out, these Indian cases proved beyond doubt that we are not short of innovative ideas and content though we may not be consistently so.

Nabendu then took the audience through some key challenges which are three fold – n Lack of unified common currency for the industry – a media planner’s nightmare and as a result of which the OOH is left with a residue budget and “bought on guts”.

Problem of plenty! – 20,000 players, no common rules and so it’s difficult for stakeholders to invest. The solution only lies in standing united, he opined.

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Understand the medium & its potential – there is a dire need to explore the potential of the medium and here the agencies have to pull up their socks, according to him.

n

Nabendu also shared some data on the OOH industry’s performance internationally: Digital OOH Growth was 17X faster than overall US ad growth with 50% growth YoY. Europe, he said, ticked 13% growth rates in 2011 when the world average was 5.5%. He concluded that these growth rates were a result of: reducing clutter, increasing creative opportunity, technology, customer engagement and better measurement systems.

Finally Nabendu came up with a list of suggestion, a list obviously backed by over two decades of experience in the field: His suggestions included these: There is a serious need to come together for regulations related issues. He also suggested more public utility solutions such as city beautification, public conveniences, solutions for complimenting the city architecture and eco-friendly solutions among others. Coming back to the question that the topic presented, Nabendu was very clear that innovation is a strategy for differentiation and growth. He summed up with these words, “Outdoor is the only medium with ‘life as a backdrop’ so go Social, Local and Mobile for innovation.”

Sunder Hemrajani then took up from where Nabendu had left off during last year’s OAC where he had highlighted the need for integrity in any organization or industry.

Sunder began by showing the macroeconomic picture affecting the business and spoke of the global economic uncertainty and the cautious approach in ad spending.

He said, “Volatile market conditions are problematic yet pose as an opportunity to India.” After a brief political, economic, social and technological analysis of the industry, he called for a redefinition of market strategies.

Here he drove home the point that innovation will play a key role, and presented the following imperatives for growth: - Differentiation through Innovation, Customer Centric Solution - Delivering ROI, Integrated solutions and Customized Approach, Dominating the Path to Purchase and Productivity Enhancement.

He also presented a framework for innovation based on the work of innovation guru V Govindarajan built on a 4 phased process of category understanding, concept development, concept prioritization and entry plan. He connected these phases with an example of how his company launched the new BMW Mini in the Delhi airport. Coming as he does with 30 years of industry experience on both sides of the table: i.e. the client side and now the media owner’s side, he clearly communicated this message to the industry: “Don’t sell sites, sell solutions”. He also stressed on the need to infuse digital with outdoor advertising to ensure systematic growth of the industry.

And, as for his take on the topic, he agreed that innovation is a strategy for differentiation and growth.

He concluded saying, “It’s not about the technology; we have the technology and it’s not so expensive… what really needs to change is the mindset, not only of your organization but also of the whole industry.”

OAC 2012

There is a need to bring some method to the madness, he suggested.

The Man-in-charge at Encyclomedia, Mukesh Manik, was the man in-charge on stage next. He began with pure basics i.e. defining the word innovation – after some dictionary meanings he came up with the one that most aptly defines innovation for the OOH industry.

He pointed out, “To be called an innovation, an idea must be replicable, at an economical cost and must satisfy a specific need for which people will pay.”

Having established the basics, Mukesh then went on to emphasize the three questions one needs to ask before innovating in order to make it more meaningful and impactful - Is it disruptive? Is it memorable? Is it scalable?

He cited the example of the Coke’s ‘Brrr’ campaign in India that his company executed and which was adoptable right from the billboards, to bus wraps and to bus seat backs, among other outdoor mediums. He then touched upon an interesting dimension of innovation i.e. rewards for innovation to different stakeholders.

His point was this: “The creative agency gets peanuts, the specialist agency gets more awards, the media owner gets a headache and the client gets 3 seconds more of attention from the prospects.” He added that innovations would sustain in the industry if everyone is rewarded and the common reward for all is money.

“Outdoor is the only medium with ‘life as a backdrop’ so go Social, Local and Mobile for innovation.”

Results through innovation formed the next important part of his presentation where he highlighted how a well designed and creative message can achieve targeted results and also surpass them – he cited an example of his client Colgate Max-fresh who wanted people to ‘SMS’ to get free samples. Mukesh here displayed multiple creative options and showed how the one that was selected led to an increase in the campaign reach from 30 sites to 80 sites, and also increased the duration from 3 weeks to 6 weeks. Apparently, the team also achieved an astounding figure of more than 39000 SMSes from the prospects. Along similar lines he shared an example of how a McDonald’s outlet in Johannesburg increased its footfalls by 600% purely on the basis of appealing creatives and right placement.

Mukesh concluded with these thought provoking words, “Let’s light up the whole tunnel so that we don’t have to wait for the light at the end of the tunnel” He also suggested erasing the ‘or’ and replacing it with ‘and’ so as to rephrase the topic thus: Innovation - A Strategy for Survival, status quo, differentiation and growth.

The panel concluded unanimously with the fact that innovation should lead not just to interruptions but also to engagement and to experiences that are scalable to create the maximum impact. Everyone present also agreed that outdoor has the maximum appetite for innovation and that we should aim at integration of social media, PR and outdoor through innovation to disrupt the status quo, to differentiate and to grow l

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All For A Common Currency OAC 2012

Rajiv Raghunath

The Indian OOH industry is well aware that ‘no metric’ could entail ‘no moolah’. Industry bodies are taking concerted steps to build a robust OOH audience measurement system. But are all stakeholders seized of this imperative? Read on.

“The industry’s (in UK) consensual approach did not mean there were no differences on what would be the best approach.

Every stakeholder was guided by its own agenda, hence delays in the adoption of the common currency were inevitable. The global economic slowdown too had its impact.

However, the greater goal of putting in place a credible audience measurement system was not lost on the industry. The fact that the POSTAR research was managed by an independent body helped the cause.”

From L to R : Punitha Arumugam - Director - Agency Business - Google India; Abhijit Sengupta - CEO - OAP & Touchpoint and Sumeet Pahwa - General Manager – Marketing - Tata Teleservices

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s the Indian out-of-home (OOH) industry lays out the veritable red carpet to a wider range of advertising brands, there is a concurrent demand for a common currency to assess the returns from OOH advertising.

Over the years, most brands have taken the OOH route governed by their ‘gut feel’ rather than any informed decision based on commonly accepted measurement metrics. As a result, advertising brands have tended to put their money on media like TV, print and online which have independent measurement metrics, with only the residue going to OOH. The common refrain in the OOH industry is – ‘No Metric, No Moolah!’.

Speaking on the theme of OOH measurement metrics at the recently held OAC 2012 in Mumbai, Abhijit Sengupta, CEO, OAP and Touchpoint, proffered that while the OOH industry has managed to do business without a common currency, global trends suggest the approach must change. Noting that the OOH agencies are the only protagonists for measurement metrics over the last five years, he said that the industry effort to adopt a common currency has hardly yielded any tangible results.

Sengupta cited the example of how the UK outdoor industry has ushered in a highly evolved measurement mechanism, with the support of all industry stakeholders. At the event, Sengupta shared a recorded video conversation he had with Andrew Atherton, an industry veteran who is principally involved in developing

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and introducing the UK audience measurement systems POSTAR 1 & 2. Sengupta used the video conversation to depict how UK’s media agencies, planning & specialist agencies, media owners and clients had joined forces to make a success out of POSTAR 1, and now POSTAR 2.

POSTAR 1 essentially catered to the roadside media.

But as OOH spends in the UK got equally distributed between roadside and non-roadside outdoor media, POSTAR 2 was developed to cover all OOH environments based on a robust travel survey.

Reflecting on the UK experience, Atherton said that the industry’s consensual approach did not mean there were no differences on what would be the best approach.

Every stakeholder was guided by its own agenda, hence delays in the adoption of the common currency were inevitable. The global economic slowdown too had its impact. However, the greater goal of putting in place a credible audience measurement system was not lost on the industry. The fact that the POSTAR research was managed by an independent body helped the cause.

Research of this nature is resource-intensive, so the moot question is, who should invest in it. In the case of UK, media agencies and clients started to see value in POSTAR as they believed that outdoor had started to speak their language. As a result, outdoor started becoming part of a multi-media schedule, and media owners and media started to see their revenues rise.

Sengupta made a point that in conducting the Indian Outdoor Survey (IOS) travel surveys were found to be prohibitively expensive. So he asked Atherton if smaller sample studies or alternative traffic surveys could be used in such circumstances. To this, Atherton said in the UK the alternative travel surveys did not meet the needs of the time. “It was all about POSTAR wanting direct control of all the travel surveys,” he said, adding, “What Indian OOH industry needs will depend on whether all the stakeholders are talking the same language.”

Typically, a common currency will help the industry increase its margins in a boom time, and stay buoyed in tight market conditions. Sengupta stated that currently as advertising budgets in India get slashed owing to extraneous factors, OOH goes out of the media schedule.

“The media that is being used is the media that can be measured, namely, TV, press and radio,” he said.

Media Research Users Council (MRUC) has over time made concerted efforts to bring in a robust audience measurement system. Currently, the technical committee of MRUC has given the entire research responsibility to one single agency. Referring to this arrangement, Sengupta asked Atherton if it would be wise to invest such a responsibility in a single agency. On this, Atherton responded that it was important for the project to be managed by a central controlling agency supported by independent expert agencies and individuals. “For POSTAR, Birkback University contributed to the visibility studies, Telmar for the modeling process, IPSOS for the delivery system, and Experia for other databases and to stitch data together,” he explained.

The Contrarian View The clarion call for a common currency in the OOH domain does not mean that ad spends are entirely predicated to the metrics. Puneeta Arumugham, Director - Agency Business, Google India, substantiated this view with stats on media performance over a 10year period. Arumugham pointed out that TV which has an evolved audience measurement system accounts for 45% of all ad spends, or an estimated Rs 30,000 crore. Over the last 10 years, this media has seen a minimum annual growth of 2% and a maximum of 24%.

Print, which also has an evolved measurement system, accounts for 41% of all ad spends. This media recorded a maximum annual growth of 28%, while the lowest growth was (-)21%.

Digital which has “more data than anyone would want” accounts for 5% of total ad spends. This media recorded a maximum annual growth of 57% while the lowest growth was (-)25%. Radio, which has a 4% share of ad spend, recorded a highest growth of 68%, in contrast to a year of (-)2% degrowth. Cinema, which has no metric in place, recorded a stupendous 90% growth in 2007 and a lowest degrowth of (-)20%. Outdoor which has a 5% share of ad spends recorded a highest growth of

28% and a maximum degrowth of (-)20% in the 10-year period.

OAC 2012

Everyone benefited from the approach, said Atherton.

POSTAR induced the media to invest in new product types. “Ultimately, having a single trading currency was an important cog in the wheel,” he observed.

It follows from the above that media with defined metrics grew in the range of 57% to (-)21% whereas media with no metrics grew in the range of 90% to (-)20%. Referring to these trends, Arumugham said there is no correlation between revenue growth and measurement metrics. For instance, radio’s growth tapered even as it adopted the Radio Listenership Survey in 2009.

She added that the metrics do not necessarily push up the ad yields either. Yield comes from the sales and marketing effort. This is evidenced by the fact that in the FMCG sector, only 50% of the ad spends are linked to data. Niche TV channels too attract ad spends by virtue of their sales and marketing and unique positioning and not on viewership data alone. “Instinct is just as important as any analysis that comes out of data-sets.

Qualitative assessment is better than an over analysis of data,” she reckoned, adding, “You need a metric -- a return on whatever rather than RoI”.

But, should the OOH domain sidestep the need for measurement metrics? The answer is perhaps in the negative. Sumit Pahwa, GM – Marketing, Tata Teleservices, who heads national media for Tata Docomo & Virgin Mobile, said in his presentation that audience measurement metrics would help the OOH industry attract new advertising brands, many of which will take the plunge only on the basis of concrete figures served to them. The metrics would also enhance the medium accountability to the advertisers.

Pahwa said that metrics will help advertisers obtain a comparative view of the returns. He added that the metrics should enable a proper impact assessment of the advertising campaigns in each medium.

“Audience measurement metrics would help the OOH industry attract new advertising brands, many of which will take the plunge only on the basis of concrete figures served to them.

The metrics would also enhance the medium accountability to the advertisers.”

In the interactive session, Shashi Sinha, Senior Vice President & National Head - Media Assets ( including Airports), Laqshya Media, pointed out that many OOH firms are relying on their own proprietary metrics, so metrics are not entirely absent in the OOH business.

He also observed that the measurement metrics used

by TV and print may not be so accurate to justify the budget spends. “So a common OOH currency should indeed be adopted even if there are certain shortfalls.

The inaccuracies can be evenly distributed,” he said.

Noomi Mehta, Chairman, India Outdoor Advertising Association (IOAA) & CMD, Selvel One Group, informed the audience that IOAA and MRUC are undertaking an outdoor survey and an adex study that will lead to a new IOS. He asserted that for a study to become a common currency “more people need to subscribe to it”.

Global media and advertising trends suggest that the adoption of audience measurement metrics will become non-negotiable for all OOH stakeholders. However, data analysis alone will not yield great revenues. Sound business intelligence, and strong sales and marketing, combined with data analysis, will deliver the goods for the OOH industry in the coming times l

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The Alexandrian Solutions!

OAC 2012

Reena Mehta

For long, Measurement in Out-of-Home as a phenomenon has made ‘NATO (No Action, Talk Only)’ its status quo; so much so that the issue is a standing metaphor for the infamous Gordian Knot. Thus Outdoor Advertising Convention 2012, standing true to its theme of ‘Disrupt the Status Quo’ yet again brought this topic to the center stage, but the aim this time around was not just to mull over it, but to have renowned experts discuss, debate and pave their way into finding an Alexandrian Solution to this issue, i.e. Cutting the Gordian Knot. Read on to know the action that unfolded on-stage.

“OOH is not just a mere medium, it is an ecosystem which is host to many mediums and thus if a currency has to evolve it has to be accepted by all, thus the key questions while setting up a currency include: who decides what the currency ought to be? Who will execute it? And most importantly who will pay for it?”

From L to R- Sandip Tarkas, President – Customer Strategy (Future Group) and CEO (Future Media), CEO (T24); Meenakshi Menon, Founder & Chairperson, Spatial Access and Kartik Sharma, Managing Partner, Maxus

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he Panel discussion, ‘Cutting the Gordian Knot’ took place on day two of Outdoor Advertising Convention 2012, we had Sandip Tarkas, President – Customer Strategy (Future Group) and CEO (Future Media), CEO (T24) India moderating the session. Meenakshi Menon, Founder & Chairperson, Spatial Access and Kartik Sharma, Managing Partner, Maxus were the panelists. Collectively we had experts who understand measurement in utmost details and they surely were a potent way to find the much needed Alexandrian solution to ‘Disrupt the Status quo’ of ‘No measurement thus stagnated growth rate’. The session followed a set format, where in the moderator took the podium first and put across his point and plan forth giving the session its initial momentum. He was then followed by the panelists who took 15 minutes each to share their individual perspectives on the topic, post which a discussion and interaction was initiated, which delved on specific points.

Sandip opened the session by simplifying the jargon ‘Gordian Knot’ for the audience. “As the Greek legend has it Gordian Knot was an intricate knot tied by King Gordian of Phrygia as a gesture to show his gratitude. A knot which although tried by many could not be untied, until Alexander the great came in with his sword after hearing an oracle promise that whoever could undo it would be the next ruler. And thus Alexander, simply cut the Gordian knot with his sword,” explained Sandip. Thus from a layman’s angle Gordian knot is an exceedingly complicated problem, a deadlock which can only be cut and not untied. “In our OOH industry too, media owners, advertisers and specialist agencies are tied up in a Gordian knot of sorts. OOH as we all know is one

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of the largest medium which doesn’t have a currency.

There is a lot of research which happens sporadically from different pockets but we still don’t have an industry accepted currency, a norm which is both a trading as well as planning currency. Does it really matter though? Do we really need it? Are some questions we will attempt to answer through this discussion!” Sandip indicated.

OOH is not just a mere medium, it is an ecosystem which is host to many mediums and thus if a currency has to evolve it has to be accepted by all, thus the key questions while setting up a currency include: who decides what the currency ought to be? Who will execute it? And most importantly who will pay for it? With these questions Sandip urged Kartik, who has been a planner all his life, someone who has remained true to his calling and Meenakshi, who has offered the industry the closest to what can be called the first possible Alexandrian solution i.e. IOS 1 to share their opening remarks one after the other.

“We all intuitively know that Outdoor works, some of its clear benefits are high reach, high frequency, innovative formats and impact. With so many virtues why the outdoor industry is under continuous pressure and has got itself into the Gordian knot is the big question. While there are many view points, I have distilled them to two,” began Kartik.

Share Best Practices – In Kartik’s view while the outdoor market is quite vibrant, the industry has not been able to come together and put together practices with respect to OOH which work in India. He shared some examples like Advertising Research Foundation, Think

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If you cannot measure it, you cannot control it – “Something that is not measured will get cut; a phenomenon that OOH experienced during the 2009 recession, which was the first medium to experience budget cuts. A clear indication of the fact that measurement is an inevitable need for OOH,” asserted Kartik. He urged the audience and the industry to learn from the new media like internet, and also shared examples of international research which used neuroscience to measure the impact of transit medium.

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And with this he left the audience with three action points to ponder and act upon: 1. Build a culture of sharing best practices – “Only through sharing can we grow, a very simple idea like a common portal which has all the principles on OOH planning, case studies, about new format usage, could be the starting point,” Kartik suggested.

2. Look at new ways of measuring the medium – Like digital technology, and mobile.

3. It’s all about attitude, you need to be a Jugaad innovator Meenakshi took over after Kartik and in her strong vintage way went on to share her views on this issue, starting with a story of Spatial Access introducing a concept called null TVRs in 2003 wherein if a spot has run on TV and did not get any rating, it means the money you have put in the spot has not delivered any value and thus is a Null TVT. A concept which was fought tooth and nail by agencies and other stakeholders but in the end accepted. Sighting the reason behind narrating the story Meenakshi says, “There will always be an inherent conflict when it comes to any kind of a metric system.

There are people who want to be measured, and there are people who don’t want to be measured. But unless the industry comes together and creates a measurement system, which although may not be convenient to all players but is acceptable to all, you would not be able to go ahead. This is the fundamental problem with the OOH industry. OOH industry is committed to research but the problem is just like in every other industry, which is the syndrome of ‘not invented here, therefore not good enough for us’.

She also indicated that while everyone talks about doing something about research, when it comes to actual action, there is a paralysis of external limbs.

Taking advantage of being a neutral entity, she says,

“At Spatial Access we have this fantastic bird’s eye view of the situation and we have seen amazing bits of work happening in varied organizations with respect to measurement.” She asserted on the use of technology which is widely available, and also urged organizations to put away their petty differences aside. “Don’t hide behind myths and outdated ways of doing business if you have an idea, which is strong enough then anybody is willing to listen to you. Agencies also realize the fact that they are no longer gatekeepers of clients. Today an agency is in an as fragile position.”

She also revealed that as MRUC, while they were doing IOS, there were outdoor companies who were willing to put their money where their mouth is. And thus they had managed to get a funding of Rs 2 crores. But what went wrong with IOS was that it happened to be a static research, she said. She concluded by saying, “The fundamental truth is that clients have limited budget, they want greater value for their invested monies. In media and marketing consumers are getting more and more difficult to lock in any proposition, what is contemporary today is getting outdated tomorrow. So hopefully we can put our petty issues aside and use technology to create measurement which is meaningful.”

Collating the insights from Kartik’s and Meenakshi’s talk, Sandip initiated a discussion with specific questions on his agenda, urging the panelists to answer them. He started with: Some media owners justifiably have the fear that currency once introduced will be used to beat their rates down?

Kartik’s answer to this question was two folds, 1. Fear can only step in if the currency is one sided, like the one only created by media owners can raise questions in the mind of the user. So a currency which is acceptable by everyone is the key. 2. Currency does not beat down anyone, with this logic Google should be dead by now as they have been putting out measurement after measurement and have been heavily innovating, and also TV post measurement is set to cross print as a medium.

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Box, Outdoor Media Centre which, are international bodies doing a stellar job to share and grow the industry.

Yes! The industry has instances of organizational level competition and differences, but they need to be kept aside in the wake of the greater common good. To testify this aspect he quoted the example of Unilever and P&G companies which are at logger heads, collaborating for project Apollo, a project to understand how communication is working on consumers. It became a single currency between different media, with a lot of learning. “If the biggest rivals can see value in collaborating, then why not this industry,” Kartik wondered.

“There will always be an inherent conflict when it comes to any kind of a metric system. There are people who want to be measured, and there are people who don’t want to be measured.

But unless the industry comes together and creates a measurement system, which although may not be convenient to all players but is acceptable to all, you would not be able to go ahead.”

Adding to the thread Meenakshi, indicated the existence of historically stronger players in the absence of measurement. She also indicated that on the face every OOH player says ‘Yes we want measurement’ but behind the scenes there are many who shy away from it, reason being it will bring in accountability. But this issue is quite small compared to the growth issue OOH is facing. In her view OOH business has not really grown, while the outdoor sites have grown phenomenally. So the sheer volume of business hasn’t seen a commensurate growth in comparison to the sites. And thus the growth is static.

It is not going to expand, as without measurement no client will put Rs 20 crores in OOH, he will put Rs 2 crore and if that is the number the industry is happy with they can surely say no to measurement.

While there was unanimity in the thought that currency is needed, Sandip highlighted the complexities involved, like multiple vehicles each being consumed differently.

He thus asked the panelists to share a solution for the same l

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OAC 2012

Celebrate the streets, celebrate OOH Yogesh Kamath

The last session of OAC 2012 Day 1 left the industry introspecting and it was Santosh Padhi aka Paddy who held the mirror. The co-founder and National Creative Director of one of the topmost independent agencies in the world, TapRoot India, began by highlighting the superiority of the outdoor medium and why he feels it is ‘raste ka maal saste mein’. He then shared some case studies from around the world to make the industry realise that ‘we have not milked the street cow yet’ and concluded by making the industry realise that their medium is the ‘karta dharta’ of the future.

He went back in time to give this unique behaviour a historical perspective where he said that when the Kings had to applaud or punish they, did it outdoors.

And how - right from freedom fights to petrol hikes -issues get solved not by taking them to the parliament but to the streets of India. On a lighter but a factual note he quipped, “Even Dharmendra has to go on the water tank outdoors to demand for Basanti’s hand!”

“We need to do a lot more things and nurture this medium. We need to get there and this can only be done by coming together and doing all the little things that are required to push and get the energy level up of this medium.”

Santosh Padhi, Co-Founder and National Creative Director TapRoot India

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he man who’s agency helped the Times of India ‘Lead India’, who helped Pepsi ‘change the game’ and made us realise that ‘har ek friend zaroori hota hai,’ Santosh Padhi or Paddy as he is better known took the stage at OAC 2012 to end Day One on an introspective note. His presentation which was titled ‘Raste ka maal saste mein’ resembled the high impact campaigns that he helps create, campaigns that bring about changes in the way brands are consumed. Here Paddy was on a mission to bring about a change in the way this ‘sasta, sundar and tikau’ medium was consumed and managed by the industry practitioners.

Paddy who holds a record of most number of Cannes Lions (12), reflected his passion for the medium as he said, “This medium is very close to my heart… this is a medium through which you can express, touch people, communicate directly, there are no layers in the medium and it comes at a very little cost or even free.”

The first part of his presentation revolved around the fact that India is a nation on streets, “We love to be on the streets. Be it rains, Indians will go on the streets just to enjoy the rains, this doesn’t happen in other parts of the world; or when India wins the World Cup, when the whole nation is on streets.”

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Next it was time to question the industry and compare it with the world standards. Paddy questioned the practitioners, “Have we really been able to utlise/ explore this medium?” He continued, “I don’t think we have milked the street cow yet.” The audience was then exposed to some international examples of using the medium to the best effect, and the examples were entertaining owning to their creativity and wit, while simultaneously asking the industry a serious question: “why can’t we…?” The cases ranged across product categories and concepts but one thing that ran through the instances was that all of them were inexpensive and very creative - A fertilizer company installing a plastic plant pot at the base of large trees on the street; Polo, the mint tablet using a stamp which took the impression of the product when pressed on the snow and a person went on stamping it on the snow accumulated on cars, benches, gardens etc; the classic Playboy campaign where the magazine wanted real models for its March issue and it spread beach towels on different beaches; these towels were designed like its March issue cover without the model and when real people came and placed themselves on the towels, from a distance it looked like 100s of Playboy magazines were lying on the beach! He went on to share some more creative examples like the case of Electrolux vacuum cleaner which used an under construction building wrap to effect; or the case of a piercing studio using simple clean flat posters at tactical places where iron rings were jetting out of the walls to make it look like pierced rings -- this in fact had won a Grand Prix at Cannes Lions some years ago. He also highlighted how established brands like AXN, Tide and BBC used outdoors in simple but very impactful manner.

Paddy then clarified his intention of using these cases, “I am not saying, let’s just do these small ideas to bring the big change. We need to push this medium; we need to make people believe in this medium by doing the above stuff. We need to do a lot more things and nurture this medium. We need to get there and this can only be done by coming together and doing all the little things that are required to push and get the energy level up of

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this medium.” He reiterated the fact that other mediums have to try very hard to get noticed but for outdoor footfalls come naturally. “Chaos is built in the DNA of India and chaos means people, be it festivals, processions or traffic jams. People are already there we just need to connect with them,” he urged.

Then there was the ultimate analogy when he drove people’s attention to the fact that the Indian streets had created huge brands like Vadapavs, Chats, Golas, Cutting chais etc and places like Fashion streets, Chor bazaar and Khau galli etc.

“Can we do this for our medium?” he wanted to know. “A vadapav was started by a few people and if we come together we can all create the ‘vadapavs’ and the ‘cutting chais’ of the world,” he said explaining the analogy. Paddy’s concluding remark was like a copy directly out of one of his award winning campaigns, “This medium has the potential, there are people who are ready to consume this, they are waiting there. It’s our duty to cook and provide them what’s needed, if you think there are too many cooks spoiling it – throw them out! Get the right cooks come together, give them what they are hungry for. We have to make this the biggest medium, it’s waiting to win this battle.”

The QnA session that followed was one of the highlights of the year’s convention. Paddy called a spade a spade throughout his presentation. To a question raised by Indrajit Sen on how to popularize this medium among the young people entering advertising, he answered, “I think the major problem is the ego in the industry, there are 8-10 people from different parts of this industry who, if they come together, can solve any problem –if only 5 out of this group can keep their egos aside; if they try and understand the others’ point of views and viceversa. Once we reach the senior levels we get into a sense that whatever we say is correct. This happens in every community, it’s high time we rectify this problem in our industry,” he said to loud applause. He then reflected on a perennial problem with the medium when he addressed the question, “How to connect this idea with the clients and agencies who have been asking only for hoardings?” His reply was, “I don’t see anyone’s fault, we have collectively missed opportunities.

Around the world there are less people walking on the road but we see such good work happening there. I agree most of these opportunities have been missed by the agencies and they consider this as the last thing on their plate. Yes it’s been ignored in the last few years but that doesn’t mean that we ignore it further. We have to come together and the client has to ask the agencies to consider this as an independent medium rather than just adopt the TV and the print campaign onto outdoor.”

“This medium has the potential, there are people who are ready to consume this, they are waiting there. It’s our duty to cook and provide them what’s needed, if you think there are too many cooks spoiling it – throw them out! Get the right cooks come together, give them what they are hungry for. We have to make this the biggest medium, it’s waiting to win this battle.”

IOAA Chairman Noomi Mehta gave voice to the people’s reactions after the insightful presentation and speaking about Paddy’s love for this medium as he said, “You have made a brilliant presentation, thank you on behalf of the media specialty agencies and media owners for the tremendous faith that you are showing on outdoor. To take it practically forward, I would request you to join the platform of IOAA to help the creative thrust leap forward, which could be headed by yourself or by Mukesh (Encyclomedia Networks Pvt. Ltd.) so that it doesn’t just become yet another presentation of OAC, but actually results in some direct benefit to the industry.”

To this Paddy responded saying, “It will be an honour” thus restating his belief in the medium, proving that it was about practicing and not just preaching, and addressing the central theme of the convention -- Disrupt the status quo l

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Let’s be the right kind of Opportunists!

Reena Mehta

Amongst the many issues that have plagued the Out-of-Home industry Oligopsony is a raging one. Many Sellers, few buyers make it a lopsided market and the remote control to pricing ends up in the hands of the few buyers. Outdoor Advertising Convention 2012 looked at shaking up this status quo by having a client moderate a panel which consisted of both sides -- Media Owners and Media Specialist agencies. The discussion was about ‘Oligopsony: The arguments for Opportunism versus Obligation. Here is what happened.

“As for the question of whether buyers control the price, it is like asking a chef to make a Chapatti without kneading the dough.

Buyers are expected to massage, use their negotiation skills to bring down the price to what they believe is right.”

From L to R :- Ajay Kakar - Chief Marketing Officer - Financial Services - Aditya Birla Group; Pawan Bansal - Chief Operating Officer - Jagran Engage; Mandeep Malhotra - President - Mudra Max; Hemanth Shah - Managing Director - Lintas Initiative Outdoor

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jay Kakkar, Chief Marketing Officer – Financial Services, Aditya Birla Group a stellar client and quite a stellar moderator, steered the discussion on Oligopsony with panelists, Mandeep Malhotra, President, Mudra Max, Pawan Bansal, Chief Operating Officer, Jagran Engage and Hemanth Shah, Managing Director, Lintas Initiative Outdoor. As per the format, each panelist took 15 minutes to share their perspective, and their side of the story post which Ajay floated out some questions for them to answer and weaved a discussion into it.

Ajay began by demystifying the jargon ‘Oligopsony’, “Oligopsony is a situation where the number of buyers is fewer in comparison to the number of sellers. And the love triangle I have here with me represents all sides of the equation: media owner, media specialist agency and I the client. I have put together a set of few questions which hopefully I will have answers to by the end of the session,” Ajay inducted.

The questions for which he sought answers include:

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How Oligopsony affects all the three parties?

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Who is the winner and who is the looser in Oligopsony?

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What can be done to bring in more buyers?

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What is the reality of this industry? What is the opportunity left for this industry to tap on and grow?

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Agency and media owners, the two sides of the same coin, should compete or co-exist?

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Is it the question of business ethics v/s business opportunities?

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How do we shift control?

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What are the measures of success?

With this he invited Hemanth to take the podium and share his views on the topic. Hemanth took a very interesting angle to explain oligopsony as a situation as a phenomenon in OOH. In his view sellers can control the price only to a certain point, there isn’t an absolute control. And on the front whether buyers control the price, he satirically explained saying, “It is like asking a chef to make a Chapatti without kneading the dough.

Buyers are expected to massage, use their negotiation skills to bring down the price to what they believe is right.” And with this he brought to light the fact that discovering the pricing of a site in the OOH industry as a process is very vague, and opaque by itself. Each of the constituents, i.e. the media owners, the specialist

Having explained Oligopsony from his perspective, Hemanth went on to sight the reasons for this situation, “I think each constituent believes they have the power, Media owner feels they can buy their way into the media plan, media buyers believe they have the power to play god and decide what can come in the plan and what cannot, and clients believe that they have the power after having signed the estimate to not pay after the campaign has been pulled through. So this absolute power equation is an issue,” highlighted Hemanth.

In his view this prevails more in the OOH medium in comparison to any other, and the solution to the situation is not reduction in the power, which will only bring the

intensity down, or changing the entire status quo and infusing new thinking which sounds good theoretically but isn’t practical. “The only solution is to empower our people. Wearing the agency hat I can say that large number of times the buyers and planners who interact with media owners are not doing so objectively. They are acting on the instruction of what to buy and from whom to buy and that has a huge bearing on the output of the plan. Let us train our people and then expect accountability from them, give them authority to decide, so there is far better interaction and much better price discovery and transparency,” suggested Hemanth.

With this he concluded his presentation by sharing a gist: n

Get involved to contribute to the power of the industry

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Need to train and empower our people planners/ buyers to be accountable

At a macro level, convert white lie to truth – truth being we all need to exist as an industry and need to have a set of best practices and transparent dealings to bring better accountability

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After Hemanth, Pawan came up and made a direct and hard hitting presentation in crude Hindi by sharing

“Large number of times the buyers and planners who interact with media owners are not doing so objectively. They are acting on the instruction of what to buy and from whom to buy and that has a huge bearing on the output of the plan. Let us train our people and then expect accountability from them, give them authority to decide, so there is far better interaction and much better price discovery and transparency.”

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agencies try to convince themselves that what they are doing is the right thing and is in the interest of the industry, which in reality is a white lie in Hemant’s view.

What scores above as a priority are the selfish agendas, according to him. “The white lie is akin to a white light,” and saying so, Hemanth shared an interesting metaphor explaining Oligopsony in OOH. In the ideal world, there is a brief given by the client, processed by the agency and then given as business to media owners, which is a good situation for the media owners as he is the recipient of continuous business. While the reality is exactly the reverse, there are large numbers of media owners trying to push the media for few buyers.

And this is Oligopsony.

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some of the typical situations a media owner faces while he goes to sell his site to an agency. Right from - “Mera wala rate chahiye” to “Mujhse pooch ke tender liya tha” to “Client paisa nahi de raha hai” and finally “Chalo Friday evening ka program banate hai.”

With a punch of satire and directness he unveiled some really unacceptable practices and at the end said, “We want to be your partners and not vendors.”

“We need to wake up to the fact that competition has just risen and industries as young as 15 years, like the Social and Mobile media for instance, are taking over. We need to learn from them. In our cat fights the cake is getting smaller and other mediums are taking up the space from the brands and advertisers’ perspective and experiencing unprecedented growth.”

Post this direct talk, came a differentiated perspective wherein Mandeep urged everyone to be an ‘Opportunist’ and before you raise your brow, it was about being the opportunist of the right kind. He very lucidly defined Oligopsony as ‘Kam kreta, Zyada Vikreta’. And went on to say, “I know a lot of you think that you are optimists, some think they are pessimists, some call themselves realists and while you were discussing about the glass of water and it being half full or empty, I drank it. Sincerely yours, Opportunist!” He then drew the audience’s attention towards the term SOLOMO, which in yester years meant a solo media and those were the times when annual bookings were made and the sites were absolved of clutter. But the meaning of SOLOMO has changed today. In Mandeep’s view SOLOMO is – Social Mobile and the Lo is Local which his OOH stuck in between. “We need to wake up to the fact that competition has just risen and industries as young as 15 years, like the Social and Mobile media for instance, are taking over. We need to learn from them. In our cat fights the cake is getting smaller and other mediums are taking up the space from the brands and advertisers’ perspective and experiencing unprecedented growth,” elucidated Mandeep.

He shared some stunning statistics related to Social Media, which is growing at the rate of 100% and likely to touch 45 million users at the end of 2012. Mobile in India is growing at 126%. “Future lies in being first movers in adopting these opportunities and not in increasing display period from 10 days to 15 days,” he pointed out and saying this Mandeep shared a video which showcased the seamless technology of tomorrow.

And thus, he said, it is a must for everyone to be an Opportunist, not to reduce rates of the media but to prepare for tomorrow. And thus ended his perspective on the opportunism front. As for obligation, he said, “OOH as an industry has whined so much that it has become a commodity, and if we don’t become opportunities ‘apni sabki koi na koi lega’” and concluding his part he left the audience with three questions to ponder on: 1. Is outdoor an opportunist industry, if no why not and what should we do about it?

2. Is the competition internal or external?

3. Are we all ready in true honesty to change the game to ‘Zyada kreta, Kam vikreta’ or do we want to remain in this oligopsony?

With this it was time to debate and discuss. Ajay initiated the discussion by posing some really direct and honest questions, starting with:

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By living the Cat and Monkey story are we our own enemies?

Each of the panelist said, “‘yes! We are our own enemies”. And Mandeep rightly articulated that the race should be about getting the larger share of the advertiser and not about getting the latest Sedan in our garages.

Is an ally of interests possible in this industry?

To which the panel echoed that it is the only way, and the right thing to do.

Ajay then posing first to be a media agency and then a media owner, asked the better half a direct question.

Starting by being an agency guy Ajay asked pawan, “As media owners you outbid each other and pump in monies which are unreal in tenders. In the end, we as agencies have to bear the cost, what do you have say about it?”

To which Pawan replied, “Yes! Unrealistic bidding sure happens but this phenomenon lately has died, because media owners have realized that in the end they are in the business to earn money and not satisfy egos at the cost of survival. But the agency also needs to understand that there are certain costs which are real and attached to my property and they need to consider them.”

Post this from the media owners’ perspective, he asked the agency guys, “Are you on the client’s side or the media owner’s”?

To which Mandeep said, “I am on the better interest of the advertising side,” and Hemanth said, “It’s the client whom we represent, they are our legions.”

Summarizing this crisp discussion in style, and sharing a lesson through it, Ajay quoted a dialogue from the movie Sarkar, “Tumko nazdeek ka fayda to nazar aa raha hai, par door ka nuksaan nahi dikh raha.”

Thus, the concluding thought was: End of the day, we have been reduced to being a commodity and whether we like it or not, it’s become all about rates, price and discounts. And on the other side, tomorrow is taking over, and we are compelled to adopt it irrespective of whether we drive it or follow it. So the choice remains ours! l

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Innovation

More bang for the buck: Western Union’s new OOH pitch N Jayalakshmi (with inputs from Bhawana Anand)

Western Union decided to add some glitz to its brand communication story and in the process reiterate its standing in the segment. OOH turned out to be the perfect space to do this, thanks to a ‘Cannes Gold’ winning idea from McCann. Outdoor Asia gives you the inside story.

“Outdoor was the lead medium for this campaign. We placed these around our high-traffic money transfer outlets where we face an increase in competition by other money transfer services that have opened in the area. And with these outdoors we were able to influence choice as the customers there were going to make a money transfer.”

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he fastest way to transfer money’: This was a line synonymous with Western Union, one of the oldest and most established money transfer service companies. But a crowded market space with fast growing competition saw its USP being echoed by other players and Western Union decided to do something about it. The answer came in the form of a live demo to customers before they reached the money transfer outlets and thus creating an impact in their minds that was effective enough to influence their choice. The campaign not only seemed to have worked for the brand, but also won a Gold at the Cannes Outdoor Lions this year, making it the first and only Outdoor Lions Gold so far for an Indian entry this year.

The execution of the campaign basically worked around the concept of contrasting and detailing of two images to create the Rahul Mathew illusion of currency Executive Creative Director conversion. A low McCann Erickson contrast and a high contrast image were merged to create the effect.

As a result, one saw two different images when near and when afar respectively. For example, in one case, one saw the Dollar’s Franklin image seem from afar magically change itself into an image of Gandhi of the Indian Rupee on getting closer to the

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billboard, thus reflecting the fast money transfer process. Similar illusions were created where Yuan’s Mao changed into the Pound’s Queen and Dollar’s Lincoln changed into Riyal’s Fahd.

The billboards were placed around the brand’s hightraffic money transfer outlets which saw an increase in competition by other money transfer services. So with these outdoors, the brand was able to influence choice as the customers there were going to make a money transfer.

The campaign was done around key outlets in Punjab, Mumbai and Kerala, and included about 60 billboards which were mostly 20x20 or 40x40 in size since square billboards were best suited for this execution.

The execution of the campaign was quite expectedly fraught with many challenges. To begin with, each execution needed to be painstakingly created.

There were rounds and rounds of tests to make sure that the two images were distinctly seen from near and far. It reportedly took over two months to get the perfect execution. Besides, the billboard sites needed to be carefully chosen not only in terms of strategic location but also in terms of visibility.

Speaking about the campaign, says Rahul Mathew, Executive Creative Director, McCann Erickson “Outdoor has always been my favourite medium. It really challenges your imagination and your limits.

With outdoor one has to make a point clearly, loudly and quickly. And in this case we also had to make our

Innovation point with even more impact as it was the one piece of communication that would decide the customer’s choice. We are happy we managed to influence the choice of our customer as well as that of the Cannes’ jury.”

one of my favourite pieces from McCann this year.

It really pushes the boundaries of outdoor as a medium, changing it from being a static medium to an interactive one.” l The Creative Team behind the campaign

Rajesh Mehta

Director - Marketing Western Union

Says Rajesh Mehta, D i rec tor- M a rketi n g , Western Union, “For us at Western Union it’s sheer delight to have won the Gold Cannes for an Outdoor Campaign.

And knowing that this campaign was the first Gold won by India in 2012, it was indeed a great feeling for all of us. The campaign truly signifies the brand’s essence, capturing the product strengths instantly.

The appreciation of the campaign at Cannes is a testimony to the brand’s connect with our consumer.”

Chief Creative Director: Prasoon Joshi Executive Creative Director: Rahul Mathew Akshay Kapnadak Copywriter: Rahul Mathew Art Director: Akshay Kapnadak

“Outdoor has always been my favourite medium. It really challenges your imagination and your limits. With outdoor one has to make a point clearly, loudly and quickly. And in this case we also had to make our point with even more impact as it was the one piece of communication that would decide the customer’s choice.

We are happy we managed to influence the choice of our customer as well as that of the Cannes’ jury.”

Summing up the significance of the campaign, says Prasoon Joshi, Prasoon Joshi Executive Chairman, Executive Chairman, McCann Worldgroup India and Regional McCann Worldgroup Creative Director, McCann Asia Pacific India and Regional Creative Director, McCann Asia Pacific, “This is

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Innovation

The Magic that OOH is!

Reena Mehta (With inputs from Archana Singh)

OOH as a medium is magical, literally! AXN and Cyril a world renowned illusionist bring forth the Magic that OOH is and woo the TG with an innovation that Indian outdoor industry has never seen before. Outdoor Asia appraises this piece of OOH.

“We wanted to do something buzz-worthy to cut through the clutter which also allows Cyril to get up close and personal with his fans, hence the outdoor magic stunt on the lamp post off Carter Road.”

T

he mundane, vanilla pole kiosk for once shed its backlit image and rendered itself to be an OOH format that gave shape to a one-of-its-kind Outdoor innovation.

Continuing the thrilling experience for its audiences, AXN India brings a stimulating new dose of excitement with Cyril’s Family Vacation: Hawaii Edition show. With this show, Cyril Takayama, world’s most renowned illusionist will bring back the magic to AXN after the captivating series “Simply Cyril”. Cyril’s Family Vacation: Hawaii Edition premieres on Sunday 17th June, 2012 at 8.30 pm exclusively on AXN. A departure from the traditional street magic series that established Cyril, CYRIL’S FAMILY VACATION features a new and innovative way of magic storytelling. With one of Japan’s award winning special effects make-up teams at work, each character is brought to life with striking and convincing realism. Set against the scenic beauty of Hawaii, CYRIL’S FAMILY VACATION is an addictive magical social experiment that tests the limits of what is and is not possible.

A show with magic and illusions as its USP needed a communication point which broke all conventional rules and create an impactful presence.

Ricky Ow

Executive VP & GM, Networks, Asia Sony Pictures Television

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Sharing the core objective and thought behind the campaign Ricky Ow - Executive Vice President and General Manager, Networks, Asia, Sony Pictures Television says, “AXN and Cyril are all about innovation and the element of surprising people with something out of the ordinary. We wanted to do something buzz-worthy to cut through the clutter which also allows him to get up close and personal with his fans, hence the outdoor magic stunt on the lamp post off Carter Road. Cyril’s talent in magic is already well known, but his biggest talent is his connection to people on the ground -

his X factor which rubs on to the people whom he has met.

This is something we know through the accolades we have received from advertisers, fans, and media friends at the press conference.” Thus the X factor of Cyril was leveraged to coin an idea which was all set to enthrall the TG. What unfolded was truly a magical moment for OOH, the first ever illusion that Mumbai witnessed by world renowned illusionist “CYRIL”. Cyril charmed the spectators with an incredible stunt of hanging in the air close to a lamp post with AXN signage, at Carter road, promenade, Bandra, and left the crowd awestruck. The traffic and hundreds of people at Carter road came to a standstill when they saw Cyril up in the air at a height of over 13 feet above the ground level.

The overwhelmed crowd cheered Cyril. “Indian viewers have always loved AXN magic reality shows. We are proud to have amazing world class talent such as Criss Angel, David Blaine, and now Cyril. As the 2007 ‘Magician of the Year’, Cyril was recognized among his peers for his achievement in innovation. His first AXN series, Cyril: Simply Magic, did extremely well in India. With India as a priority market, Cyril made it a point to head down to meet his fans,” Highlights Ricky.

While the campaign garnered an overwhelming response, to pull off an act like this sure had its share of challenges, specially related to facility and logistics management. As the campaign attracted a more than expected media and TG turnout extensive coordination was needed to perform in an outdoor location due to concerns like safety, traffic flow and crowd control. “We are pleased that our events agency, Pentagon, worked to overcome all odds and ensure the success of the campaign,” concludes Ricky l

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Ambient Advertising

Ambush against AIDS! Reena Mehta (With inputs from Archana Singh) Making ambient use of Condoms, Crossroads, a strategic and creative thinking Brand communication agency, managed to educate the target audience in an effective manner. Outdoor Asia gets to know more about this public interest initiative and etches out the classic role of OOH as a medium in this campaign.

This ambient use of Condom helped Crossroads make the message direct and hard hitting and also made the target audience i.e. the transitory truck drivers and cleaners, pick them up right away for themselves. Thus it triggered immediate action.

A

IDS as a disease is sure a burning problem that our country faces and it has been long established that the core carriers of this deadly disease are truck drivers and cleaners who fall into the trap due to ignorance.

To educate them and work for greater common good, the Karnataka State Aids Prevention Society (KSAPS) commissioned Crossroads, a brand communication agency, to ideate and execute a campaign which not just educates but also ensures immediate action.

Comprehending this larger cause, Crossroads coined a theme which was summated in a line ‘Just One Step to Safety: Use Condom; Fear or Doubt, Test is the Best’. The theme clearly talked about the imperative use of condom and also highlighted the fact that it’s best to undergo an HIV test when in doubt or fear of it. Instead of merely communicating this message in a plain vanilla way, Crossroads decided to drive the point home by planning and executing an ambient media and activity at key target intersections which were identified by KSAPS. Thus Crossroads created a display which read ‘Erase HIV use Condoms’ and this message was made using Condoms. “The idea was to keep the essence and the objective similar, and make the whole exercise of distributing the condoms the ‘Medium of Communication,’” explains Sai Natkar, Business Manager, Crossroads.

This ambient use of Condom helped Crossroads make the message direct and hard hitting and also made the target audience i.e. the transitory truck drivers and cleaners, pick them up right away for themselves. Thus it triggered immediate action. The traditional medium of

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educative demo was also plugged in to harbor further effectiveness and spread increased awareness.

The campaign was deployed across 20 intersection points in Karnataka. And the dipstick study post the campaign revealed that the campaign managed to reach about 1500 people and thus that many condoms were distributed.

Well, this campaign is yet another example of a simple but really effective use of OOH l

Brand Talk

Uninor: Reaching the last mile Nabamita Chatterjee

The Telecom sector has been a steady investor when it comes to Outdoor as a platform. The constant promotions in different tariff plans and the bigger brand building objectives are well supported by OOH as a medium. Outdoor Asia digs into the outdoor advertising strategy of Uninor to explore its approach towards this industry.

U

“

“At the very beginning, generally three types of shots of the site are provided for selection namely, long-distance, short-distance and top- down and then we again short list.

Monitoring is done on a daily basis with the help of a software and we get the report the very next day with the picture and link which helps us keep track of the sites.”

ninor shares a strong co-relation with OOH from the very beginning and, historically in Bengal where we have had a spectacular launch in the year 2010, outdoor was the dominant medium. The company during the time of its launch had spent around 45% of the advertising budget on outdoor, though the percentage has decreased to 35% now. But OOH is still a constant reminder medium which is cost-effective as well as hugely helpful,” says Mr. Ritesh Singh, Circle Business Head, West Bengal. The words strongly reflect the company’s approach towards Outdoor.

To begin with, the company has been p e r s i s te n t l y c o m i n g up with innovative Ritesh Singh Circle Business Head - West Bengal outdoor campaigns.

Uninor For example, it recently developed mini hoardings or miniature billboards which are mainly present in the C & D towns of Bengal where other larger OOH formats are not available. The structures are placed on temporary bamboo or iron poles with sizes varying from 20/15 or 15/15. Currently there are round 600 of them. This, as Mr. Anirban Pal Chowdhury says, ensures that the communication reaches the last mile.

These days Uninor is also coming up with newer innovations and extensions of OOH such as wall paintings which really enhance product branding, besides highway paintings, shutter paintings etc.

Uninor is also a big presence in other outdoor projects such as beautification of parks, major tourist spots, transit spots such as stations, bus stands, market area & other locations where people congregate and communicate. Outdoor being one of the most crucial mediums for the brand, site selection is done keeping in mind the long distance view, main roads and crossing points where brand visibility is maximum.

When asked about the peculiarities of the eastern zone, explains Mr. Anirban Pal Chowdhury, “Here the

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dependency is mainly on the traditional billboards but for the last one and half years, companies have started looking for innovative formats. Uninor has played a great role in it.” The company’s creative agency Leo Burrnet and its outdoor partner Mudra Max carve out effective OOH solutions. While initiating any such ideas, Uninor aims at communicating the message ‘Pay less Talk more’.

Thus call rates have become the main focus of the brand’s communication platform. For example, the latest service (service at 30 paise call rates) is the current focus of all brand communication and the brief given to the agency also revolves around this, says Mr. Singh.

Monitoring being a very challenging area of OOH, a special team from Mudra Max takes care of this for Uninor. The agency also select sites on their behalf. “At the very beginning, generally three types of shots of the site are provided for selection namely, long-distance, short-distance and top- down and then we again short list. Monitoring is done on a daily basis with the help of a software and we get the report the very next day with the picture and link which helps us keep track of the sites,” says Mr. Chowdhury.

In terms of other OOH options and innovations, Mr. Singh feels that hoardings with blinkers or tech-based newer options should be more available. This is particularly important given that the eastern regions lack the steady growth in numbers in terms of execution of ideas.

But overall the company’s thrust on OOH has obviously borne fruits. “Uninor has become the fourth preferred brand within a very short time as our journey started here just two years back & in terms of gross ads we are Number 3. In terms of incremental revenue on a month to month basis, we are in the second position,” claimed Mr. Chowdhury.

Well, one can safely conclude that here’s one brand for whom outdoor is a significant medium for communicating with the larger audience and which is also generating extremely satisfactory results l

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Resources

Aluminium Composite Panel Manufacture Aluco Panels Limited D-19/3,Okhla Industrial Area, Phase-II, New Delhi-110020.India Phone : 011-26386641/42/43 Fax : 011-41403248, Mob: 09810192105 Email : deepak_indobond@yahoo.co.in Website: www.indobond.com

Digital Printing

Printech Digital Imaging Pvt. Ltd. #207/2, Near Bhanu Nursing Home, Bommanahalli, Bangalore – 560 068.

Tel: 080 4061 1800/ 06 Fax: 2573 2266 Email: prasad_b@mac.com www.printechdigital.net Vijas Digital (India) Pvt. Ltd. Vijas House, C-1, Cama Estate, Walbhat Road, Goregaon (E), Mumbai - 400 063.

Tel: +91-22-4068 3700 www.vijasgroup.com

Machine & Material Ess Dee Nutek Infinities Pvt. Ltd. IInd Floor, Orchid Plaza, Plot No-4, Rajya Sabha, West Enclave, Pitampura,New Delhi – 110 034.

Tel: 011-32561023 / 24 / 25 Email: info@essdee.com

Media Owner

Mermaid Print Concepts Pvt Ltd. No. 3157, 12th Main, HAL 2nd Stage, Indiranagar, Bangalore - 560 038.

Tel: 91-80-25216146 Email: info@mermaiddigital.com www.mermaiddigital.com

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Kausik Publicity 603, Samruddhi Complex, Opp. Sakar - III, Income Tax, Ahmedabad - 380 014.

Tel: +91-79-2754 3750 / 3002 3750 Email: kaushik.shah@kaushikpublicity.com Khushi Advertising 8, Deepawali Centre, Opp. Old Highcourt, Income Tax Underbridge, Near Ashram Road, Ahmedabad - 380 014.

Mobile: 9825048884 / 9825348884 Make Advertising Shop No.3, Shreyas Apartment, Tidke Colony, Trimbak Road, Nashik - 422 002.

Tel: 0253-6451211, Mob: 98230 99811 Email: media@makegroup.in

ASA Advertising Pvt. Ltd. 1st Floor, Anand Bhawan, Gurunanak Chowk, Raipur - 492 001. (C.G.) Tel: 0771-2523606/650 Email: ashishasa@hotmail.com

Midas Media Network Pvt. Ltd. 301-302, 3rd Floor, Durga Complex, LSC, Pocket-B, Mayur Vihar, Phase-II, New Delhi - 110 091.

Tel: 011-4505 8550 Mob: 09560001738 sales@midasads.com

Adhunnik Mercantile Pvt. Ltd. 11 Basanta Bose Road, Kolkata - 700 026.

Tel: 033-2454 6720 M: 98300 25496 Email: kolkata@amplasia.com www.amplasia.com

Midas Infratech Pvt. Ltd. A-166, Patel Nagar II, Ghaziabad (UP.) Mob: 9654040000, 9873500582 email: ravi@midasinfratech.in vistaarcom@gmail.com

Deshkar Advertising No. 4-5, 2nd Floor, Patwa Complex, M.G.Road, Raipur (C.G.) Tel: 0771-2229969, 4270176 Email: vishal.deshkar@gmail.com www.deshkaradvertising.com

Kanika Digital A/302-304, Virwani Industrial Estate, Western Express Highway, Goregaon (E), Mumbai - 400 063. Tel: 022-2871 4719 Mobile: 96300 82905 Email: mumbai@kanikadigital.in

Graphisads B 18/1, Okhla Phase - II, New Delhi - 400020. Tel: 4537 9999 ga@graphiads.com, www.graphiads.com

Origins Advertising Pvt. Ltd. 2nd Floor, 382-383, Akarshan Complex, Vibhuti Khand, Gomti Nagar, Lucknow - 10.

Tel: 2720925-26 Fax: 0522 2720927 info@origins.co.in www.origins.co.in

Resources

Prakash Arts Pvt. Ltd. P.B. No.406, Museum Road, Governorpet, Vijayawada – 520 002.

Tel: 0866 2578113, Fax:0866 2571554 Email: prakasharts@yahoo.com vja@prakasharts.com www.prakasharts.com Planet Outdoor G-1 - 107A, Malviya Nagar Industrial Area, Jaipur - 302 017. Tel: 141-3005842 Mob: 98292 66061 Email: ajak.k@epatrika.com Prithvi Associates Mumbai: 98200 99569 / 99200 98775 Hyderbad: 93462 38918 Kolkata: 93318 41705 Delhi: 98117 90244 RS Ad Agency 101, B.D.Chamber, 1st Floor, Desh Bandhu, Gupta Road, Karol Bagh, New Delhi - 110 005.

Tel: 011-42542229 Mob: 9811124378 Email: rsadagency@yahoo.com

Shobha Publicity 9 Shahnajaf Road, Lucknow.

Tel: 0522-2612707, 2616872 Mobile: 9839073352, 9415005857 Email: shobhalko@hotmail.com www.shobhagroups.com

Surge Media Pvt. Ltd. WZ-3208 C, First Floor,Rani Bagh, Delhi - 110 034. Tel: +91-11-4754 4070 - 99 surge@surgemedia.in www.sergemedia.in Zero Degree 15/735,736, Near Daya General Hospital, Shornur Road, Thrissur, Kerala - 680 022.

Tel: 0487-2327830 info@zerodegreeindia.co.in

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Resources

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Nam Ad

Resources

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Resources

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Adtouch Ad

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RNI NO. KAR ENG/09/34220

Printech Ad

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