“Creative options, good quality sites can raise OOH budgets’

When global retail chain UNIQLO launched its first store in the South last year  at the Orion Mall, Bangalore, OOH as a marketing medium played a key role in creating buzz. It was a highly interactive tech-led campaign aimed at connecting with the local audience. It also points to the emerging new needs of brands when to comes to leveraging the OOH medium.  

It essentially shows how for brands new to the OOH medium, highly targeted campaigns that serve a specific purpose (like promote new store launches in this case) delivers better results.    

As Nidhi Rastogi, Marketing Head – UNIQLO India, who was in Bangalore recently for the launch of the brand’s second store in the city at the Phoenix Mall of Asia, said, while talking about the brand’s approach to OOH in an exclusive conversation with Media4Growth.  “OOH is a new medium for us but it’s something we leverage very well when we do new city launches, like how we did last year in Bangalore. It works because it’s quicker and drives awareness at in a short span of time. “ 

For the brand, much of its OOH campaign is centered around its distinct branded cubes of different sizes placed the store, malls, tech parks and also residential complexes. In fact, last year, as part of the campaign to promote its entry into Bangalore, the branded cubes were also designed to engage with the public directly. When a QR code on the cube was scanned using a mobile device, it triggered an augmented reality (AR) experience with a virtual, life-sized version of Rahul Dravid appearing, inviting the user to the new store opening at Orion Mall. 

As Nidhi shared, “We feel creating this kind of experiential OOH campaigns with activations delivers better than using regular OOH. So, we try to balance the two and see what is most effective from an ROI perspective. It’s also interesting that OOH itself is getting redefined now, it’s no longer just those big hoardings and billboards.”  

The brand also leverages transit media to drive awareness on its product features and store launches.  As Nidhi said, “We have used Metro branding quite a lot in Delhi and also used in Bangalore when we launched our store in the city. It’s a good medium to catch our potential customers.  So we are always looking for opportunities to get closer to our customers and engage them experientially.” 

OOH as the awareness driver 

Speaking about the specific needs that OOH meets for the brand, Nidhi added, “The biggest marketing challenge we need to solve is brand awareness, as it’s still just our sixth year in the country. So, our marketing decisions are made mainly around which media can help us drive that awareness at a given point of time. In Mumbai, Bangalore and Pune, we did OOH across the city and it worked well for us.” 

As Nidhi shared, OOH works well when the communication is something very specific and clear, like a store launch or a product functionality. “So, that’s why the role of OOH becomes critical in our media plan,” she pointed out. 

So, would OOH top the media mix? Well, the answer to that one seems slightly more complex.  “Digital tops the mix because it’s measurable and also because it’s where our TG is. It’s easy to talk about our values and concepts using the digital channel compared to the other channels.” 

So, what would make the brand spend more on OOH? Nidhi was quick to reply, “Availability of creative options and availability of quality sites. Many OOH sites are in the midst of clutter and that’s a big challenge.  As a global brand, we are very particular about where we are displayed, so the availability of good quality sites is very critical for us.” 

Efficient, measurable and Phygital – the way ahead  

With clear objectives and a clearly defined purpose, efficiency seems to be the key factor when it comes to using OOH. “Efficient OOH marketing I think will become the key because then we can plan OOH depending on the targeted pin codes and locations to drive customers to our stores. And this is where tech will play a key role, especially with programmatically driven campaign. And once that gains ground, OOH will probably start having a new life and be seen in new ways by marketers,” said Nidhi. 

Tech is also used by the brand to create immersive and engaging campaigns, as witnessed last year for its new store launch. This is especially so because every store opening, as Nidhi explained, is a big story to highlight, with the right local resonance, so while tech is about efficiency, it is also about raising the experiential quotient notches above in OOH.  

“Essentially, phygital OOH is what will work for marketers in the future, with measurability, availability of good sites and creative innovation being the key factors,” summed up Nidhi.