USI Media crafts innovative street furniture in Bangalore

Innovation is the name of the game in the outdoor space. USI Media, the media and advertising arm of Kozhikode-headquartered USI Group of Companies, has unveiled high quality street furniture in Bangalore comprising some 100 courtesy benches on pedestrian footpaths. These benches also serve as advertising media. The company has acquired the rights from Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to put up 5,000 courtesy benches across the city, having entered into a five-year contract with the civic body. In this period, USI Media will put up these benches as per its own selection of locations, generate revenues from advertising on this street furniture, and also pay land and advertising tax to BBMP.

Salihe Backer, Managing Director, USI Media, told Outdoor Asia that this initiative is the culmination of ceaseless followups that the company made since submitting a proposal for such a project with the BBMP way back in 2006. "It took a long time for me to convince the authorities,” he says.

USI Group, which has an advertising and media presence in Dubai, had undertaken a similar venture in the Emirate in 2004, and looked to replicate the outdoor advertising model in Indian cities.

Now that the project has got underway, USI Media plans to put up all 5,000 benches in Bangalore within the next six months. Currently, these benches are visible in areas like MG Road, Old Airport Road, near Cubbon Park, etc.

The distinctive advantage with this media is that it is at eye-level, explains Backer. "They fall in the line of sight of people moving in vehicles unlike billboards which are at a much higher level,” he adds.

USI Media has deployed a team for the upkeep of the furniture and has engaged external services for night patrolling to prevent any pilferage at the sites. In a first, the company has also employed a few transgender people for the maintenance of the benches. They work on a part-time basis with the company. "We saw an opportunity to create gainful employment for a segment of society that does not find jobs easily,” he says.

While the first 30 benches that USI Media put up are without any lighting, the company is now putting up benches with back-lit media that is powered by solar panels. Each such bench is fitted with a solar panel and the lights come on automatically at 6:30 in the evening and stay lit until midnight. USI Media has also installed a battery back-up to ensure that the lighting is not interrupted.

USI Media is now in talks with civic bodies in cities like New Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad and others to introduce similar street furniture there. The company is also likely to take on such projects in the UK.

Currently, the company contracts advertising business directly with advertising brands, and also through agencies. Keeping in view the volume of upfront investments, Backer expects to reach break-even in two years.

In closing, he points out that this media lends itself to innovations like cutouts.