'Need specialist agencies with a pan India presence'

Average spend on Out of Home (OOH)

Dabur's total ad spends have usually been in the range of 12-14% of total sales. Out-of-home would constitute under 5% of this spend. There has not been any change in Out-of-Home spends. They have largely remained stagnant.

Role of OOH

Our packaged juices brands Réal & Réal Activ, the mosquito repellant brand Odomos and digestive brand Pudin Hara have been using out-of-home advertising modes very effectively. The idea has generally been to create a multiplier effect for the campaigns that are running on television and print. Also, it helps in establishing consumer connect during specific campaigns as was the case with Odomos, which very effectively communicated the brand's benefits and spread the message of protecting yourself from mosquito bites and mosquito-borne diseases during the heavy mosquito breeding period.

Comparative performance of the OOH medium

Television remains the biggest advertising medium for us, followed by print and OOH is still very small. It works better as a reminder medium to create a multiplier effect for the campaigns that are running on television and print.

Exploring formats

Hoardings, advertising inside metro trains in Delhi, local trains in Mumbai, wall paintings, chartered school buses and in-shop branding are some of the modes of out-of-home advertising used by Dabur. We have not explored the digital formats of OOH because penetration of such medium is still small and measurement is always a suspect.

Specific impact from formats

Difficult to state as measurement remains suspect.

Strong OOH markets

Delhi and Punjab, according to us, are the high potential markets as far as OOH media is concerned and that too specifically for hoardings because the concentration of hoarding in these markets is still limited and hence, every campaign gets noticed.

Defining innovation

Innovation is key to any OOH campaign, specifically when you are establishing the benefits of a new brand or communicating a new campaign idea. For instance, when we relaunched OxyLife Crème bleach, we used hoardings effectively to communicate the brand's USP that this facial bleach contained pure Oxygen that is released into your skin to give it that natural glow. OxyLife Crème Bleach gives more fresh active oxygen to the face and makes dull, dark and lifeless face come alive instantly. To depict the same, we created a hoarding with the new pack that released Oxygen bubbles into the air. This hoarding grabbed a lot of eyeballs and was highly appreciated with people even putting it up on their You Tube channels.

OOH Challenges

The key challenge is measurability of the impact of the OOH media. Also, the reliability of vendors implementing the same is a big question mark.

Creative approach to OOH campaigns

The creative thought behind OOH campaigns usually depends on the brand messages and campaigns in that particular season or time. As I mentioned earlier, these campaigns usually take forward the brand messages and works as a reminder medium to create a multiplier effect for the campaigns that are running on television and print.

Role of specialist agencies and expectations from them

There are only a few specialized agencies in this domain and they too are available in specific markets. It would be good to have such specialized agencies that can build a pan-India presence.

Factors that will drive OOH spends

The spend on any medium, be it television or outdoor, depends on the specific brand's requirements.