Outdoor advertising has always been the most under-shadowed
advertising sector in every agency. Some may argue about this, but we
all can certainly say that outdoor advertising agency doesn’t have many
chances to prove themselves in the industry, unlike digital or print.
However, despite of the stagnation and the under-appreciation of outdoor
agencies, everybody would agree when I say that outdoor advertising is
one of the most impactful forms of modern advertising. With the latest
trend of native advertising, now more than ever. But what has been the
secret for such agencies to have survived in the industry for so long
without seeing any major downward trend? Let’s dig deep and find out
what goes down the burner and how the outdoor advertising agency is
still going strong amidst the modern digital tools.
The outdoor ads in India seemed to have changed quite
a bit in the last few years. Some of the biggest factors that amount to
these transformations in the industry include measurement, technology,
and creative elements that allow customer interaction. If we follow the
facts in India, the estimated size of the Out of Home (OOH) industry was
Rs 15 billion in 2008, which is projected to become almost twice its
current size in 2013 (i.e. Rs 25 billion).
Mandeep Malhotra, President, DDB MudraMax, said, “It was an uncertain year for Indian Outdoor Advertising”.
Indian outdoor agencies in India saw many memorable ads that left an
international footprint across the industry worldwide. In Cannes Lions
International Festival of Creativity 2013, Indian advertising agencies
won big in diverse categories. Taproot India bagged two Gold awards for
their work in The Times of India’s outdoor campaign named ‘Farmer’s
Suicides 1, 2 and 3′. The efforts that Indian outdoor agencies put in to
engage the diverse population, bore fruits with Grey Worldwide winning
two Bronze Lions, while Ogilvy & Mather earned one Bronze Lion in
the same category.
India’s Laqshya Media Group’s media research wing that caters to the
OOH research and analysis, revealed the H1 fiscal analysis of 2013,
while comparing it with the same period in 2012.
The report
showed up some interesting facts about the Indian outdoor advertising
agency. It stated that outdoor ads continue to grow – giving a positive
sign to advertisers who plan to reach out to people via billboards, bus
shelters, huge gantries, foot-over bridges, and any other outdoor
vehicles, in India.
“Advertising budgets were cut and plans had
to be modified. Most companies had to revise previously robust
projections to reflect a new macro – economic reality. Threats posed by
the seemingly unstoppable migration of advertising expenditure to online
and below the line added to that”, recalls Mandeep. While the economic
slowdown hit the out of home sector hard, the industry managed to pull
out a fairly well growth rate in the past fiscal year.