Industry Speak

DOOH: The medium of future

"Digital media will continue to evolve and grow in importance in the years to come."

Atul Shrivastava, Group CEO, Laqshya Media Group, is known for his marketing expertise in the industry. With over 20 years of experience Shrivastava started his career as a sales person, who later switched to marketing and worked with companies such as Indian Rayon, Shaw Wallace and Som Distilleries & Brew, Mumbai in 1995 before taking leadership at Laqshya. 

In conversation with allaboutoutdoor, Shrivastava speaks at length about the various areas of outdoor advertising and how it has helped brands leverage these spaces uniquely and more. 

Laqshya Media Group operates as agency as well as media owner. Which entity is more profitable for the company?

OOH Agency and Media ownership are 2 different verticals with separate teams and profit centers. Both operate with different targets of growth and profitability. Agency vertical contributes for the 70% of our topline.

How important is digital OOH advertising in the current environment as compared to traditional formats in the market?

Digital OOH in the country is a new born. Not many stakeholders or even users are aware of the possibilities with Digital formats. But the awareness is increasing with each passing day and Govt. bodies are also diluting the regulations to accommodate this format. It'll surely become the medium of the future.

Despite the potential, the adoption of digital OOH by clients has been slow. What have been the reasons for this?

The high cost of investment and regulatory constraint are the 2 biggest handicap, why we are not able to see enough DOOH. It is largely present in the ambient space and yet to come on traditional formats like Billboards, Unipoles and Bus shelters.

Where according to you do the maximum spends for the OOH industry come from? 

There are several categories, which endorse the large scale use of OOH. It is more about the impact and ensuring that communication is noticed, even if someone glances through it. Automobile, Real Estate, E Commerce are a few categories, which use OOH as an impact medium.

Have you seen a shift in client's perception when it comes to OOH? 

Clients and their media agencies have realized the importance of OOH Medium and they are seriously using it as marketing tool for Brand building. There are several instances, where launch has been done only on OOH. Laqshya Solutions did one such campaign for Republic TV in this financial year.

From an industry's point of view, what are some of the challenges that you face?

The most common challenge is the absence of Industry currency to measure the effectiveness of OOH campaigns. There are various Measurement Tools, but every agency has their own. There is no common tool. Apart from absence of studies, industry is plagued by rate competition which derogates its perception to commodity rather than a media. Absence of entry level discipline is yet another challenge, which makes industry undisciplined.

What, according to you, is the way forward for the industry? 

Self discipline and consolidation by the operators, strong association to represent industry's challenges to the authorities and clients, more data and research to establish the impact OOH campaigns make to the brand and infusing technology into the medium are a few things, which have been initiated at different level. It'll continue to rank as second most watched medium after TV in the TGI surveys or might even become No.1 in a few years from now.

Interview by: Aarti Pahwa