Industry Speak
Atul Shrivastava
Chief Operating Officer
Laqshya Media
Growth story of Laqshya Media!!
"Digital media will continue to evolve and grow in importance in the years to come and will certainly be a key growth driver for the OOH industry."
July, 2013
| Atul Shrivastava, Chief Operating Officer, Laqshya Media, 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. Excerpts: 1. Laqshya Media is one of India's foremost OOH players. How would you describe the group's growth experience over the years? Laqshya has been in the OOH business for over 15 years now and it's been an exciting journey when we consider how far we've come along to become a key player in the Indian OOH advertising industry. While in India we are one of the most diversified group with dedicated verticals in OOH Solutions, Assets, Airport, Activation and Events, we are the only Indian OOH company to have footprints in international markets currently in Dubai and Sri Lanka. Laqshya has worked towards consolidation and accountability in OOH advertising and has led the research and common currency initiatives in the industry. We believe in working with an approach that is scientific and client focused. We are probably the only outdoor media agency to invest heavily in research so as to develop a more accurate understanding of the industry and the brands we work with. 2. Laqshya Media has strong presence in the airport media domain. In recent years this has become a highly competitive turf. What steps would you take to strengthen and consolidate your airport media business? Currently, our Airport Vertical is represented by the concessions at Hyderabad and Colombo airports. Laqshya specializes in understanding of flyers movement through airport networks, their behavioural patterns, mindsets and media engagement. Our experiential marketing combines unique elements of sight, sound and touch in order to create positive and lasting brand experiences for millions of flyers both in India and internationally. While we already have a presence in this segment with Hyderabad and Colombo airports, we plan to pursue it further by strengthening and expanding our airport assets. 3. Transit media is one of the fast growing segments in the OOH domain. How do you plan to build and strengthen your presence in this area? Our Assets division has decent working experience with Transit Media. We've been involved with the projects like Pepsi Roadways Bus Stands, Bangalore Cantt Railway station, Chandigarh Railway station etc. We've identified Metro rail projects as important Transit Media and given the viability of projects, we would like to acquire some of these in the cities, where Metro rail is present. 4. OMI is one of the leading agencies in the country. Are you seeing more brands coming to you to execute their outdoor campaigns? Yes, definitely. OMI is the most consistent agency in the industry in terms of business turn over. This is one agency that has never registered de-growth since its inception. OMI also shares the honour of Highest Client Retention Rate in the Industry. More than 70% of our clients have been with us for over 5 years. Some of the best known brands trust our capabilities to deliver on OTS. I'm very sure we'll be able to instill similar confidence in new clients this year. 5. Tier II and Tier III markets are increasingly becoming important for most brands. Keeping this in mind, are you planning major forays in these markets and what are your views on these markets? Absolutely. Brands want to communicate with Tier II and Tier III cities since they realize that this market is largely untapped and holds tremendous potential. Companies like ours are well placed with in-depth knowledge and coverage along with processes to facilitate accurate deliveries and thus we are well equipped to plan and execute campaigns in these places. Today several Tier II and III cities have become an integral part of most of our OOH campaigns. 6. What are the fresh challenges that you see in the Indian OOH industry? And how are you preparing Laqshya Media business and people for the big future? High rates of the media, particularly in Metros and emergence of small and reckless OOH Agencies could be a challenge going forward. As far as Laqshya Media is concerned, we've always maintained value proposition rather than cost orientation. We are flexible in margins and firm on the fairness of the proposition. This policy will give us long term benefits. 7. How successful has the industry bodies like DOAA/IOAA been in curbing various malpractices that are hindering the industry's image and growth? Do you see any workable solutions to the business problems related to delayed payments, lack of documentation, illegal displays and other malpractices that are severely hurting the industry and its reputation? The credible success is yet to come, but there has been a beginning which in itself is a landmark. I don't foresee workable solutions to the business problems mentioned by you. 8. What are your views on Digital OOH and going forward, do you think that this will become a huge growth driver for the OOH industry? Digital OOH is growing in importance and this can be seen in the innovative digital outdoor campaigns today. You will notice that most brands today integrate digital display with traditional outdoor media for greater effectiveness and impact. We believe that digital media will continue to evolve and grow in importance in the years to come and will certainly be a key growth driver for the OOH industry. 9. Where do you see Laqshya Media in the next 3-5 years? Our growth in the last 15 years has been steady and we hope to keep that momentum going in the future. Our plan for now is to strengthen and expand our business because the Indian market still holds lots of growth potential for us. |
Interview by: Aarti Chhabra
