OOH Bursting At Its Seams...........

OOH is bursting at its seams atleast thats what it looks like nowadays. Everyone is talking about its growth rate, investments are pouring in, innovations are at their best & the biggies from the globe (JC Decaux, News Corp) are here to rock it further. So next time when you are Out Of your Home you are bound to be exposed to a media property no matter where you are, what you do & what your frame of mind is.

Gone are the days of traditional billboards, today you might be shopping for groceries, having a cafe latte with your girl, watching a movie at a multiplex, travelling by air/train/bus, surfing at a cyber cafe, in the lift of your office building you have atleast one OOH media property trying to woo your attention. The clients seem to be liking it as well. So what have you from FMCG's to durbales to alcobev to automobile to lifestyle evereyone is on one or more of these media properties. And it is growing. Well good going you might say.

Now let me play the devil's advocate here. So where are the authentic figures validating the reach like your TRP's & TAM's & ABC's & NRS's for the other mediums. Well that doesn't seem to matter here as evereyone in OOH seems to have their own figures and it all looks so very exciting & promising. I came across an innovative OOH media property based at cyber cafes in form of a desktop screen. Now it got me thinking about how much time does one really spend looking at desktop screens at the cyber cafes? Probably a few seconds before you start surfing and looking at other sites of your interest. Apparently this media property also received a venture funding in exess of 5 million USD for the venture & the early adapters to this medium
are the likes of Pepsi. I was having a discussions the other day with an executive from one of the OOH media ventures having media properties targeting shopper's while they are about to make purchasing decisions aiming at influencing those decisions in the favour of the brands advertising. Good idea, an established concept in the West. How do you measure the reach & effectiveness of the media & who autenticates it, was my question. Is mere footfalls a good measure? I don't think so. When I am out shopping I am kind of getting tierd looking at the over crowded shelves, where I am spoilt for choice. Do I actually look at the lcd overhead display, didnt I get enough of it at my home, in my car, on the way to the shopping mall and evereywhere else where I looked at? And if I am actually watching the lcd overhead display then in all porbablities I am not shopping while my wife is actually shopping. So I am not there to make a purchase & the ads are not going to make me buy something which I am not there for.

This is quite debatable you may say & have your views which might be quite the opposite from mine. You are welcome for a discussion. Thinking about the OOH media innovations infact made me think about a place where it has not reached extensively but there is no reason not to be there. The 'LOOS' at these places which have high footfalls, talk about malls, multiplexes, night clubs and anything else where people gather in numbers. Well atleast thats where I am exposed to nothing else for those few moments & porbably most receptive to communication of any kind. And go to think of it I can be not only doing branding but also sampling.

I will not be surprised if we have a media property going forward at the LOOS and it could probably be touted as one most INNOVATIVE OOH ideas of the decade.

Nilesh Ghai