'Industry rate card will surely help'

Approach to OOH campaigns in Karnataka

Outdoor for us is always seen as a reminder medium. For real estate, print definitely takes predominance because that is where we get the maximum eye balls. But the role of OOH also varies, depending on our communication objectives because we deal in different types of projects. For example, for our high-end projects, where we need to target higher value customers, OOH serves as a reminder medium. But for projects targeted at value-homes or the mid segment, OOH serves as the primary medium. When we track project queries and their sources, we can co-relate the outdoor campaigns and their impact.   These queries come from both hoardings located strategically inside the city and hoarding on sites. This has actually evolved over a period of time and paying off quite well for us.

The frequency of OOH campaigns and the number of formats taken again depends. When we launch a project, the number of sites is a lot higher and is again dependent on the project being promoted. For example, for a middle segment project campaign, we like to do a blast for a month and for a bigger project, we do events such a Brigade Showcase, and extend it further. There have been instances when we have taken 70-80 hoardings for a week. During launch, the hoardings are used mainly for announcement and they remain for a week or two and then some of them are strategically chosen to serve as a reminder for a few months.  But we do try to change the messaging, once in 8-12 weeks to break the monotony.

In terms of site selection, there is definitely a process that we follow. We try to put up hoardings at places where we think our TG resides or travels through and to the extent it works quiet well for us.

OOH budget for Karnataka

We spend 20% on OOH across and it has remained constant over the years.

Preferred formats and exploring innovations

Other than the standard hoardings, we have used mobile hoardings on and off for short campaigns where we have targeted a particular market at a particular point of time and it has given us positive result.

We are open to exploring in OOH. We feel that a campaign works better when it is in proximity to a project. For example, for our projects in Mysore, we have done campaigns on the highway leading from Coorg to Mysore. In very every market where outdoor is allowed, we will continue to use it as a reminder medium.

In terms of exploring new options like experiential activations, we will have to look at the cost around the activity and analyze the ROI. For really high-end project of a particular investment size if some interesting features can be brought to life through these then we will probably explore it. But I am not very sure about innovation for the sake of innovation for a category like real estate.

Other key markets in the state

In Karnataka we also have outdoor campaigns running in Mysore and Mangalore.

Dealing with clutter and getting the best out of the medium

Clutter is an issue pretty much everywhere. May be 70% of all outdoor advertising is done by real estate. So since the beginning we have been very particular about standing out from the clutter in terms of the creative. Earlier the typical approach was to use a project visual, a tag line, basic information and contact details. Now we are trying to break away from that format and trying some new creative approaches for the hoardings and it works quite well.

OOH pricing issues in Bangalore

A well located hoarding which catches lot of eyeballs is by nature expensive. In places like airports, which I think is one of the best locations for us, the pricing is negotiated on a long term basis.

OOH challenges in Bangalore/Karnataka

About 90% of our projects are based out of Bangalore where the vendors we work with take care of most issues. But yes, the outdoor is not organised. For example, there is no rate card. So these are some issues that need to be sorted. On the whole, I have generally seen that a long term association gives us good benefits.

Digital OOH

We haven't headed in this direction yet. But like I said, if for a project, we can bring out some of the essential architectural features through digital, then yes we would look at it. We do a lot of walk-through on our websites or on big screens inside but I am not sure whether it can be done in outdoor medium as such.  It has to become a little more cost effective and also measurable.

Message to media owners in the state

We have not really had a bad experience with the industry. But yes, some kind of cost rationalisation would be appreciated for sure.