OLX's'click, upload & sell' campaign

This is a classic example of the right mix of creativity, media planning and execution along with a dash of innovation to enhance the impact of an OOH campaign.  OLX's new OOH campaign is indeed an apt instance of using the outdoor medium to communicate and educate the audiences. The brand, which has garnered more than 60% of the market share in the online classifieds market in India, still believed there was a need for brand restablishment. Being available in 1000 plus cities of the country, the brand wanted to go one step further and educate their customers on earning extra money by selling off their unwanted household things. The new campaign is all about instructing them on the process viz:'Click, Upload and Sell'.

With this campaign, OLX intends to widen their user base and penetrate further into tier 2 & 3 towns. The creative agency for the campaign is Lowe Lintas and the OOH agency is Vivaki Specialist Services.

The brand rolled out a 360 degree campaign, out of which 10% was spent on OOH. The motto of the campaign was to "unlock the value of the unused goods in your house” using Olx.in as the most convenient platform to do so.

"OLX was the among the first Internet companies in India to embrace offline marketing in a big way. Our overall approach towards offline/ATL advertising is to develop the market; focus on people who might not be internet users themselves and encourage them to come on internet to try OLX or influence their family to use OLX. The OOH medium had been used by us earlier but this time we have rolled out an IMC in which OOH has an important role. The objectives remain the same for us; market making and brand awareness. Our campaign is based on what our users have told us. Unused goods in our house just take up space and eventually depreciate towards being of no value. We have encouraged people to sell these goods on OLX and make money. OOH is taking the communication strategy forward,” says Amarjit Singh Batra, CEO, OLX India.

Macro-Management is the strategy

Though outdoor medium got only 10%, the campaign was seen across 374 units and 23 cities for 45 days. The agency planned the campaign based on a macro-management strategy. The objective was to be near the TG and residential areas to create more awareness and drive more traffic towards the site. Therefore the agency made a deeper dive into the different pockets of the markets so that the audience got exposed to the brand more number of times. About 65-70% of the OOH budget was invested in metro cities and the rest was invested in other cities. That fact is that through this campaign, the brand tried to extend their leadership position in the tier 1 cities and consolidating the presence in the tier II markets. Consequently, the agency decided to have at least 7-9 sites in each of these markets to create higher visibility.

Also, with youth being the biggest users of this medium, the brand ensured presence in colleges. Around 10-12 colleges in Delhi have been taken with exposure for 40-45 days. The campaign has also been deployed on various formats like billboards, unipoles, BQS, kiosk and etc though the main focus was on bigger formats.
 
"There is a much categorized TG for other brands but OLX is meant for the masses. It is like a telecom product where you have to be everywhere. We haven't compromised on OOH medium. We went with the strategy that you aren't big if your campaign is not big. In any city, we haven't compromised on impact so we have taken the big sites to create it. We have deployed the campaign on big sites with frequency routes. And as they are doing a campaign in smaller markets for the first time, we have taken their bigger sites and large formats there as well,” says Subhabrata Dasgupta, VP, Vivaki Specialist Services.     

Illuminating Creativity

The whole 360 degree campaign has been driven around the theme of Ghost. The same was followed for the OOH medium with minor modifications as per the customized formats. The creative showcases a room filled with household things highlighting the selling instructions: Click, Upload and Sell along with the Ghost character and the logo.  The selling process instructions, the character and the logo are made with 3D cut and are backlit with the copy stating'Ghar Baithe Kamo'. Also, while there were many features to highlight, the agency brainstormed on the brief and decided on the core features to illuminate.  The copy also highlights the website URL for each region.

"For us at OLX; creative is the king. It's not just meant to get our message across but in its own way; it should entertain & educate our patrons. Outdoor with its big canvas has inherent strengths in bringing our creative elements to life. Our ad's central character; 'Ghost' is depicted in a larger-than-life manner. The house setting and Ghost are all rendered in caricatures to make that bit more interesting, relatable and hospitable. Pedestrian traffic OOH media focuses on education where we can impart more education as well,” shares Amarjit.

Beating the challenges

Considering the nature of the campaign, it was surely demanding. The major challenge was logistics as there were different stakeholders involved in terms of the creative, the printing and the installation, so it was challenging to tap every supply chain. In order to have seamless management, the agency created a master database to keep track of all these activities. Another challenge was the availability of the media as this campaign began on the 23rd while most campaigns start by the 10th. Also, with festive season being on, getting good sites was another issue. But a good network and hard work ensured good sites for the agency. In fact, about 25-30 sites were added as a value addition towards the end of the camping marking a grand ending.

Successful so far…

The campaign kicked off on a positive note. "When the listing increases, we will get to know the impact. For any outdoor campaign, we have to wait for 7-8 days to pass by to get the impact. And we have a very positive feeling with the client,” says Subhabrata.

"Isolating the impact of OOH is hard for all advertisers and the same goes for us. Our brand awareness scores are at their highest level post this campaign hence OOH obviously has played its part in it. Our key metrics are also doing well and the campaign has been quite successful so far. Also the OOH agency has been able and willing partner in the whole campaign,” says Amarjit summing up the impact of the campaign. .