Indian OOH should move towards digital & be high on innovation: Payal Patel

The OOH agency, Devangi Outdoor Advertising has a plethora of services for brands like hoardings, billboards, gantries, and pole kiosks. The agency also has inventory at touchpoints like Sion Panvel Highway, Lonavla, Mumbai- Pune Expressway, Kalyan Shilphata Road, Kalyan Dombivli Road, Mumbai- Nashik Highway, Thane, and Karjat. To understand the agency's growth, curated campaigns, trends and challenges in the OOH space, e4m got in touch with Payal Patel, the senior marketing manager at Devangi Outdoor Advertising.

Talking about how the agency has grown since its inception to date, Patel shared, "Our agency started with a handful of five hoardings. It was a recession phase wherein everyone was facing the heat of the economic turmoil. The neon hoarding market had gained momentum with the telecom sector dominating the industry. But the situation was short-lived. After a few months, the neon hoardings were pulled down one by one. The market regulations and government policies affect the advertisement budgets of all companies. In the meanwhile, our company started exploring many untapped regions which had great potential for hoarding space. The growth in those regions multiplied several folds. This is how we could beat the market slowdown and match the pace of the market leaders. Its been 8 years now and we have turned into a 250-hoarding company."

According to Patel, the OOH campaigns they executed for Hiranandani Fortune City, Panvel and Imagicaa created a huge impact and reach for the respective brands.

When quizzed about the new pitches and clients acquired, Patel remarked that they have acquired Runwal Group.

According to Devangi OOH's clientele, the sectors that are spending more on OOH are OTT Players like Netflix and Amazon Prime, revealed Patel. She also named Cadbury Dairy Milk Silk OOH campaigns among the recent ones that have captured her attention.

Further speaking on the trends that will drive the OOH Industry going forward, Patel stated, "The more state of the art infrastructure is built, the more it enables space for OOH. New FDIs will enable foreign investors to launch new products and services in the market. This will further boost the growth of OOH. Advertising budgets of companies are shrinking due to which there is a switch from Print & TV to OOH. Lastly, there is a high potential in two-tier cities."

Sharing the challenges OOH players face Patel said, "The Metro work is obstructing visibility of many hoardings and has also led to the removal of many structures. Many highways have further transformed into expressways, which further leads to the removal of hoardings. Ban on plastic further restricts the use and disposal of flex material. Also, the GST rate for OOH advertisement at 18 per cent seems a bit on the higher side compared to Print Advertisement which is only 5 per cent."

On a concluding note Patel sharing her plans going forward signed off saying, "The Indian OOH market needs to be moving digital and high on innovation. The outdoor industry should promote more clean and green OOH."