OOH-Catching Customers on the Move

* Prof. Swati Soni

Abstract
Broadcast medium as a potent and the most sacrosanct medium that companies had
traditionally being using for communicating with target audiences is losing its sheen.
Thanks to the evolving lifestyle of the target audiences, coupled with more and more time
being spent out of home, media fragmentation and multiplicity of communicating
platforms available with the marketers, there emerges a need for alternative and
innovative media, capable of catching audiences out of home. OOH (Out of Home) as the
name suggests comes to the rescue of marketers with its innate ability of being
economical, effective, accessible and interactive. OOH undeniably has the potential of
influencing the customer at the point of purchase. It kindles interest in the consumer at
the point of purchase, where he or she has money in the pocket and is all in the mood to
spend it. It engages customers and addresses them for the last time before they make the
final purchase. The emergence of modern retail formats has further given impetus to this
medium. The paper explores the recent trends, opportunities and strengths of the medium
and adds an illustration on the organizations that have used it successfully and created
significant buzz using OOH.

* Prof. Swati Soni is a Faculty in Marketing at Jaipuria Institute of

Management, Jaipur.

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 OOH-Catching Customers on the Move

Consumerism in India is on an unprecedented surge and simultaneously the markets are

getting cluttered. Organizations now have a multiplicity of platforms viz. - mobile, email,
websites, downloadable content, social media, retail technology etc. through which they
can promote their products and interact with their prospects and their existing customers.
Accompanied by this is the increased fragmentation of the media and its audiences,
making television not the preeminent reach vehicle it once was. Thus, in the race to
emerge as a key differentiator in the market, companies must establish channels to
communicate seamlessly, relevantly, intelligently and in a timely manner. This
necessitates an exploration into alternative and innovative media. Out-of-home is a
promising solution that fills the gaps left by other mediums. It offers a lot of leeway for
innovation –billboards, dynamic floor displays and halogen projection balloons and
above all, an opportunity for interaction.
The Indian OOH market has been growing at 17 per cent per annum since 2007, from Rs
1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) in size to Rs 2,150 crore (Rs 21.50 billion) in 2010. The pie of
OOH spending as a percentage of total media spending pegged at 5-7 percent of the total
media spending, envisaging a growth rate of more than 15 percent per annum.
(According to a PricewaterhouseCoopers' report) The trend, if continues, OOH would
make OOH the largest growing segment after the internet. Telecom, financial services
and real estate are distinctly the magnanimous spenders in OOH, followed by consumer
durables, media and automobiles.
OOH advantage
The impact of OOH is overwhelming. It offers a major advantage because of its inherent
ability to influence at the point of purchase. It stimulates a consumer at the point of
purchase, where he or she has money in the pocket and is all in the mood to spend it. The
emergence of modern retail formats has further given impetus to this medium. It engages
customers and addresses them for the last time before they make the final purchase. OOH
is undeniably more persuasive than traditional advertising. It captivates patrons out of
home- while they are on move, even for their chores. The all mighty remote empowers

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the audience to zapp the advertisement with ease, but at the same time, a commuter
cannot escape a live life size hoarding while being caught in a traffic jam. There is no
mute button and no off switch. It’s largely a medium that customers cannot control.
An added advantage is its ability of engaging customers in a dialogue, that is, a two way
communication, and resultantly getting an immediate feedback. The advantage with POP
is that one has the widest canvas to communicate ideas. Even sky is not the limit for
OOH. Its sheer size and cost effectiveness make it a strong medium. Most importantly, it
ensures registration of the message with being accompanied by annoyance. It has the
second lowest annoyance factor amongst all media.
Is outdoor truly an unavoidable medium?
This is a debatable issue. OOH ads lack an editorial. They prevail over other media only
by virtue of their size and visibility. One is not empowered to zap channels, but one can
surely zap attention towards the ad. This view if accepted, it becomes as much audience
controlled as the traditional media and its points-of-difference over media seize to exist.
Undeniably, consumers cannot control the medium, but they can surely regulate and
adjust their attention towards the ads. Audiences thus prevail over the media and enjoy
the prerogative of engaging with OOH only if they wish. The only motivation possibly is
a break, which a tastefully colored poster or signage on a seemingly drab bus stand and
the amusement an intelligent billboard provides to someone waiting inexorably for the
bus. Creative idea and the ability to engage the customers is the key to an inescapable
OOH communication.
OOH Successes
GO Cheese outdoor campaign

http://www.medianewsline.com/news/128/ARTICLE/5877/2010-03-23.html

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'Go Cheese', a relatively fat-free variant of cow milk product, is an offering of Parag Milk
& Milk Products Pvt. The company enjoys a distinction of owning the largest private
dairy.
GO cheese is positioned as being made from 100% cow's milk. The target audience is
the residential segment of SEC A and B, who need to be conveyed and persuaded of the
brand meaning. Gowardhan, has employed an OOH route to build the 'Go Cheese' brand
in select metros like Mumbai, Delhi to get its message across the TG. The execution
duties for the campaign are lie with Percept Out-of-Home. Percept Out-of-Home is a 360-
degree OOH communication solutions division of Percept Ltd.
The campaign intends to create a high pitch clamor and clatter for the brand. The tagline
'Enjoy the goodness of 100% pure cow's milk' has been positioned at Delhi Metro
Stations - Metro branding, inside Metro Branding, Ring Road, Pushp Vihar, Barakhamba
Road and South Extension, whereas in Mumbai, the coverage extended to Peddar Road,
Napean Sea Road, Worli, VT, Juhu, Marine Drive and Bandra. .

Promoting Agyaat, a horror movie, the OOH way

http://www.afaqs.com/perl/ooh/news/story.html?
sid=24674_Films+take+the+innovative+outdoor+route

Agyaat , a creation of UTV motion pictures, is all about a film unit that gets marooned in
a deep wood and its members are killed mysteriously each day by a nameless and
faceless entity-hence the name agyaat. The execution duties are vested with Bright

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Outdoor Media. Its pre launch marketing created a buzz and a furore when UTV motion
pictures hung dummy, rubber 'bodies' on the film's hoardings at 10 locations across
Mumbai at key locations that ensure high visibility. The innovation, though macabre, was
irrefutably a clutter-breaker, salient and arresting. So realistic were the dummies that the
inhabitants mistook them to be real and starting a wave of panic. It sent chills down the
spine of a commoner. So out of box was this OOH execution that local people sought the
intervention of the police and the dummies were pulled down in three hours time. Indeed
quite blood curdling, but the idea and its execution got overwhelming response from the
passersby. Even those who gave it amiss, read about it the next day in newspapers or
online. Mission accomplished for UTV motion pictures. It was successful in creating a
stir.
Win-an Airship ride-the Vodafone way

http://www.afaqs.com/perl/ooh/news/story.html?sid=26961_Vodafone:
+Sky+is+not+the+limit
Vodafone quite recently launched AirshipA-60+ in the Indian skies. The airship was
routed through the popular cities- started from Mumbai and finally reached Delhi. With
this, Vodafone took the opportunity to thank its 100 million subscribers. Accompanying

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this was a contest named as “Win an airship ride”. The contestant could participate by
calling at 123123, a toll free number, and answer a question on the IVR. The winners
were delighted by a chance to enjoy a leisurely trip in the airship. There was yet another
contest for the consumers who could spot the airship as it glided over their city.
Contestants had to confirm over a toll free number that they have spotted the airship at a
particular location. The winners got zoo zoo merchandise. This initiative was executed in
association with Milestone Brandcom. It was an attempt to provide a truly international
experience to the audiences. It served as a platform to thank, remind and reassure the
consumers of the presence of Vodafone.

NSE’s awareness campaign on Rajdhani Express

http://www.afaqs.com/perl/ooh/news/story.html?
sid=26949_NSE+launches+investor+awareness+campaign+on+Rajdhani+Express
Cornerstone Communications, designed an OOH for National Stock Exchange (NSE) on
Rajdhani Express. The campaign is historic because this is the first ever outdoor
campaign by a bourse. The intent is to make the prospective investors aware about the
offerings of NSE, do’s and don’ts pertaining to trading, filling up of forms, caution for
online trading, understanding matters relating to power of attorney etc. The campaign

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also has a mass outreach program to educate the public about Nifty 50 by simplifying the
same through pictures and comic strips in a program.
Amul –An iconic and agile brand

http://www.afaqs.com/perl/advertising/creative_showcase/index.html?
id=22778&media=OOH&type=Indian#

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http://www.afaqs.com/perl/advertising/creative_showcase/index.html?
id=22634&media=OOH&type=Indian#
Amul is indeed an agile brand. Amul connects with its audiences with contemporary
issues in politics, entertainment and sports and turns it into a billboard to narrate a
butter/milk/cheese or ghee story. The humor is essentially subtle and daringly striking
and incredibly updated. This is a weekly saga, to that extent that anything big happening
triggers a thought in customers’ mind as to ‘how would Amul portray it’? This
quintessential and genuinely interesting way of connecting with customers makes big
budgets and huge campaigns superfluous. The engaging conversation helps preventing
commoditization of a category as generic as butter.
Amul ads date back to 1967 and are one of the longest running theme based ads. The ads
are now vying for the Guinness records for being the longest running ad campaign ever.
For a cohort that is born and brought up in 70’s and 80’s Amul is a household name and
the mischievous looking Amul girl, a household entity. Thanks to Sylvester De Cunha,
The ads enjoy a reputation for being blatantly irreverent and yet rooted in Indian culture.
Interactive OOH
Outdoor clients now want to have a dialogue with the public. Having caught the
audiences’ attention, made eye contacts, they now want their phone numbers and thus
forging a long lasting relation with the modern day customer. The rise of interactivity in
outdoor arguably marks the beginning of a revolution in this medium, thus introducing
direct engagement with the customer.
Idea and Oongli cricket

http://telecomtalk.info/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Idea-Cellular-Readies-India-to-Play-
Idea-Oongli-Cricket.jpeg

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OOH is a very vital part of Idea’s media plan. The telecom giant has recently introduced
an element of interactivity to its outdoor. During this campaign, questions based on the
events and happenings of the ongoing match would be asked. All mobile users,
irrespective of their service providers can participate. Idea users can message their
answers using a toll free number-‘9594939291’, whereas the non-idea users need to pay
the standard messaging rates for participating in the contest. Idea customers would get
Idea VAS packs for three days while those using other service providers would get VAS
packs for one day only. The campaign was preceded by a teaser campaign, urging
customers to keep their fingers in good shape as ‘oongli cricket’ is in the wake. A website
www.ideaoonglicricket.com was in place and it persuaded the contestants to claim a spot
among 25 oongli cricketers that idea was looking forth. The questions were quite funny
and unusual like -aaj ke match mein kitne players bhagwan ko yaad karenge? After test
cricket, one day and T-20, this appears to be a new genre of cricket for the experts as well
as the novice, across all ages and gender, provided that they are a mobile phone user. The
concept had surely engaged a cross-section of users with the power of telephony.
The Scullers’ Story

http://www.afaqs.com/perl/advertising/creative_showcase/index.html?
id=17761&media=OOH

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http://www.afaqs.com/perl/advertising/creative_showcase/index.html?
id=17762&media=OOH
Indus League Clothing that owns the brand Scullers’ created an interactive OOH
reflecting the brand philosophy of Scullers’ reflecting-This is Life. The company asked
the public to log on to scullers.com, create a user account and upload their travel pictures
on the website. To ensure participation, the company had put up a huge life size LED
hoarding on Brigade Road, a commercial hub in Bengaluru. Following the uploading of
pictures by the people, there was a jury selecting the pictures. The selected pictures were
displayed on the LED hoarding from 1800 to 20:30 hrs everyday. The campaign ran for
10 days. The campaign was initiated in-house and Aaren Initiative handled the media for
the same. The campaign was akin to running a facebook on the hoarding. It assumed that
the target audience spends a considerable time on social networking sites and hence is
amenable to sharing and uploading its travel pictures.
From STAR Plus to Ruby Star
STAR Plus having completed a decade of entertaining saga, recently announced its
revamped logo to mark the occasion. The new logo is Ruby Star, with an emphasis on
“Rishta Wahi, Soch Nayi”. Customer education and engagement for this transformation
is sought with the help of an outdoor multimedia communication campaign created by
Aaren Initiative (AI). AI employed the latest technology combined with audience
interactivity to create the campaign. It placed ‘Interactive Floor Projection’ with the new
Ruby Star logo at four strategic locations for five days.CST and Churchgate Railway
Stations in Mumbai and two prominent malls in Rajouri Garden and Saket in Delhi were
the chosen sites. Such floor projections are characterized by sensitivity to peoples’

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movements. The red stars move every time the audience try to step on these, thus getting
people to jump around in futile attempts to grab them. The technology not only engaged
the audience but also created a strong viral effect. This unique initiative engendered
tremendous curiosity, interest and excitement. The people stopped in their tracks,
interacted and clicked photographs of the unique. At CST railway station the people were
so engaged that the crowd swelled and eventually police had to intervene to disperse the
crowd.

Conclusion
OOH is a potential expressway. The medium is powerful, efficient and effective. It offers
a leeway for innovation and interactivity. Sophisticated technology aides this
phenomenon and adds to its interactivity. Despite the edge it enjoys over the traditional
audience controlled media, there is limit to its effectiveness. An OOH devoid of
creativity is purposeless and like a body without soul. Compelling creativity and
indisputable innovation lie at the heart of a truly inescapable OOH.

References:
1. “Out-of-home advertising is booming”-Business Standard, November 08, 2007.
2. http://www.topicinfo.com
3. www.exchage4media.com
4. www.agencyfaqs.com
5. www.ideaoonglicricket.com
6. www.afaqs.com/perl/ooh/news/story
7. www.amul.com
8. www.planet6oclock.com
9. www.rediff.com
10. www.scullers.com

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