By: Rajiv Raghunath
Last updated : October 01, 2018 11:43 am
Addressing the International OOH Congress in St Petersburg, Annie Rickard, ex-Global President, Posterscope asserted that “if OOH does not grow”, it would be because the industry has not done enough in that direction
Pointing out that consumers today expect one-to-one dialogue with the advertisers, Annie said that agencies are now called upon to plan advertising in an integrated way. She also cited that consulting firms like Accenture and EY by digitising their market services are in some ways posing competition to the agency business.
OOH is doing well to deliver growth, “but we want faster growth”, she asserted, while adding that the current DOOH growth is largely happening at the expense of classic media. Instead, DOOH must make all OOH grow. That can be achieved if the industry players make concerted efforts to deliver superior experiences to the advertisers and consumers. For instance, free wi-fi and telephony can be leveraged toward this end. If the results improve, clients will spend more. On a larger plan, there is the imperative to develop a ‘digital-led’ mindset.
Annie asserted that “if OOH does not grow”, it would be because the industry has not done enough in that direction. “Make campaigns more relevant,” she said, while adding that advertisers, specialist agencies and creative agencies should work together in enhancing the relevancy of OOH advertising.
Annie underlined the need for a collaborative approach and said, “We have to make it easier for the advertisers”. At the same time, “We have to automate to survive”. In time, another challenge to be tackled is, how to measure the media in an automated world and how the metrics will be consistent with other media measurement metrics.
She urged the industry to develop a more discerning sense of consumer behaviour toward all different mediums. She also advocated the need for developing a global OOH currency.