IOAA steps out to promote outdoor advertising

Following the launch of their outdoor campaign at Outdoor Asia Convention (OAC) this year in August, Indian Outdoor Advertising Association (IOAA) has executed the campaign recently in Bangalore through billboards. Created by Taproot Dentsu, the campaign will soon reach Delhi and Mumbai. It revolves around the idea "Everything Works Better When It's Outdoor.” In September 2007, leading Out-Of-Home companies with national or, at least, multi-regional presence came together to form the Indian Outdoor Advertising Association (IOAA), a'not-for-profit' company with an aim is to ensure co-operation, free and fair competition amongst the many outdoor companies spread all over India and while following best ethical practices.

"It has been observed in the last decade that people have been spending more time in out-of-home. Unfortunately, OOH in India has not yet capitalised on this insight. So it was imperative for us to reach out to advertisers and planners through a very powerful advertisement campaign to highlight the strength of the outdoor medium. We feel this campaign brings out the message loud and clear in a very simple way.”
said Noomi Mehta, Chairman, IOAA.

The campaign highlighted the'Power of Outdoors'. Conceptualised by Taproot and brought to life by the veteran advertising professional and ace photographer, Prashant Godbole, the campaign serves to reinvigorate the outdoor medium. This team had partnered last year to create the Cannes Lion winning campaign'Hated by Some' for Mumbai Mirror. "At any given point, many billboards across the country are empty, either with the media owner's logo or phone number, we wanted them to be utilised as spaces to communicate to the brands, advertisers, media planners etc in interesting way by putting this campaign up on their empty billboards to benefit the outdoor industry. Hence, the campaign was launched in front of this community during the OAC in August,” said a representative of IOAA.

The campaign, shot in different parts of India like the Rann of Kutch, Wai etc. to bring out the pan-Indian flavour, is already up in Bangalore. The campaign will be rolled out in Delhi and Mumbai early next week. It was already released in few magazines including Outdoor Asia. Activation of the campaign will also take place in selected strategic places.
"The idea comes from a simple human behaviour of seeking shared experiences when outdoors. A fact abundantly observed across India, where a TV or Radio when kept outdoors always attracts a large gathering of people. That's the power of the outdoor medium which transcends regular boundaries and does wonders for other mediums too,” Santosh Padhi, Chief Creative Officer & Co-Founder, Taproot Dentsu.

"This campaign is not trying to pull down any other medium, it's just highlighting the power of outdoor as a medium, and today almost every medium/brand has to be outdoors if they want maximise their reach,” said Vasant Jante, Director, IOAA and Publisher, Outdoor Asia.  "The industry needed a campaign to highlight its effectiveness as a strong but emotional platform. I'm sure this campaign will hit home for us and will be well appreciated by both advertisers and planners,” commented, Indrajit Sen, Consultant, IOAA.