Is the Indian OOH aesthetically challenged?

A brand obviously likes a well structured site for its communication; the concerned authority obviously needs a well structured format which can enhance the city's look and a media owner obviously attracts maximum revenues from a good looking site. With so many obvious benefits, why is the Indian OOH industry still aesthetically challenged? Two professionals in this area, COL. S.R. PRASAD (RETD.),Chief Consultant, Excel Consultants and Provas Kumar Ghosh, Director, SAI HITECH Advertising,  delve into the reasons, behind this issue.

Tender duration and budgeting

While looking at the reasons behind media owners' low focus on site design, one factor emerges strongly. Says Provas, "The concentration is less, due to short-term tenders. Here we mostly have tenders for 3-5 years.  A proper design needs huge investments. The revenues in OOH medium are not huge so then it becomes difficult for media owners to earn such a huge amount within such a short span, therefore they don't put money in building structures.”





According to Prasad, the reason is cost saving. "Small time media owners pay less attention because they don't like to spend money.”  

In Delhi for example, the numbers of media owners who shell out their budgets for designing are definitely very less. "It is only in the last one-two years, that the designing trend has kicked off. Earlier no media owner was concentrating on this aspect, but now there are around 25% of media owners who have started investing,” says Provas.

But the percentage of media owners who focus on design of the structure also varies across regions. For example, in Lucknow city, according to Prasad, about 80%-90% of the media owners get their sites designed. "About 10-15 years ago, the authority made it mandatory for the media owners to get the approval and certificate from the certified engineers and only then could their site get approved. Therefore it promoted this trend in a big way.” Perhaps this could be followed in other regions/states cities too.  

Challenges

There are humungous challenges for an engineer in building a site, but they are not always related to construction. According to Provas, one of the biggest difficulties that they face is the exact location. "The authorities roll out the tenders and give certain areas for building an outdoor site, but they never mark an exact location. And after sometime, they create problems due to road constructions and pipeline fitting. Therefore it takes a lot of efforts to remove the site and that is why there is no surety about the site. Sometimes even the authorities don't spend the required time on removing sites. Consequently to resolve this issue, they need to make a proper plan before releasing the tender. Also there is an issue with the Indian media owners' mentality. Even if they get tenders for longer term, they don't want to spend on aesthetics and building a good structure.”

So the next big question arises as to who will take the initiative forward in terms of making good design an integral part of an OOH structure? Both Prasad and Provas feel that it is the concerned authority's duty to push the media owners. Citing the Lucknow example, Prasad says, "I think the Municipal authority can promote this practice in a big way. However, today these local bodies themselves are so chaotic.” Agrees Porvas, "The government should allot tenders for longer duration, for 15 years or more.  According to me, the authority should also build the sites and then tender them. Through this, they will be able to make more money as well and the city will also look better. Also, the media owners will save time spent on erecting, building and on facing other issues.  The government should standardize certain sizes and ask the media owners to follow the same.”

In terms of maintenance, Provas says, "We go for inspection after a certain period of time. Before monsoons, we do a proper checking of the site because there are chances of the site material getting rusted, especially the fittings, foundations and nut bolts.  June and July are bad from the weather wise. So long before we start contacting all the media owners for whom we have worked with, we start checking their sites.  We keep on doing things like denting, rusting and painting. And it is always good to keep checks on these things to avoid big damages.”

Good Examples

Ask the duo about their favourite city in terms of the outdoor construction and Provas replies, "Each city has its own uniqueness in outdoor formats. Mumbai's sizes are good, Kolkata's lighting is good. You can take JCDeacux's property as an example. It is perfectly built and maintained. It can be one of the best examples of an aesthetically sound structure.”  According to Prasad, "South's OOH is built very well.
They are very strict with rules and follow them properly.”  

And which structure suits the Indian OOH industry? According to Prasad, Unipole is the best structure as it is not huge, is safe and aesthetically appropriate. Provas, however, feels the size between 20x10 and 40x20 can work best in India.      

But these factors apart, the fact is that for the Indian OOH medium to emerge stronger, a sound policy on design and structure of the OOH format, greater will on the part of media owners to follow the same, greater availability of structural design expertise and greater demand from the client side on structural aesthetics standards are crucial.   Who is listening?