Outdoor Asia (July 2019)

www.media4growth.com [email protected] Volume 11 Issue 1 July 2019















www.media4growth.com [email protected] Volume 11 Issue 1 July 2019

Simply Creative

Page 68

Brand Speak: Ramesh Kaushik Blast From The Past

VP - Brand Experience, Blackberrys Page 22
Page 18









EDITOR’S NOTE

Reinforce OOH for the long haul

The archetypal billboard OOH industry has not collectively made any headway
to position itself as a partner in those development
is emblematic of OOH initiatives. The earlier the industry leadership acts
on this, the better it would be for the entire OOH eco-
advertising globally, system.

and yet the billboard is In this edition, we have captured the viewpoints of
select Indian OOH leaders on their expectations from
just one of the myriad the NDA government, which is into its second term.
The industry leadership has clearly reposed its faith in
formats constituting the the government intent to usher in business-enabling
policies. This is also an opportune time for the OOH
OOH media as a whole. industry to seek meaningful engagements with the
concerned Central ministries and departments for
Down the years, the advocating policies that are in the best interest of the
business, while ensuring that the business itself plays
OOH industry has had a positive role in local area development, environment
protection, public services delivery and so on.
to realign the billboard
Some of these areas will be deliberated upon at the
formats to enhance their upcoming 15th Outdoor Advertising Convention (OAC) to
be held at the Renaissance Mumbai Convention Centre
appeal to the brand Hotel, Powai, Mumbai on July 26-27. OAC has traversed
a long distance since its year of debut – 2005. We have
advertisers, as also traced the journey of this annual event in this edition,
which I am sure will make an interesting read.
comply with the changing
I look forward to your active participation in OAC 2019.
advertising regulatory norms. Likewise, several other Let’s together chart a compelling roadmap for Indian
OOH’s growth journey.
OOH formats have changed over time to cater to the
Rajiv Raghunath
real needs of advertising brands. That said, OOH is still Managing Editor

not quite there when it comes to garnering a reasonable

share of the advertising spends. Furthermore, the

industry is not guaranteed a stable policy environment

that helps the media owners who have invested in the

business for the long term. The specialist agencies too

are having to deal with opaque business practices that

have come to characterise OOH. So, where do we go

from here?

First up, the OOH industry would do well to establish
itself as an important stakeholder group in the country’s
urban transformation programmes that include smart
city projects, transit infrastructure development and the
like. Currently, there is barely any urban development
programme wherein OOH has a clear part to play.
While the Union Government is increasingly engaging
private players to enhance the development of public
infrastructure and delivery of citizen services, the

6 July 2019



Volume 11 - Issue 1 July 2019

Editor & Publisher Vasant Jante
Managing Editor Rajiv Raghunath
Sr. Associate Editor N. Jayalakshmi
Associate Editor Bhawana Anand
Reporter Ria Banerjee
Reporter Pray Jani
Designer Vinod Kumar V

#1019/2, 1st Cross, Geetanjali Layout,
New Thippasandra, Bangalore-560 075.
Tel : 91-80-40522777, Fax: 40522727
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.vjmediaworks.com

CONTENTS Mumbai Office
201, 2nd Floor, Krishna Commercial Centre,
Media Matters 6 Udyog Nagar, Nr. Kamat Club S.V.Road,
Goregaon (W), Mumbai-400 062. Tel: 91-022-40234446
What Govt can do for business
Caught in no-man’s land Delhi Office
DLF Prime Tower, Pocket – F, 6th Floor, Office No. 610, Okhla
Brand Speak Phase 1, New Delhi-110 020. Tel: 011-4241 5179

‘The strength of OOH is that it is captivating’ 10 Sales
12
Blast From The Past West, South : Akash Jante
& East 97427 73627
OAC: A 15-Year Journey [email protected]

Think Digital 18 Rahul Shinde

DOOH will rule Gujarat markets in coming times 9823529429
Top honours for ‘Look at me’ DOOH campaign [email protected]
PATTISON Outdoor onboards Broadsign for network optimisation
Expansive DOOH network in Birmingham Akshay Chavanda
22 7776889983
Digital Printing
[email protected]
Cut-throat competition hurting Gujarat digital printers
44 Rannu Mandloi
Community Connect 99879 61323
50 [email protected]
‘Antonio needs a new kidney’ 52
54 North: Abhishek Agarwal
State of Business 98116 94060 / 93194 74711
[email protected]
Guwahati OOH – Growth Prospects Looking Up
Anoop Khanna, Director, Priya Communication Himanshu Agarwal
Parlee Gogoi, Senior Manager, Outreach Advertising
Kaushik Ghosh, Director, Reminder Outdoors 56 8423000287
Nitin Jain, Managing Director, Prodigy Communications and Marketing
[email protected]
Simply Creative
OAC 2019 Exhibitors Suraj Darak
7798178179
Resources 58 [email protected]

8 July 2019

Outdoor Asia is a monthly magazine, owned, published and edited
62 by Vasant Jante, printed by B S Suresh Pai, published from 1019/2,
62 1st Main, 1st Cross, Geetanjali Layout, New Thippasandara,
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Outdoor Asia may not be reproduced in whole or in part without
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MEDIA MATTERS

What Govt can do for business

Top Indian OOH industry leaders share their perspectives on the policy changes that
would be highly beneficial to the industry

By Rajiv Raghunath & Bhawana Anand transparency overall.” A favourable economic
environment could also pave the way for creation of a
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) having won a ‘Times Square’, ‘Piccadilly Circus’ or ‘Osaka Square’
second term in the Lok Sabha by a thumping margin like OOH zones in the country.
under the inspirational leadership of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi is taking strident steps to further the Aman Nanda, Chief Strategy Officer, Times OOH, says
economic reforms process and place the national that “currently we have
economy on a higher growth trajectory, powered by city-wise policies that
manufacturing growth, job creation, infrastructure vary widely. This results
development, among others. This would perhaps be in confusion from the
an opportune time for the Indian OOH industry to align brand perspective. For
itself with the high priority areas of the Government, example a brand can
as also highlight its own expectations from the powers- do large billboards
that-be on the policy front. in Mumbai but not
in Chennai and
Pramod Bhandula, Executive Chairman, JCDecaux Bengaluru. Digital OOH
is allowed in some
India, is of the view that if the government policies
cities, but the policy regarding this medium is ambiguous
are oriented to create in some other cities. Sometimes, you just cross the
border and the outdoor media landscape changes
a conducive and completely! This makes it difficult for any national brand
to make a unified media plan across the country. It also
stable economic makes it difficult for media owners like us to standardise
the way we own and manage media. It incurs costs: both
environment across all money and time.”

areas like agriculture, Aman is of the opinion that like developed nations, the
outdoor policy should encourage new age displays like
services, and major digital video walls. “This will enable us to make outdoor
achieve at least 10% share of the overall media spends,
industries, growth set the ball rolling for programmatic buying, and make
digital OOH a part of digital spends. The policy should
is bound to happen, also have strong regulatory pressure on illegal media. It
should facilitate legal media players to operate in a fair
resulting in growth marketplace and curb the illegal operators.

opportunities for the “That being said, we are hopeful that state and
central governments will continue to invest in civic
media industry too. infrastructure, which help us make create strategic
advertising opportunities for brands,” says he.
Haresh Nayak, Group MD, Posterscope South

Asia asserts that as OOH could give the cities an
international look with
modern infrastructure
and digital displays,
“we believe the
government should
support our industry
with a favourable
tax regime, create
enforcements that
are conducive for
growth and provide

10 July 2019

MEDIA MATTERS

Amit Kapoor, MD, US Advertising explains that the a uniform policy for the entire country on OOH. I still
Government’s goal of growing the national economy maintain that the industry body needs to be proactive
to educate the stakeholders at all levels in the Central,
to the size of US$5 state, and local bodies.”
trillion will have a
positive cascading Haresh Nayak points that “as an industry body we
effect on the media should create a window with the Centre and states to
and advertising highlight the importance of trade and stress on how
industry, and OOH is we can collaborate in order to develop the country
sure to benefit from -- be it in the form of jobs, smart city projects, public
the overall growth conveniences development, healthcare delivery, etc.”
journey. He expects
the GDP growth to Amit Kapoor says the NDA Government strongly believes
gain accelerated in the power of OOH. That can serve as the foundation
momentum once a large part of the unorganised sector for the industry to prevail upon the Government to bring
enters the organised fold. It is the contraction of the in more business-friendly norms for OOH advertising.
cash economy that has hit industries like automobiles
in terms of sales, but Amit expects this demand According to Jayesh Yagnik, “OOH is a media which
contraction to ease in the near term. has the strength and ability to reach out to the lowest
population strata and across the nation. As next
Jayesh Yagnik, COO, MOMS Outdoor Media Solutions steps to engagement with the local bodies and state
says that the Digital India initiative has been governments we should develop a network of digital
screens at prominent locations in key cities. Also, now
transforming the face with traffic cameras on streets, if the local authorities
of India. “This year can help us with the traffic count details it will be great
we would expect a next step to develop measurability in OOH.”
deeper penetration
of the same. Transit A business-enabling policy environment could easily
media is growing and help OOH double its share of the ad pie. l
Indian railways has
a huge amount of
scope to reach out
to a large amount of
consumers. We think
that structured OOH at the railways stations and train
branding will open new avenues to reach out to the
consumer and complement the station wi-fi initiative.”

He adds that “with the middle class purchasing power
increasing and tier 2 /3 cities emerging as developing
economies, the infrastructure to reach out to these
towns needs to be enhanced. This will help create
opportunities to reach out to the smaller towns in a
better, effective and quicker fashion.”

When asked what are needed for the Indian OOH industry
to engage more deeply with the governments at the
Centre and the states, as well as with the government
departments and local bodies, Pramod Bhandula said,
“As an industry, we must start meaningful dialogues
with the Centre and respective state governments for

July 2019 11

MEDIA MATTERS

Caught in no-man’s land

Outdoor media mounting business is seemingly caught in a time warp, failing to keep up
with the advancement of all key constituents of the OOH business. Safety of workers and
viability of business are hurting this segment more than ever.

By Bhawana Anand

Even as the Indian OOH industry sets the vision of
doubling its size in the next 4-5 years, influenced
by the increasing tech absorption into the business
and the expected course of future media consumption
patterns, one key constituent of the traditional side
of OOH – namely, mounting of media – is somehow
relegated to the background.

In a predominantly hoardings and billboards driven
business, the execution of a brand campaign is not
complete until the printed flex is mounted on the media
asset in a seamless way that ensures good visibility to
the consumers. Yet, it is largely seen that the mounting
aspects are not given more than an afterthought in
the course of a campaign execution. This has also had
negative monetary impacts on those offering outdoor
media mounting services.

Relegated to the background

“Mounting business has not kept pace with the growth in a time warp, failing to evolve with the times. The
of the OOH industry as a whole,” says Aslam, Proprietor extant archaic practices do not call for fresh infusion
of one of the oldest mounting firms operating in of business practices and techniques. That also means
Mumbai. One key reason is the steady decline in the that the entry barriers to the business are rather low,
prevailing average fee for mounting services. A decade resulting in an over-supply of service providers. Minto,
ago mounting fee was in the region of Rs 15 per sq. ft a mounter operating in Delhi NCR, says “this trade does
which has now plummeted to a mere Rs 1.50-2.00 per not require any qualification or certified training and so
sq. ft, notwithstanding the inflationary pressures. people enter this business easily. The more the players
in the business, the more the pressure on everyone’s
Ajit, Proprietor of Soratiya Arts, says the mounting margins.” Moreover, as the mounting service providers
service providers themselves are largely responsible have rather limited scope for offering any other services,
for the falling rates, having engaged in cut-throat they are prepared to deliver the work at any rate.
competition. Besides, the specialist agencies in general
do not pay a separate fee for mounting to the media Sanjay Sirpaul, Director of Sakshi Advertising, explains
owners, who in turn attempt to keep the costs low that the employees working in a mounting business are
by demanding rock-bottom rates from the mounting also seen to freelance, offering even lower rates that
service providers. are in the region of Rs 300-400 a day.

Outdoor media mounting business is somewhat caught

12 July 2019



MEDIA MATTERS

At the same time, the mounting service providers are
seeing a rise in their own costs, having to provide the
basic amenities to their respective employees, says
Ajay.

Scaling up of the business is one way of managing
the increasing costs. Sanjay Sirpaul, for instance, has
expanded his business into four cities in the effort to
achieve more cost efficiencies.

The increasing cost burden and the general apathy
towards mounting business is driving some of the
service providers to think about closing their operations.
Aslam, who has been in this trade since 1997, is
juggling with the idea of bringing down the shutters
on his business. Ajit who was once having 77 in-house
mounters working with him has cut down his workforce
to half that strength and is increasingly depending on
outsourced wage labour in peak seasons. In fact, most
outdoor media mounting firms nowadays don’t hire
more than 5-10 mounters and the additional manpower
is hired in the busy periods.

Safety concerns galore

The reduced focus on a full-time workforce has further Mounting firms do understand the nature of risk
undermined the accent on training of people in the involved in the work and they extend the insurance
mounting business. At a time when all mounters ought facility to their in-house workers. However, that’s only
to have been trained and certified to do the job, there is a small number of mounters who are covered. The
hardly any initiative in sight to support this. It is learnt outsourced labour is not covered by any insurance as
that this lack of training has also resulted in occasional they work on daily wages.
mishaps and accidents, jeopardising the safety of the
mounters. Many mounters have apparently faced some Mounting firms reckon that the margin squeeze in the
horrifying incident while at a site. business is constraining them from opting for high
quality safety gear for their workers. “We are assuring
The training that is given to the uninitiated is rather the safety of our workers and their financial well-being
rudimentary, and usually with a hands-on approach. within our limited capability,” says Aslam. He would
Those early into this nature of work are given the task want the safety issues to be taken up at the industry
of mounting media on assets that are lower in height. level.
Minto says the general perception in the industry is that
this work does not require any formal training. As recalled by Aslam, there was an association of
mounters formed in 1995 but that did not last the
As a safety measure, the mounters are equipped course. The members were perhaps too occupied with
with harness, shoes and helmets, but that does not the challenges in their own respective businesses.
guarantee their total safety at work. The more recently
erected media assets like unipoles are fitted with steps
and angles that make it easier for a mounter to get to
the top of the structure, but the moot question is: is the
total safety of the mounter assured.

14 July 2019



MEDIA MATTERS

Support systems Leafberry assets in Punjab, shares his past experience

of mall media where they had a contract signed with a

clause that any casualty is not the responsibility of the

media owners. “This was a mandatory contract by the
mall authority where they made sure that no casualty
takes place and the 3rd party handling the mounting
work was alert and employed experienced staff to do
the job. However, on moral grounds we do support the
mounting fraternity by providing them assistance of all
nature possible”, articulates Sandhu.

While the mounting firms are seen to be at the receiving Sunil Maheshwari, Director of Maheshwari
end of industry apathy, there are media owning firms Advertising asserts that the media owning firm itself
that are cognizant of the challenges faced by mounters. should ensure the safety
of the mounters and be
Deepak Vasudeva, Director, Pioneer Publicity, says, aware of the skills of those
“We always make sure that they are being paid on doing the work. “We have
a team of supervisors who
time despite the fact that look after the mounting
we may not have received work from our side and it
our payments on time. is essential because we
We understand that the can’t deny the fact the
labour belongs to the media belongs to us and
lower income class and one mishap is enough to
work on daily wages, so portray the outdoor business in a bad light”.
we take the onus to have
their payments released Also, the Mumbai Hoardings Owners Association led
on time”. by Khalid Y. Batliwalla shares that as an association
they are taking steps to
Having said that, he also states that keeping a tab on provide some support to
the safety and training of the mounters is a challenge the mounting fraternity by
since there are multiple parties involved even in the giving an insurance aid to
at least one mounter at
mounting of a single each media owning firm.
campaign and moreover However, it would be a
the job is done by 3rd challenge to reach out to
parties that are principally the outsourced labour that
responsible for the safety works on daily wages.
factors.
In the emerging circumstances, there is a long and
Shavinder Singh Sandhu, winding road riddled with challenges that meets the
Director, Lead Ads, who mounting business in the country. The need of the hour
handles the exclusive is multi-fold – media-owning firms should have to set
marketing rights of certain benchmark standards in regard to the media
mounting processes; the mounting firms themselves
need to be more vigilant on the safety aspects, while
exploring better ways to enhance the viability of their
businesses.l

16 July 2019



BRAND SPEAK

‘The strength of OOH is that it is
captivating’

Ramesh Kaushik, VP - Brand Experience, Blackberrys shares that in this age of
digital evolution, OOH holds a significant place in the brand’s media plan to target
premium audiences with captivating campaigns. Fashion clothing brands, like those
in the consumer durables, automobile and media & entertainment categories, opt
for OOH to leave an indelible impression in the minds of consumers. Edited excerpts
of the interview:

By Bhawana Anand

What role do you assign to OOH in your marketing
plan?

Blackberrys is a brand business, hence the marketing
revolves around customers. We look at media as
channels to communicate our proposition to the
end-users. As the consumers evolve, the media mix
also changes. Our marketing strategy is to create
awareness about the brand and its product, being
in a consideration set of the consumer and provide
them an experience while at the consumption stage
so that he comes back to us again on the basis of
product and experience he gains.

OOH medium holds an extremely interesting How do you use OOH for your different communications
proposition in Blackberrys media-mix, more from starting from building a brand image to a new
tapping the captive audience available at the collection launch?
intersections of the city or in the vicinity of the store;
if it is a high-street, then on that stretch or if it’s a Typically, we have two key seasons in a year and two end-
mall then the façade or inside the mall gives us more of-season sales. During the seasons’ launch we don’t
OOH opportunities. We look at the OOH medium as an necessarily look at OOH. Instead we have a wide gamut
ideal conduit for our brand messaging. So, the intent of advertising channels to choose from which includes
to communicate through OOH is to build a certain digital, social media, website, mobile and etc. Hence,
degree of awareness and curiosity in the consumer from the offline and online options we opt for those that
minds to generate walk-ins. are key to our messaging.

While the consumer is being fed with lots of
information, OOH is meant to catch hold of their
attention. Largely the journey starts with handheld
devices and online which is digital, and closer to the
point of consumption OOH medium becomes a potent
medium at that time.

18 July 2019



BRAND SPEAK

Having said that, we tweak our message and revise the With the OOH medium evolving at a rapid pace, do
media mix if there is anything unique to be communicated. you think the medium is coming at par with mainline
Therefore, from the OOH perspective, we have two formats in terms of quality of presentation and
opportunities – first is the new product launch time and professionalism?
the second, for more business tactics – whether we want
to arrest or fuel the consumer sentiment. I would say, the largeness of the medium is a big plus
but when it comes to execution, quality, innovation and
There are ample formats available in the OOH monitoring, compared to a channel like digital, OOH is
industry. Which formats are best suited for your brand way behind. I think partly the difference comes due to the
communications? characteristics of both formats wherein digital is always
evolving and never stationed and OOH is almost static.
Before we arrive at the format, we consider the OOH The strength of OOH is that it is captivating. Indeed, there
format from three standpoints i.e. location, data are a good number of innovations happening in OOH.
& science supporting the location and innovation With the medium now evolving and getting digitised, it
possibilities. Going beyond vanilla campaigns, back-lit will become even more relevant to advertising, but there
& front-lit have been exploited way too much. Even the is still some way to go in that direction.
definition of OOH has changed with time; if one were
to look at OOH today, it doesn’t necessarily have to be For a premium clothing brand like yours, how do you
about hoardings or billboards. There are building wraps, plan the creatives for your OOH campaigns?
airport media, which itself has wide a variety of formats
like conveyer belt branding, in-flight seat back branding, The product should always be the hero as we stand for
headrest branding, and so on. So, I would say, the mix quality and innovation in our collections. Alongside,
of geography, data & science and technology, Google the brand core i.e. Burning Drive has to come through
and traffic data, etc., give us a lot of insight in terms of strongly in the creative narrative. I would say that our
stoppage time at a particular site on a specific stretch, creative largely centres around the beauty of the product,
and the influence of that OOH site/location. benefit of the product.

Message designing also plays a role. Too much text on the How do you go about with the execution and monitoring
creative is not always useful. So, if I have to be conveying of your OOH campaign?
three benefits of my product, I might go for LED screens
that more easily catch the consumer attention. We have empaneled partners who understand the brand
as much as we do. They help us to zero down to the
How open are you to using DOOH media in your OOH locations, media formats, etc. Our internal marketing and
plan? sales teams works in tandem with the external partners
to ensure the creatives are up on the sites on the
From 2017 onwards we have done Digital OOH campaigns. designated days and remain there as per the contract.
Our most recent campaign was done on digital screens in
cyber-hubs and cyber city. What changes do you anticipate in the OOH medium?

What’s your take on transit OOH? The list includes only two things – first, the medium has
to evolve either with the consumer or stay ahead of them.
At Blackberrys, our promise to consumer is that we So, if the consumer is consuming more information from
are here to dress the driven man who is always on the the handheld devices, OOH will have to find a way to grab
move with a purpose. Consequently, transit media help their attention.
us in our narrative. For instance, we recently launched
a new collection which is India’s first 100% cotton knit Second, innovation and quality of the medium. Also, the
trouser and this product is breathable, fashionable and medium should get closer to the consumer without being
stretchable -- these features come handy when one is in intrusive.l
transit. So yes, transit media helps when it gels with the
narrative pretty well.

20 July 2019



BLAST FROM THE PAST

OAC: A 15-YEAR JOURNEY

The annual Outdoor Advertising Convention (OAC) has played a catalytic role in
facilitating Indian OOH industry’s thought leadership, while also creating opportunities
for the different stakeholder groups to discuss the key issues that underpin OOH
business, and strike collaborations for leveraging the emerging growth opportunities.
This report is a hark back on the journey that began in the year 2005, with particular
emphasis on the first 8 years of the convention where the different aspects of the
annual event got crystalised.

By Rajiv Raghunath competitive business environment, and thereby capture
a larger share of the consumer mindspace.
The annual Outdoor Advertising Convention, arguably
India’s largest OOH industry confluence, debuted in It was an exploratory visit by Vasant Jante, Founder
the year 2005, at a time when the Indian advertising of VJ Media Works, to attend the FEPE Congress in
industry had boarded a high growth trajectory powered Dubai in mid-2004 that laid the foundation of OAC in
by a liberalised, globalised national economy. The India. The FEPE Congress impressed him so much that
after-effects of the economic reforms launched in the Vasant decided to take firm, bold steps to introduce
early 1990s had kicked in, and brands of all hues were a similar convention in India, and quite remarkably,
stepping up their media, marketing and advertising
initiatives to gain a firm positioning in the increasingly

2005

HAPPY TIMES: An exuberant Ogilvy Team at the very first edition of OAC in Mumbai in 2005;
(L-R) Nabendu Bhattacharyya, Krishnan Menon, J C Giri, Gautam Chadha, Ritesh Vasudeva (the only non-Oligvy pro in
the frame) & Pratap Bose. Olivy Action was a heavyweight in Indian OOH business in those times.

22 July 2019



BLAST FROM THE PAST
2005

WHERE IT ALL BEGAN: The very first discussion in an open forum between the specialist agencies and media owners
on matters related to payments, etc. (L-R) From the media owners’ side were Satish Singh, Noomi Mehta, Sunil
Maheshwari, Rajneesh Rawat, and Abhijit Sengupta, Soumitra Bhattacharyya, J C Giri and Arminio Ribeiro articulated
the agency stand.

the first edition of the Outdoor
Advertising Convention came to
be organised in Mumbai within a
year’s time.

It was a bold move considering

that the Indian OOH industry

until then had had no common

forum to meet and discuss,

and there was apparently a

huge trust deficit among the

businesses. “The 1st edition

of OAC opened up the minds

of Indian OOH industry leaders

to the benefits of knowledge

AN AUGUST AUDIENCE: (Front Row L-R): Soumitra Bhattacharyya, Hemant Shah, sharing, networking and other
Roda Mehta, John Ellery & Harish Bijoor intently following the proceedings. partnership opportunities,” says
Vasant as he traces the enduring

OAC journey down the years. The inaugural convention created a remarkable buzz getting people to talk about the

event for months after the event had concluded.

That was also the time when Times OOH and JC Decaux had entered the market with big business ambitions. Those
already in the business were looking to scale up with the expectation of riding the advertising wave.

The grand debut of the convention encouraged VJ Media Works to organise the 2nd edition of OAC in 2006, which
has since become an annual event. “Having created all that buzz in 2005 we knew that the industry’s expectations

24 July 2019



BLAST FROM THE PAST
2006

THE BIG QUESTION: Rahul Welde sharing his PoV on ‘How to make outdoor a $1 billion industry’

CHERISHED WIN: Santosh Padhy (Paddy), representing QUIZZICAL: The first quiz show at OAC was hosted
Leo Burnett then, receiving the OAA award from Eric by Pratap Bose (right extreme) and sponsored by
Newnham. How different the OAA award looked then! Posterscope – represented by Vishal Bhatija (middle).
Krishnan Memon (left extreme) won the Quiz content,
bagging a handsome Rs 50,000 cash prize

from OAC 2006 would be considerably high. We directed go-to place for asserting their thought leadership, apart
greater attention on the conference content, got great from networking with great intent. “While the conference
speakers to address the audiences, and eventually got had come into its own, OAA suddenly took the centre-
the convention to scale new heights,” says Vasant. That stage thanks to the huge competition that was building
was also the year when the Outdoor Advertising Awards up between the specialist agencies,” recalls Vasant. That
(OAA) contest saw higher participation and great visibility. year, the OAA contest attracted over 400 entries.

When 2007 arrived, OAC was already institutionalised By 2008 the OOH specialist agency turf had become
with all key industry players seeing the platform as the even more competitive, with a group of senior-most

26 July 2019

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Police Booth | Lucknow Metro | Rail Branding |
Boat Branding | LED Display Screen |

Traffic Post | LED Signage | Wall Painting

Ellora Group Exposure
More Than 34 Years

D.44/1, Ramapura, Varanasi - 01. Ph: 0542-2455369 | Call: 09415227781
Email: [email protected] | Web: elloraoutdoor.com
5/1, Motijheel Avenue, Dumdum, Kolkata - 74. Ph: 033-25600961, 7439358500
Email: [email protected]

BLAST FROM THE PAST
2007

AN AUSPICIOUS BEGINNING: Noomi Mehta, Pankaj Goswami and Nabendu Bhattacharyya lighting the traditional light
to inaugurate OAC 2007

HARD FACTS: Smita Jha (then Principal MIND IT: Ajay Kakar (then Head of Marketing, Reliance
Consultant - Entertainment & Media Practice, Capital) makING his assertions on the theme
PricewaterhouseCoopers) providing an industry overview ‘Out-of-Home : Out Of Mind or Top Of Mind’

leaders from Ogilvy moving on to join Mudra. The OAA l Senior government officials heading departments
2008 contest as a result was a great turf war between that deal with OOH advertising projects and
these agencies, bringing out the very best from all of the contracts
participants. l Global OOH leaders
l Accomplished brand marketers
In these formative years itself OAC had become the most l OOH specialist agency heads & professionals
definitive platform for all key stakeholders to deliberate l OOH media owners & professionals
upon the big issues confronting the business, as also l Business consultants
identify the opportunities for industry growth. The l Technologists
Convention was drawing the participation of: l OOH solution providers.

28 July 2019



BLAST FROM THE PAST
2008

FUTURISTIC: Times OOH, the lead sponsor of OAC 2008 and OAA 2008, exhibited the model of a futuristic BQS,
complete with DOOH displays, solar panels and the like

ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT: A high-powered panel comprising Alok Jalan, Indrajit Sen, Noomi Mehta, Srikant Khandekar
and Ismail Dhaboya, N Subramniam, Gaurav Deepak discussing ‘The changing economics of the industry - Increasing
valuations, PE funding, higher bids and their combined effect on the outdoor

However, the year 2009 proved to be a dampener for the Fortunately for the industry, the after-effects of the
OOH industry, as it had been for the national economy, global financial crisis and the curbs on the national
and the global economy as a whole, owing to the jolts economy did not have a lasting impact on the OOH
received from the global financial meltdown. Business business. For one, the Indian economy itself was fairly
confidence nose-dived and advertising business took insulated from the vagaries of the global financial
a big hit. The recessionary trends hit OAC 2009, with systems. Second, the OOH industry had a small base,
relatively low sponsorship support. The delegation so the decline in business fortunes was not that high. It
participation, nonetheless, was high. was possible for the OOH businesses to quickly retrace

30 July 2019

BLAST FROM THE PAST

2009

STANDING TALL: C D V Subba Rao with Noomi Mehta and Vasant Jante at the inauguration of OAC 2009

their respective growth path, which they did. So, by
2010, all the biggies in the business were back on the
rails, and geared to assert their leadership positioning.
“Key players like Times OOH and Ogilvy Action were
back with us, and we ourselves decided to scale up the
event,” says Vasant.

AT THE FOREFRONT: Amiya Chandra (extreme left), eminent In 2010, OAC came to be organised for the first time
ad man Piyush Pandey (4th from left), Sandip Tarkas (5th at the Renaissance Mumbai Convention Centre Hotel,
from left), and Sunder Hemrajani (extreme right) Powai, Mumbai, giving the entire event a new look and a
grand scale. There was perhaps no looking back since.
The convention was held at the same venue in the years

COLOUR CODED: Top OOH agencies had their people turning up in their specific company colours for the OAA awards
function; a tradition that continued for several years to follow

July 2019 31

BLAST FROM THE PAST
2010

ALL EARS: The audience at OAC 2010 2011 and 2012, following which it was held for the first
LUCKY WINNER: Pratap Bose (extreme left) & Sunder time in the scenic city of Goa, at the Grand Hyatt in
Hemrajani (extreme right) handing over the prize to the 2013.
winner of a contest sponsored by Times OOH
The Convention had tested new territories, and along
the way, it had also incorporated a variety of contests
for the participants. Back in 2006 itself the Convention
included a quiz show. In later years, the Young
Outdoorians Contest was introduced which had industry
professionals below 30 years participating in media
planning contests, and winning handsome prizes.

The 2014 edition too was held in Goa, after which the
convention moved back to Mumbai in 2015. That year,
an Outdoor creative contest was also introduced which

GETTING TO THE DEPTH OF BUSINESS MATTERS: Sam Balsara moderates a discussion on how much specialist agencies
are to be paid, with Ajay Dang, Arun Sharma (2nd & 3rd L-R) on his left and Nabendu Bhattacharyya, Arminio Ribeiro
and Madhuri Sapru on his right.

32 July 2019



BLAST FROM THE PAST
2011

TRANSIT MEDIA GAINING GROUND: The OAC backdrop represented the spurt in transit media business in the country;
Transit media has gone strength to strength since then.

COUNTRY-WIDE PARTICIPATION: The delegate participation OAA JURY: Shashi Sinha, Jury Chair for OAA 2011 speaking
in OAC has become wider, with a greater number of about the awards; The Jury is the sole decision maker when
delegates coming from the non-Metro markets it comes to deciding the awards winners

had young professionals below 30 years – both from Over these years, Mumbai had been viewed as a more
copy and design streams – teaming up, and again convenient location for the convention keeping in view
attractive prizes were given away to the winners. In the country-wide participation of industry leaders and
2016, OAC came to be organised for the very first time in professionals. Hence, OAC has been convened in the
Delhi NCR. It was the first time that the convention had Maximum City in the years 2017, 2018 and will be held
been organised in the northern region, and broadened once again in the same city this year, on July 26-27.
the scale and composition of delegate participation. In undertaking this journey, OAC has also had a key

34 July 2019



BLAST FROM THE PAST
2012

THE STARLWARTS: Noomi Mehta, Nabendu Bhattacharyya, Sunder Hemrajani and Ranjan Kapur (WPP) at the
inauguration of OAC.

DISRUPT THE STATUS QUO: Punita Arumugham (left extreme) in a discussion with Abhijit Sengupta and Sumeet Pahwa
on how to challenge the OOH status quo and transform the business

36 July 2019





BLAST FROM THE PAST

2012

REGIONAL MARKETS IN FOCUS: Noomi Mehta (extreme left) in a panel discussion with the heads of three regional OOH
associations – Mangesh Borse, Chandramohan and Manoj Limaye

global connect, with a galaxy of global OOH leaders 2007
having addressed the convention, year-to-year. Some of
the eminent global leaders having participated in OAC • Alex Thompson, Chief Executive - Asia Pacific,
editions are (please note that the designations that Kinetic
they held in the respective years are mentioned): • Matthias Rumpelhardt, CEO, Stroer Media
International, Germany
2005 • Daniela Krautsack, Managing Director - Magic
Moments/ A MediaCom Unit - MediaCom Vienna
• John Ellery, Consultant - Poster Publicity, UK • Mohammad Azlan Abdullah, Director of Operations
• Mohammad Al Noori, Head of Advertising - Big Tree Outdoor, Malaysia
Section,Dubai Municipality
2008
2005
• Nany Fletcher, President & CEO, OAAA
• Eric Newnham, Global CEO, Kinetic • George Christidis, President / Co-founder – Wild
• Les Holley, Executive Director, Out of Home Media, On Media (Out-of-Home media company)
South Africa • Jim Liu, Managing Partner, Kinetic China
• Joseph Codina, Business Development Director, • Jacqui Kean, Global Brand Communications
Aconda Paper, S.A, California Director - The Economist
• Jason Senior, Chief Operating Officer & Deputy CEO, • Mark Neely, Regional Director - Research Asia/
News Outdoor Group, Eastern Europe Pacific Nielsen Media Research

July 2019 39





BLAST FROM THE PAST

2010 • Matthew Dearden, OOH business adviser &
entrepreneur, UK
• Jeff Golimowski, Communications Director, OAAA • Daniel Cuende, Co-Founder & Innovation Manager,
• Adam Whitford, Director – Commercial Business Cuende Informetrics S.A., Spain
Development - Second Harvest, South Africa
Through these years, OAC has had a visible influence in
2013 shaping the Indian OOH industry’s thought leadership,
which also playing a catalytic role in influencing
• King F. Lai, CEO - Asia Pacific, Kinetic increasing professionalism in the business, bringing
• Torsten Illgen, Design Director - Inros Lackner, forth the new growth avenues, highlighting the
Vietnam technological avenues opening up for OOH, partnership
2014 opportunities, and a global perspective on OOH as a
whole.
• Chris O’Donnell, Global Commercial Director,
Posterscope Worldwide The stage is now set for OAC 2019 which will be
• Peter Livesey, Managing Director, Esprit Digital organised at the Renaissance Mumbai Convention
• Gallen Yip, Research Director, Kinetic Worldwide, Centre Hotel, Powai, Mumbai on July 2019 where the
Asia Pacific thrust areas for deliberations are:

2015 • Reinforcing Indian OOH industry’s competitiveness

• Mauricio Sabogal, Global CEO, Kinetic Worldwide • Adoption of best OOH business practices
• Tom Goddard, Non-Executive Chairman, Ocean
Outdoor, UK, Executive Chairman, Digicom, UK & • Reigniting innovations & creativity in the OOH space
Vice President (International), FEPE
• Leveraging new technologies for accelerated
2016 business growth

• David Payne, Founder, Mediabridge Global • Harnessing the best talent for OOH business
• David Gordon, Insight Director, Posterscope UK
• Strengthening the industry’s stakeholder role
2017 in urban transformation & transit infrastructure
development
• Naren Patel, CEO, Primesight, the UK
• Matthew Dearden, OOH business adviser & • Leveraging the OOH opportunities in smart city
entrepreneur, UK projects.
• Bill Fordyce, COO, HyperMedia, Dubai
• Rosh Singh, Director of Digital Innovation & Head
of Kinetic Active & KineticX, the UK
• Dave Roberts, CEO, Primedia Outdoor & Chairman
Out of Home Measurement Council, South Africa
• Jay Lin, Director, Horizon Media China & President,
Panda Pacific Media Group
• Mac Gangam, President, Shenzhen Atenti
Technologies Co Ltd, China

2018

• Brendon Cook, CEO, oOh!media, Australia
• Tim Bleakley, CEO, Ocean Outdoor, UK

42 July 2019