 Sponsors are absolutely indispensable in putting up a show. Let's give a huge round of applause All right, and on that note, I'd like to invite the captain of the ship Mr. Anurag Bhatra chairman and editor in chief exchange for media group and business world to deliver the welcome address I'm a readout from your notes. Don't want to do that. I love to take your feet away Please give Ratnika a big round of cheer She's a very brave person I met her at an event which she was hosting for us on 10th January and you know, I am The one industry that I should be a brand ambassador of is out of home because I spent most of my time out of home But the other industry if I could be a brand ambassador is entrepreneurship and events. These are two things I know a little bit she was hosting a BW disrupt event and you know I have some pet peeves and one of my colleagues did something and you know She saw me in a very aggressive mode and then she she out of the blue texted me and she came to meet me in the office and You know, she's been very brave. So brave people should be celebrated. I'm brave, too I got married 18 years ago. So I think we should celebrate brave people But that's another day today. We're here to celebrate the out-of-home industry I'd like to acknowledge the presence of mr. Stuart Taylor was the global sea of kinetic who's come all the way And we've allowed him without a badge. That's that's because of our respects So please give mr. Stuart Taylor a big round of applause He's the global sea of kinetic. He's been an entrepreneur He served on the board of Guardian. He owned his own radio station and he's done a lot of things before He started leading kinetic My old friend Suresh young friend, but goes back a long time Suresh the fact that you're at kinetic gives us hope because you know group M is the Position and kinetic is at a position where you can grow the industry And if the industry grows you grow I have lots of friends in the room I did work in the out-of-home industry for a little while and my ex-boss yesterday called me and After that sent me a text saying you disappoint me because he sent an article and it wasn't printed in the magazine Sunandan called me wrote it now works for a you know diverse firm which Engages on gender diversity and stuff This is an industry that I know a little bit because I've worked in it It has changed for the positive in the last 18 years that I've moved away from the industry actively I used to be the head of the office of Portland in Delhi. I had the great pleasure of Having team members like Gaur Gupta. That's where I lost most of my hair. He's the sponsor of the event today Right, I he will not come you know some people feel great. Oh, I sponsored the event But I won't show up, you know, it's like a statement of like, you know, like I'm God's gift to humanity But that's okay, which God is a very close friend of mine. He worked with me But I want to tell you that I did work in this domain and I was taking Suresh's viewpoint before I came up The industry has moved forward in a way that it has improved and if you had to take the initiatives that have happened in the last few months One is the you know every Industry has an association which in some way brings some standard practices. It creates a safety net it creates training The outdoor industry out of home industry has the Indian outdoor Association I think in the last Few months the membership has gone from 80 to 350. So that's a very positive step It has involved agencies media owners intermediaries printers Most importantly, it has set up some some standard operating procedures Payments is a big area every association whether it's an INS Or IBF or an outdoor association can help in streamlining payments because I think that's the biggest area where you know In how POS come so things have improved there. Let me also tell you that The media industry is growing our pitch Madison advertising outlook, which is it in its 18th year Forecast that next year the outdoor industry will grow Bigger than the normal average of the growth of the industry And the growth will be more than it was last year if you look at the out-of-home industry on an average It grew by six seven percent the players that grew by ten percent if you look at the other survey which Group M brings out which pitch Madison doesn't bring out. It says our out-of-home will grow at 13 percent So then we're at a inflection point and the beauty about outlook is out-of-home industries That the out-of-home industry is getting integrated with every possible medium. It is getting integrated with television It is getting integrated with your mobile phone in it is getting integrated With Cinema in some way it's getting into it is retail every kind of medium is coming together to you know So out-of-home is really an industry that will grow along with every other domain and sub domain I also want to talk about the fact that since the time we started this forum more than ten years back This is the 11th year transparency and objectivity are two things that have been talked about Ethics, I think we've improved You know we've improved usually because the environment that exists is very competitive Players that are ethical long-term and a partnership oriented are growing I can also point out the fact that they're unique out-of-home opportunities some of those Opportunities are represented in this room for example armor for example bar talk for example Yoma. They're not traditional Out-of-home opportunities and there are many more that I may or may not be aware of Digital screens you cannot talk of any domain whether it's you know a business domain, which is editorial Without talking about digital and digital screens So this was telling me that this commissioner of south Mumbai told the municipal commissioner that they're giving up a giving Floating a tender for hundred digital screens in Mumbai and then they if it goes well as a pilot project. They'll replicate it across Their municipality now if it happens in Bombay it possibly will happen every year Again Because I come from the media domain Apart from exchange for media I'm part of business world So I can tell you that Media as a category relies heavily on out-of-home if you look at out-of-home advertisers media may be among the top five categories For example, if you look at some of the Maki out-of-home spaces Google has taken it up Facebook has taken it Netflix has taken it for some reason that going to Hedrabad very often these days my new investors are from So I have to go there very often and we've been doing events and When I land in Hedrabad the Hedrabad airport, which Possibly some part is with Lakshya at least that part is with Lakshya has this Radha TMT Rana Dugubati, how many of you noticed that? The Hedrabad Rana So, you know, it's done in such a fashion that it looks like the airport is owned by Radha TMT You know, it's everywhere. I know the promoter of Radha TMT is a very close friend of mine I had dinner at his home on last Monday in Hedrabad and he told me how much he paid for it I mean he paid a lot of money, but he's getting an ROI so out-of-home advertising can in a lot of ways You know create that halo and he's doing that when the steel industry is not necessarily doing well So he's spending more money in building a brand. I can keep talking to you about out-of-home I'm not an expert like Suresh or Mr. Taylor So I won't but I just want to tell you that the industry is changing for better If I had to put red flags, I'd like to put three red flags One is I brought the issue of latest issue of business world Which is on women entrepreneurship. It's a survey which says that it's difficult to be it's difficult to be an entrepreneur in India Especially if you don't have hair she ranga. It's easy. You have hair But for other people who don't have hair, it's difficult But for women, it's tough and we did a large survey and we so in in the out-of-home I know your wife is a out-of-home entrepreneur in Calcutta He just told me but mostly the number of women I'm glad I can see some women colleagues here But in the out-of-home industry both at the leadership and the middle level There are less women. I'd like to see those going up. I'd say that women bullshit less I'd say that again. I keep saying that Second is the fact that agency and owners have to look at a long-term view our industry sometime tends to be very transactional, you know as if you're selling but The best value comes from collaborative partnerships and last but not the least again. This is the issue that is being discussed 18 years back I used to go for meetings My boss would send me to Surandhan would send me to meetings is measurement The out-of-home industry still does not have a robust measurement with the integration of out-of-home industry with every other media I think now is the time for measurement and With people like Suresh at the helm of a leading agency. I see Mr. Sain was also here somewhere. Mr. Bandula You know, he's like the godfather of this industry You are so let's be very honest about it So I just want to say that when we come back next year in my vision for the out-of-home domain is a two-day conference You know, this is a conference. We don't make that much money as we make in other conferences But we don't do everything to make money. We do things to make sure our industry Creates new leaders creates new benchmarks We're able to celebrate the best advertising and we are able to bring out an agenda change and a conversation change So that the leaders of the industry note and it seeps down As Ratnika mentioned tonight, we have the nuance. I can tell you that, you know, I Just came for a you know, I was invited by the ministry to be on the board of these National Entrepreneurship Awards and I looked at their process and they called me to look at the process I can tell you the process was very good and I said that to the secretary that really your process is exceptional But I can tell you that ours are the most honest awards and I can tell you we do awards in every domain and You know, we do it in the news broadcast awards domain and I lose friends every year We do it. I can only tell you that people don't talk to me for two weeks three weeks four weeks five years But really we do it honestly. Nobody in our domain can influence it Whatever we do we can say that we do it with a very and we do it through a jury and again our jury as you will see in the jury AV is such a accomplished and knowledgeable jury and such powerful leaders that be difficult to influence them unless until they Really get influenced by another jury members view. So really tonight when we celebrate the winners in the out-of-home Domain and there are two people awards. I know those are only two awards. I know Who those award-winners are I can tell you if I was on the jury and I know a little bit about this domain and about this industry I would give it to those two people. So I can tell you that if you won I congratulate you if you were in the shortlist. I still congratulate you About 62 brands participated in the awards 40 odd agencies participated in the awards We get we got 350 plus entries we shortlisted 120 and today about 30 odd winners will be celebrated tonight So that's the process. I hope you'll agree with our award winners awards are a lot about three things One it is about perception. I can tell you again. That's an area I know a little bit second it is about elimination awards the process of elimination So you keep eliminating eliminating and third it is the quality of how you present the awards You know, I keep saying to this a lot of my friends reach out, but we did so good work You know our prime minister. I is a great guy. He's leading the country He's there apart from the fact that he's brilliant his perception is bigger than reality You know if he can comes back as the prime minister He'll come back because there is perception is bigger than reality if he doesn't come back Not come back because perception is bigger than reality. So really I can tell you this is the most honest awards I don't have to tell you, you know, I just want to and I want to tell you that next year I I call Sonia who really put this together. Of course lots of people Priyanka Everyone has supported her but I can tell you that one of our best is running this award In the year where I met two jury members on the flight. I came back from Bombay last night I told you I'm the best guy on out of home I'll be again back in Bombay tomorrow night for our impact of 50 women award then on Friday. I'll be in Calcutta for our real estate conference. I Can tell you that I met two industry leaders. I won't take their names both are Very senior and they had gone for judging of the go-offest and I ended up asking them So how was the judging? How are the quality of entries? What was the quantum of entries? I can tell you the last year because of demodernization GST has been a tough year for advertisers for the industry I think we've done out of home advertising media industry is done particularly well Considering those things. So while the quality and quantity of entries may have not been like the years before I know that this is an aberration this in this is a new normal in some way we'll have to accept it and Hopefully all the good work that the government is doing in terms of infrastructure in terms of creating jobs in terms of making sure India has Marketed you'll see the results of that in terms of the economy doing even better over the next few years. I wish you luck and I hope that I continue to be your friend Even if you win an award or you don't win an award And I'd like to say that out of home industry is that a juncture where it poised to become Mainstream and I remember I wrote this column 12 years back some of you knew in the audience I wrote in this column. I used to write for pitch. Just now there was a time. I used to write a column for pitch I wrote I was in Kans. I used to go to Kans. There was a time. I don't know what doesn't send me anymore, but It was 3 a.m. In the night and I was getting a call from Mukesh Gupta of Graphi said And he's also my neighbor, so I took the call and he said He realized that you know I'm sleepy. I told him I'm in Kans. I was sleeping and he said no, no, I'll talk to you I said no, no, tell me he said I was just ready or article that you wrote in pitch And you know you've been very insulting on the out of home industry because I wrote that in our industry. There is the I Simplified I said TV television Radio and outdoor. I Mean I had to make it simple. I said television is the Brahman's So on and so forth and out of home is whatever you can figure out. Okay. He said that's not good I said you have to read my full column why I'm saying that but I can tell you that if I wrote the same article today You know, I wouldn't say the same where poise we made a significant investments in technology Some of the players represented today are you know investing significantly in technology to make sure the offerings are measurable and that kind of measurability and Honesty will grow the industry. I want to share my last story and I shared this at every out of home conference So Bandula, sir, I got a board over here, so You know, I remember I joined I joined a J. Walter Thompson. I used to be in media planning. Mr. Sanjay Chakravarti used to be the boss, right? Like a young executive at work for four years and Mr. Sanjay Chakravarti was notorious for reading too many newspapers He was always relaxed. I've never seen a boss so relaxed Like he would read newspapers two hours like sit in his cabin and I joined out of Htn and I was given out of home and so London hired me and Then I met Gaur Gupta and I asked Gaur tell me about the industry So Gaur of course told me the right things, but I didn't believe I thought Gaur was lying to me I said these are not possible So one of the things you told me is that there is this guy called Mr. Singh who had said I forgotten even his first name Whatever good. I forgotten some Mr. Singh who used to own lots of shelters and space in Delhi, which he doesn't own So most of you know who I'm talking of and he said he changes shelters two three times a day And he builds all the clients. I said, how is that possible? How can you do that? So I didn't believe it till we used to have an NGC Maruti and one more as a three large client and I remember I Was crossing Asian Games Village complex. There is a bus shelter and as per us there should have been a NGC Holding and there was some other client. So I called Gaur and I called that guy said no, it is not possible It is NGC. I said I'm standing there. I Didn't take a photograph. I don't think there was mobile was that ubiquitous then I came back and on the way back in the night again, I Went to that and he had changed it. It was NGC So, you know, I believe that the you know, I'm I think we've come a long way from Yes, so we've come a long way I'm saying this because this was how out of home was perceived again I said perception is bigger than reality by bringing measurement by strengthening the association by bringing better quality of people By upgrading our beliefs I think we can grow the out of home industry and as I said the neck this year isn't Is an inflection point and the out of him industry will grow more than 11% because that's what we've said the other report says 13% But we'll be happy if it grows 15% so I wish you luck. I'm sure you'll be meaningful partners to the brands that you work with to the organizations that you work with and you will be socially responsible in the kind of advertising you display and We are talking in a time where the me to issue is a big issue where in advertising You started to look at, you know, because I wrote my article yesterday for impact of 15 different What kind of role models we are creating? I don't know how many women winners are there We don't have a women women winner in those two people categories next year. I'd like to see women leaders in this domain