Govt bodies should promote advertising on public conveniences: G S Rawat

Government bodies like Directorate of Advertising & Visual Publicity (DAVP), Government of India, should proactively promote advertising on public utilities like public conveniences. Stating this in an interview with Outdoor Asia, G S Rawat, founder of OOH firm Supreme Advertising that holds ad rights on over 400 public toilets in New Delhi, said that a well-directed advertising policy that focuses upon developing media around public utilities will greatly augment a city's public infrastructure.

Rawat said that his company has ably demonstrated how well maintained public toilets at vantage points in a city can be highly effective media for outdoor advertising. A large number of public toilets developed by Supreme Advertising in the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) area on build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis are located on prominent roads in the capital city.

Rawat expressed hope that these utilities will progressively become the preferred platforms for advertising but pointed out that excess use of unauthorised media in the city is denting the business prospects of legal media. Advertising brands are likely to opt for hoardings and wall wraps - even if they are unauthorised - in place of media on public utilities. Besides, some leading brands have lately distanced themselves from media on public toilets citing poor maintenance of such utilities.

Rawat explained that the poor state of public conveniences in different cities as well as in areas coming under the jurisdiction of Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has dissuaded some brands from using such media. Hence, although Supreme Advertising efficiently maintains public toilets under its management, advertising interest in the media has not grown enough.

Now, in the wake of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's high-decibel'Swachh Bharat' campaign, leading brands should consider advertising on the media on public conveniences and thereby contribute to the upkeep of such public utilities, asserted Rawat.

He said that while his firm has developed public toilets under both fixed license fee as well as revenue sharing arrangements, he would prefer the fixed license fee route as it calls for lesser paperwork.

When asked if Supreme Advertising would pitch for similar contracts in other cities, Rawat said that he would keep an open mind on such opportunities. Supreme Advertising also holds media like unipoles in the MCD area and some media in Chandigarh.

Supreme Advertising is a relatively new OOH firm but it has its origins in Hythro Power Corporation Ltd that Rawat and his partners had founded some years ago. Rawat sold out his shares in the power transmission business entity and took over the business of development and maintenance of public toilets after it was demerged from Hythro Power Corporation.