Digital billboards enhance cityscape, contribute to smart living: Aman Nanda, CSO, Times OOH

OOH advertising industry has a lot to contribute to the lives of people in addition to advertising. Commenting on this multi-faceted role of role of OOH, Aman Nanda, Chief Strategy Officer, Times OOH says: “City upgradation in terms of urbanization, aesthetics, amenities and services are quintessential to have an improved quality of life for city dwellers. Digital billboards play a part in delivering on these counts by decluttering the cityscape, enhancing the aesthetics of the city, besides being a medium for public messages.”

Aman points out that DOOH media is cut out for disseminating contextual messages, government announcements, and even updates on weather, traffic, AQI and so on.

“The quick and efficient messaging that can be activated within 60 seconds of duration on digital billboards, is quite useful as an emergency response tool during crises with instant display of instructions on emergency response and information about local emergency shelter centres. Unlike static billboards that need designing, printing, and mounting of flexes, digital billboards merely require a strong server to upload messages with lesser turnaround time than any other medium,” he states. Moreover, where cameras are mounted on these media units, surveillance of those areas becomes that much easier.

Aman also highlights the environment sustainability aspect in stating that DOOH screens do not cause pile-up of used advertising fabric (like flex) unlike traditional formats. Also, there is no need to transport ad display materials to different locations for mounting on the sites, and so vehicles emissions to that extent are thereby curbed. Pertinent to note that McKinsey Global Institute’s ‘Smart Cities: Digital Solutions for a more livable future’ report states that smart cities using the latest digital technologies can improve quality of life by 10% to 30%, resulting in saved lives, fewer crime incidents, shorter commutes, reduced health burden, and lower carbon emissions.