DDX Asia

Shaping the future of DOOH: These startups unveil new ideas

Lokesh Dhanwani, Founder of Paper Parachute, and Jithu Prasad, Founder and CEO of Advertalyst, presented their innovative DOOH business offerings to attendees on day 2 of DDX Asia Business Conference 2025.

Published

February 24, 2025

M4G Bureau

The session ‘Startup Pitch: Smart ideas for big business‘ at the recently concluded DDX Asia Conference 2025 was opened by Lokesh Dhanwani, Founder of Paper Parachute, as he highlighted how digital-out-of-home (DOOH) can drive business growth and, more importantly, how SMEs can access its potential without high costs.

He pointed out three key challenges in DOOH today. CGI content is expensive and slow to produce, making it inaccessible to many brands. Adapting visuals to different LED resolutions is inconsistent, affecting display quality. Most importantly, the creative potential of 3D, anamorphic, and interactive content is largely untapped.

Paper Parachute’s solution is to make high-quality content scalable and accessible. While it continues to provide digital content services, its main business pitch is partnering with LED manufacturers to offer bundled solutions that integrate content and LED setup. This approach makes DOOH campaigns more cost-effective and easier to execute.

Looking ahead, Lokesh emphasised that the future of DOOH is interactive and AI-driven, and Paper Parachute is evolving to stay ahead of the curve.

Jithu Prasad, Founder and CEO of Advertalyst, then took the stage to address a major gap in Out of Home (OOH) advertising—the lack of actionability. While digital ads allow instant engagement, OOH remains static, limiting its effectiveness.

To bridge this gap, Advertalyst developed Parivartan AI, a proprietary generative AI software that brings performance tracking and re-engagement capabilities to OOH. It enables advertisers to measure viewership, track performance at individual locations, calculate return on ad spend, and identify underperforming assets for better cost optimisation. More importantly, it allows brands to re-engage OOH audiences through digital channels, improving conversion rates.

Looking ahead, Jithu announced three upcoming innovations for 2025: Parivartan CMS, a centralised content management system for DOOH; Parivartan IMS, an inventory management system for traditional OOH; and Parivartan 1.0, the first AI-driven planning tool for the OOH industry. With these advancements, Advertalyst is set to redefine how brands approach outdoor advertising.