From OOH to aah!

A look at how boring old billboards are becoming both smarter and interactive.

Name two things you are likely to greet on walking out of Mumbai airport. The answer: warm weather and Hrithik Roshan. Now, move to one of Delhi's trendiest streets. Here, Rahul Bose tells you about the rules of life.

Hrithik Roshan and Rahul Bose define the new face of outdoor advertising "" the so-called out-of-home (OOH) medium.

Thanks to the Internet and all the pocket gadgetry that keeps you connected, the world's second oldest medium for the world's second oldest profession is enjoying a renewed lease of life.

To be sure, OOH wants to leave no piece of street furniture "" bus shelters, elevators to trolleys at airports "" untouched as an opportunity to say something to you.

Outdoor ad spending is expected to grow at 22 per cent annually. At the moment, it accounts for just Rs 800 crore of the Rs 13,200-crore total ad spend in India (last year's estimate).

Ad agencies with separate OOH operations, such as Mudra (Primesite), Lintas (Aaren Initiative), O&M (Ogilvy Activation) and Madison Outdoor (MOMS), are working on getting the gloss and grab-you-ability up to global levels.

"In India, the outdoor medium still lacks the infrastructure that helps to integrate technology," says Lakshminaryanan, CEO, Mudra Marketing.

As a start, Primesite is working with various organisations to develop signages and graphics that will enhance the medium's appeal.

According to Sangeeta Pendurkar, chief marketing officer, HSBC India, OOH works well as part of an integrated multmedia campaign. In getting opt-ins for participatory marketing, for example "" say, to direct traffic towards a financial website. Or to get mobile phone-ins and message-ins.

The fragmented and chaotic nature of the OOH game has always been a put-off for large national advertisers. But display options are getting consolidated as big players enter the fray, and agencies such as O&M, Lintas, Mudra and so on are working on software packages to measure the effectiveness and credibility of the medium.

"In India," says Harish Bijoor, market analyst, "the full potential of this medium is yet to be explored. To begin with, advertisers need to move beyond hoardings and not restrict themselves only to big-banner cities like Mumbai."

Local advertisers love OOH all the more. "The outdoor medium works as a support system between point-of-purchase to actual sales. Besides, it is an excellent way to break the clutter on television and in print," says Sheetal Chokshi, general manager, marketing and communications, Shoppers' Stop, which has been using ad-wagons parked alongside trunk routes in Delhi

As in all advertising, it's all about standing out. The key to success, according to Lakshminaryanan, lies in maximising the potential of OOH on its own terms, instead of slapping a gigantic version of a print ad onto a billboard. That's laziness.

In India, OOH innovations have typically involved some 3-D element (a wheelchair sticking out, or water gushing out) or live stage action (actual people up there).

In America, a billboard once had a humungous image of the US president along a highway that revealed its actual artistic composition (as a surprise) only as you drew closer.

This sort of idea requires creative minds to wrack themselves in the specific context of the billboard's precise location and viewer experience. OOH or aah, empathy is an all-round business.