OOH Advertising: Passive yet Effective Medium

I have recently been seeing a lot of Out-of-Home (OOH) advertising. All industry sectors, whether its tourism or technology, are leveraging on OOH advertising. I have been seeing good advertising gimmicks on billboards on bus stops, prime locations of cites like airport and even the exteriors of buses/volvos.

OOH advertising is a great branding strategy as this medium exposes the consumers to a brand a number of times which are enough for the brand to stay on top of consumers' minds. However, if OOH Media is such a great and powerful medium of branding, why not all brands resort to such advertising?

If we talk about OOH in India, the best of infrastructure is yet to come. Our OOH medium is passive and not interactive as it is internationally. As such, a lot of companies would prefer to use their marketing budgets on interactive media like television ads and online banners. Also, we are yet to develop in terms of "technology-enabled creativity" which could otherwise give a new dimension to OOH medium.

Despite some loopholes in Indian OOH advertising scenario, an integrated marketing approach is the need of the hour. India has been a preferred destinations for top MNCs and retail chains. All of the new upcoming brands which are targeted to the fast growing middle class, offer almost the same value proposition, which is great quality at affordable prices. As such, the brands which are able to be a part of the consumers' consideration set would win consumers' loyalty and revenues as well. To be a part of your target audiences' evoked set, it is important to always be in front of them. A brand has to chase consumers and go wherever they are, offices, home, malls, streets, etc. You can get the most out of OOH advertising if you take up an integrated marketing and advertising approach including all the prime media like TV, newspapers, magazines and internet.