Stable contracts, proper legal system, vision & reputation vital to attracting big investments to OOH: Noomi Mehta, Chairman, IOAA

“The question that I get asked most is, when will things get back to normal. My two word reply is – hopefully, never”. With less than 5% growth, payment delays, lack of industry standards and OOH audience measurement, Indian OOH media business has had no singular reason to get back to normal, as it were. Stating this emphatically in his address on the theme ‘One Industry, One Voice: Leading the change from the front’ in the India Talks OOH Conference held in Mumbai on March 8, Noomi Mehta, Chairman, Indian Outdoor Advertising Association (IOAA) and Chairman of the Board, Selvel One Group, said it would be wishful thinking to expect different results from “doing the same things over and over again.”

Citing the spectacular growth stories of OOH companies in the US and Australian markets, Noomi said those companies reached lofty levels because investors put their money there. “To attract big money, from the funds and venture capitalists, we require stable contracts, proper legal systems, hard work and a vision, and of course, reputation of the person leading the company,” he said.

Noomi underlined the imperative of OOH businesses being accorded long-tenured advertising rights and contracts. This would be particularly important when it comes to investment in capital-heavy DOOH media assets.

To deal with the bureaucracy on matter concerning OOH, Noomi advocated the need for Indian OOH to engage widely experienced, retired officials who are able to present the industry’s requirements to the policy makers and help usher in a more business-friendly policy regime. “That’s how we can ensure that we get industry status,” he said.

Referring to the need for a common currency for OOH, Noomi said that “measurement is a tricky business”. Several companies have already invested substantial amount on developing their own tools for planning. “So, we should be able to set up a system that is flexible enough to allow the agencies to put their own unique characteristics into the tables to get the algorithms going.”

Noomi pointed out that simple measurement will not suffice. “Attribution is the key thing. OOH lends itself perfectly to attribution”. Citing the initiatives of OMA in Australia with regard to MOVE, he said, we are moving away from simple OTS to neuro-science application to “understand how that message is being received”.

IOAA is making a start. “Ultimately we hope to go toward making a unified measurement system to that we can evaluate the effectiveness of an OOH campaign,” said Noomi.