Timely payments critical for OOH recovery

Issue of Timely Payments

Neeta Gulati, Director, Alakh Advertising & Publicity

With businesses in the doldrums, payments from clients have become a big issue. And, with mounting outstandings, we media owners within the trade are also finding it difficult to clear all our dues. The brands are sceptical and treading ahead very carefully. With uncertain times and the threat of lockdowns looming over us, none of the spenders are sure of their advertising budgets. Plans are made, but not executed or diluted and executed, campaign durations are shrinking and per day campaigns and ‘Covid rates’ are now a part of the OOH vocabulary. Our teams have stuck with us through the highs and lows; they are the only stability factor in this environment.

Shavinder Singh Sandhu, Founder - Director, Leads Ads,

IOAA is doing all it can to streamline the payment process and duration of the campaigns. But still due to lack of unity among different media owners, things get difficult to implement.

Manmohan Singh, Owner, Popular Advertisers

Yes, there is need for accountability between the end user, the agency and the media owner. It should be tripartite, where there are no hidden pitfalls and these things need to be worked on for better streamlining. So industry bodies are needed for this and I don’t think the industry can survive without having these bodies actively working, both at the regional and national level.

Anoop Khanna, CEO, Priya Communication

There is lack of transparency; media owners are asked to provide rates which are not viable and the Covid situation is also being taken advantage of and  discounts are sought.  As it is, businesses are incurring losses and if the industry doesn’t support, then it becomes very difficult to continue and people might be forced to exit this business. So the industry body can play a major role here in regulating by holding regular meetings to discuss the issues.

Training / retraining of OOH professionals

Madan Seeni, Director, The Brand Sigma

OOH talent needs nurturing. There are many new business verticals which have been actively taking the OOH route to achieve campaign objectives. OOH professionals need to keep themselves updated about the current emerging industry trends and current affairs, which help them speak to the client in their own language. Every agency must invest in training its manpower so that they are updated. Also, digitisation is increasing in the OOH domain, which requires training / retraining of OOH professionals.

 Manmohan Singh

 There is a need for training modules for OOH professionals. In the past, IOAA worked on some of these aspects.