‘Need to move towards selling guaranteed impressions’

The third session of the Quividi Conference, ‘India, the next DOOH giant?’ held on June 29 on a virtual platform focused on new business models in the DOOH space, with data being at the centre of it.

Laetitia Lim, CEO, Quividi, moderated the session, with Noomi Mehta - Chairman of the Board, Selvel One Group, and Franck Vidal - APAC Head, Adcity, participating in the discussion on exploring new models for monetising data and leveraging technology to win back client trust.

Laetitia set the tone for the discussion by emphasising on a 360 degree approach to data with real time analytics that can bring about higher ROI. Expanding on the thought, particularly in relation to the Indian context, Noomi, said, “In India we definitely need to invest in data and in numbers to justify what we are giving to the clients. If we have to learn the numbers game, we need to leapfrog technologies and get the latest and best ones available. And, we must start at the very base level, like location measurement.” He however added, “Simply giving basic data will not give us cross platform benefits. We need to invest heavily in data that will give clients not only what they want today, but also what they would need tomorrow.”

Franck agreed on the need for media owners to embrace the ongoing digital transformation. “Progressively we need to align outdoor with the online channels and the digital eco system.

With the right data systems and tools we can quantify and qualify campaign outcomes and measure footfall attributions through real time location data and audience measurement,” he said.

The discussion also highlighted the need to move away from selling locations and towards selling audiences and guaranteed impressions.  As Noomi pointed out, “The client needs to view the medium differently, the agency models will need to change and the media owners will also need to understand what we need to do in order to give the client what he wants. And the big change moving forward will be when we start selling guaranteed impressions.”

Laetitia and Franck both agreed on the efficacy of pricing models like guaranteed impression and shared some global examples to demonstrate it . The discussion then centered around the benefits offered by programmatic DOOH and the challenges faced in markets like India in adopting programmatic, and listed out ways to move ahead.