‘Gujarat is a very important market’

Gujarat, one of India’s largest state economies with a large industrial base, and bustling consumer markets is also witness to burgeoning OOH business. Vinkoo Chakraborty, President of Rapport Chrome shares her viewpoint on the key factors governing the Gujarat OOH markets in an exclusive interview with Media4Growth. Edited excerpts: 

Market Vibrancy

“Gujarat is a very important market from an advertisers’ perspective. Since ages, Gujarat has been at the forefront of economic/trading activities. Multiple factors like robust economic growth, industrial development, strategic location, and well-developed transportation infrastructure make it a key hub for advertising. Additionally, the rich heritage, cultural vibrancy and high affluence amongst the consumers make the state very attractive for OOH advertising. And this vibrancy surely gets reflected in the OOH markets of Gujarat.” 

National Brand Consideration

“For national brands, Gujarat is a very important market. We have observed a higher skew towards Gujarat’s key cities in all our market prioritisation frameworks across categories. In previous years, this was a trend for a few categories only, but now few Gujarat markets are emerging as priority one for many national rollouts. Across categories like Automotive, FMCG, Mobile handsets, OTT, Jewellery and other consumer categories, Gujarat markets are a must have.”

Engagement with Regional Brands

“We are a very diverse country with different sub-cultures within all states. These sub-cultures also change as we move deeper into the hinterland. These nuances have been leveraged by multiple regional brands across the country. This pan-India trend is mirrored very well by Gujarat and its legacy of very diverse and strong regional brands. Most of them have sustained the marketing and the economic cycles. This has tremendously helped establish themselves in the consumer mind space.”  

Recommendations for Media Owners

“Key recommendations would be to invest in OOH structures and declutter. While size standardisation can play a big role across cities, beefing up the OOH structures will surely go a long way in getting more OOH investments. Secondly, we are observing high clutter at important locations/junctions in many cities. This becomes a big deterrent for imagery conscious brands, who look at OOH as a platform for building imagery. So, decluttering key locations will not only add to the beauty of the cities, but will also generate additional revenues.”