OAC 2014: The countdown has begun

The 10th Outdoor Advertising Convention (OAC), which will be held in the salubrious environment of Goa during July 4-5 this year, will direct sharp focus on the ways and means to increase the Indian OOH industry's share of the overall advertising pie. Over the years, the OOH industry has steadily increased its aggregate revenues year-on-year, but the key point of discussion will be, how best the OOH industry can enhance its competitiveness by adopting best practices and innovative models.

The convention - which will take place at Grand Hyatt -- will also be a singular opportunity for industry leaders and professionals to assess the current market trends, advertiser demands and pain points, innovations, new technologies and best practices, as well as address issues linked with policy matters and industry practices.



Keeping in view the imminent expansion of digital OOH networks in India, OAC 2014 will begin with focused sessions on key elements of digital OOH business.

Gallen Yip, Research Director, Kinetic Worldwide, Asia Pacific, will talk about'The Ugly Truth–DOOH, Interactivity and Engagement'. Yip is a highly accomplished media professional with about 10 years of experience mostly spent with some of world's most successful business intelligence companies, agencies and their clients. Close to half of his career has been spent in Asia with Kinetic Worldwide.

Taking this discussion forward, Rajan Mehta, Founder & CEO, Live Media, will share his thoughts on the'Dos and Don'ts in Digital OOH in India'. Mehta is the Founder and CEO of LiveMedia, India's largest Digital Out-Of-Home media company which he started in 2006. The company has investments from Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Bay Partners from USA and Samsung.

The audience will also get to hear Peter Livesey, Managing Director of Esprit Digital. Livesey co-founded Esprit Digital in 2002. He spends a good proportion of his time concentrating on or promoting the company's product range around the world either directly, or through distribution and partnership agreements.

As stated at the outset, the focus of discussions and deliberations at the Convention will be on how the stakeholders can collectively work towards bringing more advertising brands into the Indian OOH fold. This year, for the first time, there will be focused discussions on how to attract luxury brands to OOH media.

It was important to know the minds of decision makers of key brands when it comes to OOH advertising. Therefore, at OAC 2014 Hanneli Slabber, Country Manager, South African Tourism, will talk about'Outdoor Media - How it works for my brand'.

A session on'How Luxury brand can leverage OOH medium for a domineering brand presence' has also been planned. This session will be addressed by Ruchita Sharma who heads the Marketing, Operations and Communications divisions at Swarovski India, Arun Marc D'Silva, Managing Director of Retail Interface, and Arif Saleem Padiath, Senior Business Manager, Zoya Titan Company Ltd. Anant Rangaswamy, Editor, CNBC-TV18 will be moderating this session.


Sharma manages all marketing, visual merchandising, product assortment, new collection launch, strategic marketing, digital and media communications for Swarovski India, whereas D'Silva specializes in implementation of Total Quality Management. His core competencies are in the areas of marketing strategy, brand management and HR. Padiath is responsible for creating and expanding, Zoya, their luxury jewelry brand of Titan Industries Ltd.

OAC 2014 will feature a series of high-decibel panel discussions. Sam Balsara, Chairman & MD, Madison World, will moderate a session on'Emerging Trend: Media Owners cum agency - Pros & Cons'. Balsara is currently the head of the completely Indian-owned Madison World, which has 24 units across 10 specialised functions in advertising, media, business analytics, PR, OOH, rural, retail, entertainment, events and sports management. Over the past 24 years, Madison has grown to become a Rs 30 billion company, employing over 1,000 communication experts, with offices in India, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

Pawan Bansal, Chief Operating Officer, Jagran Engage (OOH Division of Jagran Group) will be part of this panel. Bansal has 20 years of experience in sales and marketing functions, having worked with Castrol, Bausch and Lomb and Jagran Group. A few more industry leaders will also be joining this panel for the discussion.

Given that Metro rail networks are coming up in several cities across the country, the 10th edition of OAC will have panel discussion on'Delhi Metro = 900 million commuters, How we are maximizing this big OOH opportunity'. The session will be moderated by Lloyd Mathias, Marketing Head, HP India. Sharat Sharma, Executive Director, DMRC, Sunder Hemrajani, Managing Director, Times OOH, and Vikas Singh of ABP News and will be the speakers for this session.

In a first, the forthcoming edition of OAC will have a session on'Young Outdoorians', to be addressed by Sidhardh Subbaramana, Principal Manager, Media, ITC Foods. Subbaramana takes care of the entire communication strategy for ITC Foods with charge over multiple media like TV, print, radio, outdoor and digital. He has vast international experience in media planning & buying. The objective of this session is to bring forth the emerging opportunities for young professionals in this industry.


A number of other sessions on key dimensions of Indian OOH will be conducted at the Convention. As India accelerates its physical infrastructure sector, a gamut of new OOH opportunities are also being created. At this Convention, industry leaders will also deliberate upon how to leverage new and innovative media assets to drive revenue growth.


As always, OAC will have strong international participation, which will be a great opportunity for knowledge sharing between Indian and overseas delegates. Also, the Convention will have breakout sessions that will addressed by industry leaders and subject matter experts.