The city always shines

ADVERTISING: Mumbai shows there's more than one way to get around the ban on neon-lit hoardings.

Mumbai's billboards and neon signs continue to glow despite the ban imposed by the Maharashtra state electricity board, thanks to the use of generators and inverters.

Keeping these signs glowing on back-up energy through the six hours of the peak-time ban (from 5 pm to 11 pm) has, however, left its mark on the pocket of the outdoor advertising industry.

Outdoor companies have to cough up another Rs 30,000 for the gensets, though their business at large has remained unaffected.

Joseph Ramsey, head of sales, M'Cons Advertising points out: "We're all putting out as many gensets as we can. So, the drop in business has been slight. Although we have had to shrink our margins by 2-5 per cent to bear the additional generator costs."

On the other hand, players who deal with alternate outdoor advertising vehicles seem to have geared up their marketing gimmicks to reap advantage from the state ban.

Lit up balloons seem to be the most popular of the alternate category. Players are offering both uniquely shaped balloons as well as product shaped balloons. The average cost for this is Rs 1.75 lakh per month.

Raj Mallik, business development head, Ad's World said: "Post the blacking out of billboards, we have seen a rise in our enquiries, and surprisingly, a majority of them have come from new publications. We see this an an ideal opportunity to market our services."

Mallik, who has already firmed up 3 - 4 deals, added that human kiosks and mobile hoardings have also gained prominence after the ban.

Mobile hoarding owners, however, say that though there has been an increase in enquiries, they have not really benefitted as the demand for mobile trucks has been on the rise in any case in the last one year.

All in all, the good news is that the ban has impacted the outdoor industry minimally, with agencies being fully prepared to cope with the repercussions of the proposed blackout.