 Good afternoon everyone We have a very interesting session today something with the brand market years and the agencies You know are constantly looking at Finding a solution for the topic which is Need for optimizing out-of-home advertising for an efficient brand building. We've recently come out with a fikiframes report Which clearly shows that you know the Indian advertising industry has crossed one trillion for the first time ever What role will out-of-home play for the brand market years as part of this We've seen that the segment has recovered to 86 percent of the 2022 This year it has recovered 26 86 percent traditional 59 percent and the transit media has contributed 41 percent Digital screens have reached a lack 150,000 There are over 10,000 active brands on out-of-home today So it's it's a medium which is very critical We have brand and market years and agencies and ex agencies The objective today will really be to understand how we can navigate this and how we can work on Optimizing this media so we're going to discuss a lot of examples how the market years are really working on this So the first question and this is for all the brand to all the brands The role out-of-home really plays in your media plan and as a brand. What is your expectation from an agency to drive the same? I'll start with you Thanks, Amin. So for us at ABCL The role of OH media is at top of the funnel. So what we do is we do a strategic planning Close I'm audible now. Yeah. Yeah So for OH OH is a crucial part for our media mix. Yeah, we Basically plan top of the funnel, which is tofu to drive awareness and recall Then we come to middle of the funnel, which is consideration and interest driving interest and then we come to bottom of the funnel Which is both so OH sits at top of the funnel for us to drive awareness and recall for the brands and The role which the agency plays for us is to you know Help us in strategic planning get a scientific planning on the table and as well, you know the buying transparency for us Okay, I think how do you drive it for Al Kubev challenge? Yeah challenge and Just saying that we don't advertise Al Kubev. We advertise extensions So I think that's something that I'd like to say Outdoor for us is a medium that is important But yet not so important. So it's important from the point of view of when we have Experiences or when we have our events It's it plays a major role because it helps us with localized targeting For example, if I have a Royal Stack boombox event and there are do I mean and I'm addressing a certain specific youth community It just makes sense for me to go all out on our door after Saturating digital because I want everybody in that city to know that I am hosting a event where the who's who of the music industry is there? So that's one way we could use it Or I could use it for a shivers alchemy event But the other way that we use it is for a lot of our cop-com campaigns Whether it's unboxing where we're doing away with mono cartons and it's for impact. It's for talk ability it's for driving bus and Making sure that we come across as responsible advertisers and over there it You know does the role of impact creation amongst people like you amongst marketeers So I think it plays a dual role and the role keeps changing depending on the campaign the objective agencies of course help us with the right kind of inventory to you know Meet our KPIs or ensure that the role we've defined for the medium is done But outdoor does have different kinds of roles to play it may not be the first medium of choice But it definitely has a huge role to play in the industry that I come from So what I hear from you it plays a critical role in supplementing your main line That's what it does. It does sometimes play a critical role in supplementing my main line at other times Possibly enhancing the performance of my main line like for ticket selling and for letting people know that there's a particular event in a Particular town, you know, it does that job very very effectively. So it's not always supplementing Right. So because you drive a lot of events as part of your marketing then it plays a very very critical role It does and sometimes even for large-scale new campaigns, right? If you want a certain community or Transit, I mean, where do all of us buy alcohol at duty-free And if you are reached with an ad just before you enter exit duty-free It just makes sense, right? So for us it does it does. It's an important role that it plays in our media plans But yes, how how do we really measure it is something that we are still working towards? From CPG perspective How does it form part of your campaign and how does the agency enable this for you? CPG is generally I think a laggard in this Medium we use it very tactically. I think as CPG especially for TCPL It is going to be a very tactical intervention Maybe obviously as any other marketer would tell you it is basis objective what you are really looking at But it is not the lead medium, but it definitely can be made a medium where you know you get the level of reach and With obviously now the digital outdoor which is which is in You know in talks and a lot of people are using I think a lot of it is also getting covered in terms of what you really want to do So I would feel outdoor is still important, but is it the lead medium? The answer is no Ray shall come to you from You know you spend so much time in this industry and work with so many brands How do you see out of home being leveraged? By the brand and how how do you see agencies really enabling that journey for them? to You know for the medium to be more impactful more measurable You know linking it to the brand objectives for a for a marketer. I think Hello, yeah, I think it's a very good question because I think the next generation or the current generation of specialist especially at the agency end are challenging the you know traditional way of looking at thing and I think There is so much of deep data and immersive tech which is now available It is only helping us bring, you know brands and their consumers much closer I think talent has played a very critical role And then you couple that with all the new agencies all the agencies Which have now enabled themselves with you know the current movement of bringing in data bringing in Measurability and I think most of the agencies today Are looking at out of home in a very different way. I think out of home has become far more Sort of measurable and also accountable like most of the Mediums which you all brands look at it is all about the perspective and It's about the faith how the brands Putting I think things are available Today and even if there is no syndicated research in the market, but yes, there are so many Independent neutral API's which you can use be Google places API or Facebook analytics or Pinterest API or census data. There are so much of data which is available to bring that Kind of parity which you know brands are today looking at so I think that's a Big change and we as specialists are today able to bring that to a lot of brands in the country I'm gonna ask you this question in terms of You know where you have a lot more What do you say Measurability in terms of your main line where you have television and digital which is now we've seen that it has surpassed television You know how relevant or how effective do you see out of home media today? You know competing with these other Mainline mediums where the budgets are getting consumed So Yeah, I mean are the power of which is undeniable So, you know to create the effectiveness which it's having by creating the impact and driving the reach It's undeniable. So but it requires careful planning for us. Obviously when we plan our OH campaign we look at scientific method methods of planning, you know, there are various tools which we You know evaluate our media plans on so from location-based targeting to multiple touch points where our consumers are, you know to understand their psychographic patterns and their travel patterns and accordingly planning and allocating our media understanding the market nuances and mapping it with our brand priority markets and Obviously keeping in mind the brand positioning, which is key. So this is the way which we think that we plan our OH I think for BFSI segment it displays a very very critical role And I think of you were having an interesting conversation before which was on you know, what do I do with this data? Right. So, how do I link it to an outcome? Base metrics and what do I do with this data? So, how are you, you know resolving this challenge? So I'll just like think take a step back and think about out-of-home and divide it into what is available today So you of course have the traditional out-of-home, which is the static the large hoardings You have the digital out-of-home and then you have the ambient screens Now if you have a look at consumers and at all of us today We are taking a phone with us wherever we go. We have a screen with us. We are on the screen If you look at ambient out-of-home, it's also a screen. It follows you wherever you go whether it's trains, buses, Ola cabs, Uber cabs, whatever So So if I'm prioritizing screens and if I am planning for a multi-screen audience I would put in television because at the end of the day I can do a triple M measure What's the ROI once I start advertising not advertising on digital? Because we are a dark category and I'm advertising extensions. I can definitely look at You know where my impressions were delivered did have an impact on my brand KPIs Was there an uplift in my brand? Without of home I'm yet to see that as an industry and I'm not saying that it's just the industry problem even as advertisers We need to push them there. I think having a common currency of measurement Maybe having the entire industry talk the same language Specifically for screens that are comparable to a television to a mobile because today the consumer is on the move is Transient I think measuring that so I have a lot of data saying okay How many people you know phones came across my ad when I was there or when my ad was served? But what do I make of that data? Did it have a movement in my brand KPIs? Do you think I should put in a CTA of just sign up for my event now or you know, if I am FMCG You know, this is a supermarket nearby and you have a discount. Can I go and do that? I think together as an industry marketeers Suppliers agencies we all need to come together to be able to define that common currency Which I think digital as a medium has effectively done and with technology coming into outdoor I think measurement is not a challenge but Measurement to what impact to the brand because ultimately if I put in hundred rupees or now though I'm choosing it above something else and I will need to justify what's the impact It's hard and what is the role it can play in the next plan. So if I want consistent Presence of out of home in my plans I would be able need to be able to justify that spend and say what impact it's hard I think all of us together, you know need to sort of move towards that Measurement, which is not about saying I got so much first party data. I got so much second party data This is the impressions they've over delivered. These are just basics if you get go to television It's sophisticated for the last 25 years It can give you exactly what it's doing and you have an uphill task for you to become primary for you to become a Medium I cannot skip I will need a common currency I will need to measure the impact it has on my brand so that it's a medium That's unavoidable for me, you know, that's that's exactly what you were discussing, right? I need to know the impact correct That and you spoke about a very interesting campaign which you ran On the engagement and how you created engagement with that so taking you from what article is mentioned How did that contribute in terms of the ROI to the campaign or how did it contribute to the larger brand Objectives and that could be creating data generating data So I think we were talking about a measurability Outdoor, of course With the digital Outdoor that we have now interactive outdoor exists now in the market There are other forms of outdoor. It is no more the static way that we we've all grown up seen the we did a recent campaign on Tartar T gold which is Which is actually linking what you are putting on a digital platform Which is which is for example Instagram So we got the consumers to post their pictures on Mother's Day with their moms on Instagram go to a mall you see the same picture on a Big billboard in the mall and you get a pack of that Right, so it's it's actually real-time outdoor output Also input in that manner and measurability because you can measure it from the conversation which are picking up while the campaign is on While somebody is tagging you while somebody is uploading while somebody is engaging on the interactive screen Right while somebody is actually uploading and then you can see and you know the happiness on people's face when they see their own picture On an outdoor real-time. I think it's it really pays back, right as for the marketers and I think it is When we say outdoor is not a measurable or when we say outdoor Doesn't do much for us. I think the lens we may also need to change as marketers would be How can we make it happen, right? Because it is it is nobody else is going to do for that for us We are set to change the lens. There is digital who has surpassed TV now in terms of spends in the recent report And that has happened at the back of the tech giants really taking that Sprint right to get to where they are now and that's how the industry has moved But if outdoor has to move then we will have to together Make a change right how how did bark come in existence? It's because all the three bodies actually came together to do that, right on outdoor, I think I'm not sure if you're still ready to have that kind of a Partnership but when when we are talking about campaigns then When it comes to innovation, then why do we have to only restrict? Oh, this is outdoor and this is static and that's all all you can do is just bring one car from one place to the other in an outdoor hoarding right so There is digital system which is existing so it's for us to innovate for us to bring that You know the benchmark up and get the ball rolling for outdoor Actually, that's very interesting one of the event I was attending recently and there was a full session on out of home and this is for one of the leading car manufacturers They actually use the projection on one of the hills in Ladakh So generally you will see All these autos, you know the cars running in the run of catch or they're doing the four-wheel drive And all over the place and it was a very very innovative campaign Where I mean on that part, you know when we are talking about outdoor innovations I know a lot of partners are sitting in agency folks are sitting there are a lot of examples people keep floating This is some but some innovation in outdoor happen in US and UK and Singapore Please see we need to do it in India I think the it's time that it becomes the other way around People actually start saying that oh, this is some great innovation which happened in India And that's how the industry is gonna get up I think the sprint has to be much faster because now there are drones which are there and still to see a lot of those innovations in India Harish we are talking a lot Okay, so the way I see this is there is the existing ecosystem of Out-of-home and we've seen in the last four five or maybe ten years on how Digital which used to be and I recall I think five years or six years back And you guys can confirm from your budgets used to be less than two percent of the overall media budgets Okay, and there at that point of time the marketers really used to talk about oh They're spending twenty percent of the media budgets on digital and we are only two percent Okay, and there are there there were a lot of brands which were digital first and now with a lot of e-com You know a lot of spends are being there on digital. Do you see that happening with a lot of digitization happening? which also Reduces the cost to reach plus with programmatic TV 360 and a lot of tech which is available there What kind of role do you think that will play in you know? repositioning this Media which is I think at this point of time underrated. I think one good thing which has happened especially in last two three years is the Evolution of the digital infrastructure which has happened in India So if you look at the number of screens have gone up And also the quality of screens which have gone up I think as a as an industry we are a little far away in terms of Real programmatic out of home, but yes, we are there And I think platforms like DB 360 or Lima and all such DSPs are only going to help us You know deliver campaigns on all the digital screens But also we need to bring in you know a lot of mobile data to be integrated into those platforms We need to get all the global players who are able to bring in a lot of data points So one is delivery becomes easy. Secondly also the sort of efficiency in terms of planning and also Measurability which comes into play and which is what all the brands today need and I think To ask I mean to answer your question. I think things are very positive Both in terms of infrastructure as well as the tech which is involved. So now you also have, you know Programmable screens which are on let's say your cars your ola cars or your Static place or ambient environment. So I think this is only going to help and if you look at Developed markets like us or UK where you know initially with it started it started with Or Singapore if you look closer to us or China it started with, you know, 10% digital and then 90% Traditional today markets like UK US you have got almost 95% digital inventory So things are going to change and I think we as an industry have to be ready for it and We need to also evolve With so many things which are changing in the environment I think that's an interesting perspective. I think a lot of Initiatives have to be collectively taken both from the agency and the brand side in fact on on You know on traditional television also today there are less conversations on traditional on television They're more conversation on connected TV. So that medium is also evolved and like how With, you know, major ability across six million connected TVs in India today versus a Traditional way of measuring my GRPs. That's way more progressive So there has to be a new tech or New intervention which has to be put in place is is what I really see I'm gonna ask you this question because you know, you've you've seen this both from the agency side and the brand side, right? How do you see this? Innovation or new ways of working or new tech which will probably drive and Make out of form as a critical consideration during media planning So I mean When considering in out of form, you know as a medium, obviously it's evolving right now The you know the third party takes which are available, which you know, obviously currently the industry body doesn't have a platform which can have a measurement but Again, I would emphasize on the scientific planning, which you know, I have been Looking at with the agencies as well as the brand and that how do you map your entire Objective of the campaign. So let's say OH if you have an objective of having awareness and recall Where do you see OH? In terms of how do you track the measurement of your which through your brand track reports? So we also do brand track report studies when I joined ABCL We did a brand track report study. So every month we do a brand track report of where our Awareness top Tom scores and spawn scores have increased how we are in likely to be considered by our audiences So these are the measurements which you look at when we plan for out of form So as you you know mentioned that this would be Top of the funnel it will play a very very critical role More and more and I think I think up for a brand like yours What it you know the critical role or let me put it this way We've seen how second-screen interactivity is playing a very critical role. So about four years back or five years back You know, everybody is now today aware about Konbari Kakaropati play along, right? So we put that thing in place that while everybody's watching television They're also playing it in their heads. And how do we start the measurement? Turn gave an example of second-screen interactivity while, you know, I'm looking at it and you know I use my phone and then I'm also using that to collect the first-party data And optimize. How do you see out of form with second-screen interactivity or Integrating with other mediums, you know so that it it plays an integral role in your overall brand strategy So I'll just take a cue from what Amar said about measurement I think how is it? It's impacting your brand scores would be the ideal state that I would like to reach out But as of now, I would like to just if I have to consider out of home screens On parity with TV and digital. What are the things I'm looking for? I'm looking for Measurability how many people have actually seen the ad what do they think of my brand is there any fraudulent traffic or not? So that's the role. That's the kind of measurement like I'd like to do because it's a medium that is supplementing my multi screens That's one role it could play the second role It could play like I said, I have a lot of events or my category operates on a lot of events So are there any sign-ups that are specifically driven throughout of home? Whether it's through QR code registration or not that could be another metric the third one interestingly what Taran said about innovation I think out of home is a medium where you could really innovate With given the different technologies which are available worldwide, but use it in a nuanced way in a context way for India and we did something like that for absolute You know ally campaign and we had this installation at Bandstand and we just tested one city to see how it felt where we had a huge experience screen and when someone walks across it There were silhouettes in the colors of pride because that is what absolute does it it is it stands for love We didn't do it in the pride month We did it in the month of February, which is the month of love and we said, you know, absolute is all for equal love But what we did see with that interactive screen is that initially we had to get promoters and people to come and perform After about three or four days of it being present there There were people local groups who came and asked us if they could perform there Whether we could record them they started Samplifying the absolute ally hashtag and it was a huge word of mouth thing. So I mean the cost to Executing it was more but the fact that it drove a whole localized event to the point that a couple of bars in Bandra came With their performers to perform So I think depending on what the role is playing we could start with baby steps First is just measuring how many people have actually viewed the ad view ability Please borrow from your digital counterparts. Can you you know use more than is tags? Can you? say who What percentage of this is invalid traffic? Just start with that move to your brand tracks saying okay if the number of people who are exposed to my ad How much recall do they have do they recall seeing you know my ad and so on and eventually moving to brand KPIs But I think that there is there is a step ladder approach and measurement is not that difficult I think on the supply side we sort of need to consolidate and also on the advertiser side We need to be very conscious of how we are using it and you know stop our own biases Which were there ten years ago about it being a not so credible medium about it being a not so measurable medium Because with tech it's measurable. How we plan that measurement journey. I think we all just need to come together Yeah, I think a lot of these discussions on on tech digital media You know, it's it's concentrated to tier one tier two that and how do you see this in? media dark areas I Understand it works very well for a CPG client for rural area activations interactions so I think For when we talk about media dark markets, I think to any advertiser's mind is wall painting. Let's do wall painting right, so Outdoor I remember as in almost some 15 16 years back where we used to Think about those kind of plans agencies would come and present that right But I think today with the way that market is there There is obviously digital which is so so penetrated even in those kind of markets, which are rural markets So there is earlier. They had their own play of let's do an activation and outdoor But now it is activation outdoor and digital is what the rural market is really dealing with in terms of the exposure of media And of course, I think the the task again when you have to reach a rural market Through outdoor is again. Why do we have to again restrict ourselves to them? The the general stuff like that. We've always been doing right or just stick to activation and let's let's get it rolling The innovations that you do in tier one Why don't you just go and do it in tier three or lower below and you see the impact of that? It's actually removing our bias as marketeers as advertisers in the business because we think okay This works for tier one, but rural tier three. Will it? Yeah, and actually Yeah, sometimes test and learn. I think the key is also to test and learn in a lot of times But of course rural market is the favorite for router and all that Yeah, and how do you see with the digital apps free internet free IPL? competing without a phone Yeah, that is of course there the geo has obviously done all the The working and now which is the ONDC coming in picture the world is going to open up so much So yeah, the competition is definitely going to be harder for rural market Competition and for you to decide how to figure this out. I I think it's a great place to be as a marketer That is because if if you have more options to address a media dark area. What what more you want, right? I think it's a good place to be in I think As an agency, I think I would like to defend my turf here So I think every media has a role digital might have a role of You know optimized rich or better rich or Similarly print or television. I think what outdoor delivers is impact and I think Yesterday when Subran she was presenting on data motors. He spoke about You look up to the brand and you know billboard brings the largeness. So I think if you look at All the recent history 3d anamorphic two years back three years back when it came for the first time You know, everyone started that and now it has started in India also. So I think Every media has a role and I think out of home plays a very critical role of delivering impact and largeness to the brand and I think As brand custodians you you will also look at different mix of reach and impact for your campaigns And I think if you have to define then I think impact is a very critical Sort of a point which out of home drives And and I'll second that and sure to you just ask the question which movie have you watched and he said OTT So OTT is using out of home very well I don't go on or Netflix to see what I should watch because I'm crossing something and I see something interesting And then I will go and check that right. So I think impact-wise it it is a very high impact medium and you know one of the other things is and you know the impact zone for an out-of-home at least in tier one tier two cities, right would be concentrated to probably, let's say few areas Right the airport roads key junctions How does that play up? How are you going to dig a dig at that? Because everybody is denying for just the same inventory the same yeah, so Yeah, as you mentioned, I mean the inventory is scarce like it's not television with where you put your you know, you have 12 minutes or 18 minutes of inventory where you can put your spot inventory is scarce so how efficiently you plan and The basis that how your agency Works as an extended arm for you in terms of blocking your sites and having it in place for you is the key for Okay, I am also keeping an eye on the clock for all of us Okay closing remarks I'll start with you. What's the future of out-of-home? Well the future of out-of-home I kind of feel is bright if you were to be able to Drive common, you know currency for measurement I Agree with a lot of things that the panel said here one of course with the multi-screen behavior coming in I think out-of-home can become a part of your regular screen planning if we are able to measure if you're able to Ensure that deliveries are on target. It definitely is an impact medium will consider to do so. I think for Generations to come like everybody here is saying I think if you just go across Bombay everywhere, there are citadel holdings I'm not sure who's not seeing them and not watching them and you can see Netflix Amazon Prime using it to their advantage So I think the impact thing remains constant with technology. You can add a leg of Measurability there is some distance to go for the industry, but I'm sure if you know we could solve the problem of television screens Out-of-home, you know can be solved and and it's just creative solutions The last leg would be creative solutions creative solutions and technology So I think it's just about using it to our advantage and ultimately saying these were the results and then I think there's a consistent Feedback loop that you built into your plans So I kind of feel like out though would be it could become the next digital if we all come together with a common currency with Measurement it definitely has the impact and innovation capabilities like no other Absolutely. Absolutely. Amar, what's out-of-home future for you for your brand and for the industry? Yeah, so if I talk about the OH addicts currently it stands at 2% You know, which is hardly anything for BFSI as a category. It's 5% Yeah, and the way that DOH is you know growing from 6% right now I think in 2022, which I was reading a report. There was it's around 8% The screens which are coming up the digital screens which are coming up Around two lakhs what the number says right now, which maybe in a year or two it can double up. So Yeah, the what I understand is that I would do is evolving There's an evolvement which is happening for basis programmatic DOH basis new beautified media Which is coming up basis the infrastructure fast-paced infrastructure and Once as I think I mentioned the measurement a common measurement platform is in place So brands won't shy away, you know in having their over investments increasing in their pie No, I completely agree with you with so much infrastructure development. I think there'll be Major shift in how Concentrated out-of-home media. Yeah, you know the transit media is which are available So I put which is available. So, you know, this is the infrastructure There would be a lot of screens where they would be captive audiences, which we would be, you know targeting Absolutely, too. Harish How do you see the out-of-home media and where do you see? Agency playing a critical role in driving that as an integral part of the media objectives for a brand I think if you look at the current budgets Where the government has put so much of weight is almost 30% of weightage on the infrastructure, which you guys also mentioned And I think most of you must be also visiting your markets the kind of connectivity the kind of You know infrastructure, which is there right from, you know, basic water to electricity to roads Everything is improving and I think for the next 10 years the government initiative of reaching out to the smallest of the town only creates opportunity for us you know to Ensure that you are reaching the deepest part of the country today And I think overall quality of infrastructure is also going to play a critical role With a lot of municipal corporations emphasizing on improving the quality Bringing in tender making the medium digital will only ensure that Brands are going to look forward to you know out-of-home in a much positive sense and Am I I want to also touch upon your point about You know Syndicated research and industry data, which is there. I mean we all know television has been struggling for their own bark ratings Or if you look at even digitally struggling with the numbers Yes, out-of-home does not have a syndicated research But if you look at parallel sort of data points, which are available You can at least have a surety that as specialist we are depending on a third-party data, which is a Industry Accepted data points and at least as specialist we will be in a much better position to bring that and I think synergies of data infrastructure and technology are the three pillars which are going to Drive the future of out-of-home I completely agree the third-party data plays a very very critical role We've seen how radio has died because of Ram not there. Okay, and in fact today, you know, I'm meeting so many Agencies or industry players and everybody is moving with their set of data's beat on influencer marketing be it on out-of-home Be it on transit media be it connected TV. So samsung comes with their set of data, right? So you have so many data points which are I think scattered all over and I think it's it's very Critical that all of this comes in one place and there is one currency which is accepted Which is very critical. I think for any medium to take off Otherwise, you know, this will continue to be a discussion and debate each year that and I think what you know, Harish also mentioned in terms of the Critical role that out-of-home plays for tier two tier three with infrastructure You know increasing and still a very trusted medium to you know, build my brand awareness reach and achieve my brand Objectives, how do you see out-of-home playing a critical role in those regions? with respect to I think Tier two tier three there is a lot around You know and it is existing everywhere, but there's a lot around ad fraud Right, which needs to be controlled because for a market here who's sitting in a metro city I don't know how many people will that person manage to go and check whether that outdoor was up or not, right? and and if You know that and when you ask, what is the future? I think the future is what we make, right? There is no future which is defined in the future. We have to make right So if you make a trustworthy future the industry is going to follow that, right? So I think there is a lot of owners on the partners to build that structure whether it is tier one, tier two, three and below For for people to see and trust what they actually bought whether it finally got delivered or not So the trust thing also has to be somewhere, you know sorted for this medium to go up Absolutely, so I think From a market year's perspective. Are you getting the buck? You know this, you know spent for your buck what you spend as an agency to drive more measurement Also as collectively as an industry more innovation and major ability I think these are very very critical steps and I think and as you rightly said with so many options It's it's a really good time to put up Unified currency put up innovations which could be replicated and You said a very good point which is I think it's time for India to do innovations and others quoting us So on that note, I will thank all of you for your insights and excellent discussion. Very interesting. Thank you everyone Thank you. Thank you. Thank you guys