OOH goes ‘Out of the World’ with CGI campaigns
While some experts called the return of CGOOH in marketing a modern remix of an old TV trick, others pointed out that CGI campaigns are cost-effective and get eyeballs too
CGI OOH or Faux OOH or CGOOH is the new marketing tactic around the corner, e4m spoke to OOH experts and creative geniuses on the hows and whys of the literally larger-than-life medium of marketing
A peacock running around the streets of Bandra, a giant Barbie stepping out of a box near Burj Khalifa, a coffee cup being dropped at Gateway of India, large hags floating around the streets of Paris or a subway train car applying mascara – these are not dreams but the new reality for the outdoor advertising sector.
The OOH industry has embraced CGI to craft innovative campaigns on social media. Brand managers and marketing heads are all for such make-believe campaigns.
Viacom18’s campaign for JioCinema has a peacock gracing a billboard for its The Peacock Hub offering.
"It's good to go in Instagram, reels giving traction to the brands is why everyone is experimenting with this. With CGOOH, we have an opportunity for the product/brand to interact with people uniquely just like the peacock here," says P Sidhadh Binu, Co-Founder, Wesualize Studios, who crafted the Jio Cinema Peacock CGOOH campaign.
Meanwhile, Disney+ Hotstar executed a CGOOH campaign at iconic places spots in Mumbai like the Gateway of India and the CSMT station to promote the new Season of ‘Koffee With Karan’.
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The Sudden Rise
While the A&M industry has been quick to embrace a trend, e4m reached out to experts to understand how the gaze has turned from AI to CGOOH.
Agreeing that brands have started experimenting CGI for innovation in brand communications, Jayesh Yagnik, CEO at MOMS Outdoor, noted, “Yes, CGI has been around for a long time but the OOH industry has only begun to explore the capabilities. We have seen some great stuff internationally. Once something sees success everyone wants a share from the pie. In today’s world content sharing is big and what’s shareable becomes trending.”
On the other hand, Viren Noronha, Co-Founder at The New Thing, spoke about the trend coming back in style again. “The same reason low-rise jeans are back in fashion. The same reason synth-pop has returned to music, the same reason movies today are just remakes of older films. We’re in a comeback renaissance. It’s something that was overdone, forgotten and then brought back just late enough and creatively enough for it to seem novel again.”
As for Zeeshanali Ruby, Associate Vice President - Integrated Solutions at Schbang, “The return of CGOOH in marketing is like a modern remix of an old TV trick. Back then, TV used CGI to connect shows with studios. Now, brands are using it to make their products stand out in dreamy scenes. Today, it's not just a visual upgrade; it's a smart move to make everyday products stand out and catch people's attention.”
A Revolution
CGOOH is allowing brands an opportunity to be part of the pop culture and go viral on social media with interesting campaigns. As per some experts, CGOOH is also cost-effective and hence brings smiles to marketers as they don’t have to spend a heavy amount on a marketing campaign.
Skybags did a campaign revealing the ICC Men's World Cup Trophy by placing an ‘extra large suitcase’ on the pitch.
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Noronha, however, doesn’t think it to be revolutionary. “It’s not so much revolutionizing than reminding, right? I think the bigger point it drives home is that social is not what starts on social, it’s what ends up on social. The opportunity is for marketers to remember that there exists a world beyond social feeds that can be used to engage your audience. And if you do it right, it ends up right back on social.”
On the other hand, Ruby talks of the opportunities being two-fold. “It is making brands late to the content party more comfortable with the idea of video content and LIVE shoots. On the other hand, creatives are able to stretch their legs and move beyond static/animated or designed content.”
According to Yagnik, “Like any other product, CGI also has a wide range of costs in which you could get the content ready. And it totally depends on the quality and detailing that you want to achieve. If you look at the recent CGI doing the rounds, there are few that are brilliant and a few that fail to impress because of its poor quality of execution. The way to a successful CGOOH campaign is to have an interesting storyline, great production value, and a plan to amplify it digitally.”
Saturation much?
Experts suggest that CGOOH is a fad. Noronha said, “I think we’re already at the point of overkill. It’s a fad. Head to the comments section of every CGOOH post you see. You’ll notice the “Oh, I'm so sick of this trend,” in droves. And can you blame people? It came in and was adopted so fast that we didn’t get a chance to truly appreciate its potential. Now the potential is something we need to look at. But we won’t because a few comments said it was ‘already getting old’. Smart brand managers and agencies will try to take this one step further. We already know what CGOOH can do. The differentiator will be where do we take it from here?”
Other industry players suggested that the space will always keep on evolving and marketers will have to play around it. Yagnik said, “Evolution is the word! We need to keep evolving, experimenting, do things differently, take a chance. New technologies will keep coming, but the differentiator would be how well you use the tech to tell your story, make it engaging to create a lasting impression.”
On a similar note, Ruby said, “Like all forms of art, this too may very well become the unsurprising norm. However, what will be the deciding factor for each CGIOOH Creative is how believable it is. With less than 3 seconds of an attention span on social media, the marriage of a real culture & geography with a surreal CGI element is the perfect thumb-stopper without a storyline across social media platforms, especially with the YoY growth of the mobile internet user base across non-urban India.”
“I would go as far to say that this content tends to surpass vernacular boundaries since the visual is doing all the talking,” he contended.
