OAC 2013: Sam Balsara: Know your strength & weaknesses

The
first day’s evening session of OAC 2013 saw an engaging presentation by
Sam Balsara, CMD- MADISON WORLD discussing how specialist agencies can
get rid of traders trade mark.  He mentioned the most important factors
which would help the situation to come under control which according to
him are: “knowing your strengths & weaknesses which would eventually
facilitate the industry and according to him this could be done
through the following:

• Building knowledge base – If OOH is considered to be the chosen media,
  the fours questions need to be answered thoroughly – When, Where, How
  & Why
• Keep the brand as focus & not the media available-understand the business compulsions of the client
• Understanding the consumer & his media habits- today the consumer
  is much more demanding there is over communication with availability of
  multiple media, with the result that the focus is diminishing
• OOH going beyond the traditional billboards- Use of multi-formats &
  a combination of more interactive media will engage the target
  audience.
• Exposure, Engagement & Experience will ultimately help in moving the industry
• Focusing on innovation to break the clutter- reasonable change has
  come in the Indian ooh industry in this regard in recent times.

Balsara said using media data tools and working collectively for the
betterment of the entire outdoor industry would gradually help in
shaping up more constructive work making it a win -win situation for all
the concerned partners. He concluded the session by focussing on some
fundamental aspects such as integrity, transparency and professionalism
that would ultimately help the specialist agencies get rid of the
traders-trade mark.