‘If planned well, OOH delivers big impact’

What in your view were the highlights of your brand’s recent OOH campaigns and what were the takeaways?

At the time of the launch, we were very clear that we will offer differentiated products to the consumers because the innerwear segment is commoditised to a great extent. Therefore, when we planned to enter this segment, we wanted to enter with a difference by saying we will offer uniqueness on the basis of performance, fashionand innovation. A large part of our ad spends went to OOH, primarily because this medium provides fairly large visibility over a sustained period. We were careful about selecting the outdoor locations. For instance, in Delhi our campaign was widely visible because we chose the sites accordingly.

As more people spend more time out of home, do see a greater reason to drive OOH advertising for deepening your brand’s consumer connect?

OOH advertising is a core medium of our strategy because of a couple of reasons. Primarily, it acts as a reminder medium, especially in urban locations where people tend to have fixed routes from their home-office and vice-versa. This ensures higher frequency of interaction with the consumers.Moreover, due to the traffic situation, people spend a lot of time on roads. It is not uncommon for people to spend 1-2 hours on roads just one way. Hence, OOH becomes much more pertinent as it catches consumer eyeballs. Another advantage is that OOH has the capability of storytelling where many facets of the same brand can be created and effectively communicated through innovations in hoardings.

Could you share the percentage of budget allotted to OOH advertising and how much is it expected to increase in future? 

The marketing strategy for us will evolve as we go national as this depends on the nuances of the geography we are communicatingin and the product story we want to take to the consumer. At this point of time, OOH accounts for 70% of our spend, but this will be dynamic going forward for the reasons mentioned above. Along with OOH, digital will be another core communicationchannel for us as this is the platform where the young generation consumes content. Print will also continue to play a critical role in specific markets.

 Do you also see OOH as a strong medium to connect with consumers in non-metro cities?

OOH is an effective medium in Tier 2 & non metros as much as it is in metros. I don’t find huge disparity between metro markets and Tier II markets. The outdoor medium will continue to play a critical role and I believe the OOH medium has a role to play everywhere. However, various other mediums might have different roles to play in different markets. 

How open are you in tapping DOOH formats located at airports and malls?

We will be looking for all possible avenues wherever there is a large presenceof our TG, and wherever we believe that we will be able to reach out to them in an effective manner. For instance, airports are a possibility, as it allows innovations. And it is worthwhile using this medium as it has become hugely versatile since its availability is much higher, and the number of features it provides is no longer a static one, but can be conversational and dynamic in nature. Therefore, we will be harnessing the avenues as per the availability and innovation in the OOH space.

What changes do you anticipate in the OOH space?

The OOH advertising industry seems to be maturing and growing at the same time. As a marketer, I would like to see a clear measure of ROI, which is sharper and crystallised in nature to measure the medium. I would also like to see rate cards institutionalised.