FEPE NEWS

UK: JCDecaux Launches London Based Digital Creative Hub ‘JCDecaux Dynamic’

JCDecaux announced last week the launch of its London based digital creative hub ‘JCDecaux Dynamic’ with the appointment of BBH’s Alex Matthews and Rick Burgess.

JCDecaux Dynamic will focus on the creative side of digital content and technical creativity for out-of-home enabling JCDecaux’s clients to deliver contextually aware advertising and innovative creative.

The outdoor advertising group, which operates 49,300 digital screens in 30 countries, is bolstering its team with creative and technical expertise from BBH in order to advance its digital offering that will provide new ways for brands to engage their target audience.

Former head of creative technology at BBH, Alex Matthews will be heading up the new hub as managing director. He will be responsible for launching JCDecaux Dynamic, developing its products and services and establishing innovative creative production capabilities for JCDecaux.

Prior to BBH, Alex Matthews joined creative agency Dare as technical director, changing many of the processes and delivering major sites for Sainsbury’s and other brands. He was also involved in founding award winning mobile agency Marvellous which was subsequently bought out by Aegis.

Rick Burgess, former technical lead at BBH has been appointed as JCDecaux Dynamic’s CTO responsible for the development of the required technology and will lead a technical team.

Rick Burgess has 15 years of experience in the technology industry, having worked on developing award winning campaigns for the likes of British Airways, NHS, Diageo and Waitrose. During their time at BBH, Alex Matthews and Rick Burgess developed Beakle, a platform enabling consumers to listen to synchronised sound from digital outdoor screens using their mobile phones.

The technology was used for JCDecaux’s Jurassic World Waterloo takeover in summer 2015.

Both new hires will start their new roles on 1 February. Rick Burgess reports into Alex Matthews while Alex Matthews reports directly into Chairman of the Executive Board and Co-CEO of JCDecaux, Jean-François Decaux.

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Spain: 57th FEPE Congress in Barcelona: Bookings are Underway

Early bird bookings for the 57th FEPE Congress, which will be held between Wednesday June 1st and Friday June 3rd 2016 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Fira Center, Barcelona will close on Feb 28th.

The link for the booking form can be found on the FEPE Homepage, at www.worldooh.org We will be having 2 days of presentations and panels, with high calibre speakers from across the world, all of whom will be bringing their unique viewpoints on the Out of Home industry.

The first two speakers were announced last week; James Murphy or the Adam and Eve Agency and Mark Boidman of the Peter J Solomon Company.

Last year's congress in Budapest was FEPE's best attended yet, with over 300 delegates attending from 39 countries, both new records for us. There will be an exclusive exhibition area attached to the main congress hall, and spaces are now available to reserve. If you are a supplier who wishes to get your product in front of an audience of global OOH decision makers please email us soon so we can hold a space for you. We are already taking bookings for exhibition stands from previous and new exhibitors.

As usual we have negotiated a special delegate rate for the hotel rooms and delegates are able to pay by credit card or bank transfer, which we hope will make bookings easier for some overseas delegates.

Early bird registrations  will allow delegates an extra €100 reduction regardless of FEPE membership status. Delegate fees are unchanged from last year (and several years before) at €1100 for members and €1600 for non members, plus the additional early bird reduction.

We will be announcing the Gala Dinner and Friday night social venues soon, along with our first confirmed speakers.

Further details will be announced on the FEPE website, and in future newsletters.

France: BroadSign Partners with ViaDirect for Digital Out-of-Home Wayfinding

Integration enables easy implementation by network operators and an enhanced user experience.

BroadSign International, LLC, the number one global provider of digital signage software, has partnered with ViaDirect to provide customers with premium wayfinding solutions.

ViaDirect was the first vendor to bring 3D wayfinding to the DOOH market and is a worldwide leader with distributors in 22 countries. Features include the ability to display intuitive multi-floor paths and a customizable user interface. Millions of visitors rely on ViaDirect for quick and intuitive navigation in malls, hospitals, airports, train stations and corporate towers.

“Our partnership with BroadSign fits within ViaDirect’s vision to connect and digitize public places so people on-the-go can find their way while enjoying an immersive digital experience. The demand for such an integration is proof of the growing need for powerful DOOH wayfinding solutions, which we are excited to deliver with BroadSign,” said Jérôme Hérard, Managing Director at ViaDirect.

Both established companies with smart and agile software, BroadSign and ViaDirect have already implemented their integration in the field. ViaDirect’s client list includes Immochan, Hammerson, Carrefour Property and Klepierre (partly owned by Simon Property Group) in retail, AP-HP in healthcare and Bologna Guglielmo Marconi Airport in Italy.

“BroadSign has engaged in several partnerships over the past few years to provide our customers with the best products and services external to our portfolio,” said Skip Beloff, Vice President of Sales at BroadSign. “After careful research of wayfinding options, we determined that ViaDirect best fits with our automated and scalable approach to digital out-of-home content management.”

UK: See Winter Differently

As part of its annual 'Hibernot' campaign encouraging people to embrace the winter elements and enjoy what nature has to offer, Land Rover is making the UK see this season differently with JCDecaux’s digital Out-of-Home network.

Coinciding with the exciting Lumiere London – the city’s largest-ever light festival – Land Rover and JCDecaux Blue are using innovative technology to capture and frame the urban winter landscape. HD cameras have been fitted to the iconic SE1 Tower in Waterloo and on one of the three Landmarks on The Cromwell Road, which can be tilted/pivoted to create the perfectly framed image for people to capture and share on Instagram.

The cameras have turned the spaces into digital window frames allowing the viewer to see through to the other side. The technology allows a selection of specific filters to be applied depending on the weather/light to ensure the best shot.

A content management system (CMS) will allow Land Rover to live monitor what is being shown at each site, while testing and updating a number of different filters.

Becky Power, Creative Director, Mindshare, said:

“This is a first-of-its-kind technological campaign with creative and social working hand in hand throughout. Mindshare wanted to aim even higher this year and with an urban brief we were able to bring in several tactics to reach Land Rover’s audience and encourage them to embrace winter."

These two iconic locations are part of a wider collection of digital screens being used for the campaign around London and Leeds. This part of the campaign, planned and booked through JCDecaux by Mindshare and Kinetic, will be live from 18th – 31st January, and supports wider activity around the UK including private viewing frames in major cities, as well as cinema advertising, VOD, and biddable media.

A second phase of the campaign will be launched on 1st – 14th February across JCDecaux's key roadside and rail DOOH screens, pulling in live content from users’ Instagram feeds with the #Hibernot hashtag.

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UK: Bob Wootton to leave ISBA after 20 years

Bob Wootton is stepping down as director of advertising and media at ISBA after 20 years in the job.

Wootton, who is also a member of the body's executive management team, joined ISBA as director of advertising and media in 1996 and has represented advertisers across all media in that time.

He confirmed confirmed to Campaign that he would leave ISBA on 22 April: 20 years to the day that he joined the organisation.

ISBA said Wootton was leaving to pursue a variety of interests, including his passion for guitars.

Mike Hughes, the director general of ISBA, said: "Bob brought his serious skills as a media buyer to the client side of the table, developing those skills as the media landscape transformed. Advertisers and the whole industry have been the beneficiaries of his 20 years in ISBA’s media chair.

"During Bob’s time guiding ISBA’s media agenda with our members we have seen some serious achievements on traditional media, and, importantly, refocused advertisers on the issues arising from the fast-changing digital media ecology.

"Advertisers continue to benefit from the epic campaign Bob led at the time a single ITV was formed and CRR was born. Media consolidation remains one of the key considerations advertisers face, alongside the various issues of ad blocking, ad fraud, brand safety, viewability and data ownership in the digital space.

Bob’s clear leadership has helped ISBA members navigate an increasingly complex media landscape. "ISBA members and staff alike will miss his telling leadership and friendship but naturally wish him every success in this next stage of life."

Before joining ISBA, Wootton worked as a media director at a variety of agencies, including WCRS, and later became a marketing and advertising consultant.

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Ireland: OOH on the up after strong finish to 2015

PML Group’s annual Out of Home (OOH) market review for 2015 indicates that the OOH sector grew by 6% in 2015, following on from a similar level of growth in 2014.

The Outdoor advertising specialist attributes this consistent upward pattern to the ‘always on’ nature of the medium, improvements in the quality of the advertising plant, the flexibility of the formats, the innovation and creativity on offer in the market and external economic factors.

The report goes on to highlight some key facts and figures for the past twelve months, including the top advertisers on the medium. Top of the list for the year was Diageo, with a total market share of voice of 4.6%, substantially ahead of McDonald’s in second place on 3.2%.

The top three was completed by eir, including campaigns for the rebranding from eircom and for their mobile brand, Meteor. These three advertisers all increased their total display values by 20-30% in 2015, when compared to 2014.

Telecoms companies such as eir, Three and Sky accounted for more than 10% of all OOH activity in 2015 and was the top spending category of advertiser for the year. The finance sector was in second place, driven mainly by financial institutions such as AIB, Bank of Ireland and permanent tsb, and insurance companies. Retail Outlets completed the top three categories with the majority of spend in this sector coming from supermarkets including Lidl, Tesco and SuperValu. A key trend highlighted in the report is the ever increasing importance of digital advertising in an OOH context.

Digital OOH gives advertisers the opportunity to broadcast entertaining, rich content that extends audience engagement and allows advertisers to keep apace of audience expectations in today’s digital world. The inherent flexibility that digital OOH offers opens digital networks to a wide array of advertisers allowing them to broadcast dynamic content, time sensitive copy, reactive messaging and interactive campaigns.

Digital OOH advertising accounted for 11% of total OOH advertising in 2015 and at the beginning of 2016 2,200 digital OOH screens are available for commercial advertising in the Republic of Ireland.

Commenting on the year for OOH, Colum Harmon, marketing director at PML Group said

“2015 was a very encouraging year for Out of Home. For the first time in many years we are seeing consistent and consecutive growth across quarters. Demand is high in the market and advertisers have reacted very positively to improvements in the medium, particularly in digital and large format. Early indications are again good for 2016 and with a general election, Euro 2016 and the Olympics on the horizon in 2016, coupled with a general increase in demand, we expect the market to grow by a similar level this year again.”

Switzerland: APG|SGA wins new City ePanels at exclusive locations in ShopVille Zurich and Zurich-Oerlikon

As part of the tender process it won in July 2015 for the ShopVille city shopping centre at Zurich's main station, APG|SGA installed eight new City ePanels (80 inch) at the beginning of 2016.

These have now come on stream. Installing them in the high-quality, special architecture at ShopVille involved several challenges. Together with the City ePanel installed on 15 January 2016 at the "Sternen Zurich-Oerlikon" public transport stop, the digital offering of APG|SGA in the city of Zurich now includes 59 high-quality large-scale advertising media. As a result of progress in terms of technology and design, the areas of potential use in out-of-home advertising integrated into buildings are increasingly subtle.

Together with architects hoffmannfontana architekturen gmbh, APG|SGA developed new approaches to design which offer greater scope in both optical and architectural terms. «Digital advertising media were installed in six doors using complex technology. Two City ePanels were integrated smoothly into two refurbished facades and thus also into the building.

The function and design of City ePanels can thus be combined in an excellent way», explains Sebastian Hoffmann of hoffmannfontana architekturen gmbh. The eight new locations in ShopVille attract greater attention and achieve a greater advertising impact with the optimum smooth integration into the building's structure.

The panels are positioned at ideal locations for passers-by. They are an excellent way of supplementing and reinforcing the existing Rail ePanel networks at Zurich's main station. In a second construction phase, two additional City eBoards (each seven square metres) are planned in ShopVille, which offers around 180 shopping and dining options.

Pioneering steps in digital advertising Beat Holenstein, Head of Partner & Product Management, confirms:

"We are right on track with the digitization of our top locations. APG|SGA does not enter into any compromises in terms of location quality and placement. With the installation of the City ePanels at ShopVille Zurich and at the Sternen Oerlikon stop we are consolidating our position as a quality leader in the digital field too."

APG|SGA maintains a total of 59 digital advertising media in the city of Zurich – and throughout Switzerland it has 211 ePanels, 44 eBoards and 12 RailBeamers at select prime locations.

AMERICAS NEWS

USA: OUTFRONT Media Names Marion Parrish to Lead Digital Operations Growth

OUTFRONT Media Inc, one of the largest out-of-home media companies in the U.S., today announced that Marion Parrish has been named Senior Vice President, Digital Operations. In this newly-created role, Parrish will report to OUTFRONT Media’s Executive Vice President, Strategic Planning & Development, Andy Sriubas, and will be based in New York City after relocating from Silicon Valley.

Parrish will lead the team responsible for the implementation of current and future OUTFRONT digital initiatives. These will include the conversion of static displays to digital screens across OUTFRONT’s transit franchises and billboard assets, while expanding the reach of our OnSmart Media platform into new markets. Parrish will also oversee the ongoing evolution of next generation content deployment software, including OUTFRONT’s app-enabled content management system, which will facilitate content to be targeted to specific audiences and curated by any numbers of triggers.

“We are thrilled to welcome Marion to our growing team of experienced and specialized digital leaders,” said OUTFRONT’s Sriubas.

“This is an important time for OUTFRONT. We are continuing to invest in new technologies, data analytics, tools to improve our work-flow and the digital DNA of our people. These initiatives will help define the future of the out-of-home industry. Marion brings a unique experience set which spans digital display deployment, software development, technical operations and complex project management, all of which are important as we roll out our digital platform more broadly.”

Parrish has been working in digital media for over 15 years. As the Vice President of Operations for Premier Retail Networks, she drove the deployment of branded television networks in more than 6,000 retail locations, covering over 75,000 screens, and was responsible for implementing all infrastructure hardware and software systems for the company.

Parrish has also held operational leadership roles at MobiTV and ActiveVideo Networks, focusing on mobile, cable and IPTV markets. At ActiveVideo Networks, Parrish drove the deployments of a digital application development platform into many of the major cable companies throughout the United States. She also deployed an internal data center to support applications for IPTV manufacturers.

Her team delivered 200M sessions to customers each year. Parrish started her career as a technical consultant for emerging companies in various industries.

Also Hires Cecilia Lang as Senior Digital Executive

Cecilia Lang has been named Senior Vice President of Digital Sales. In this position, she will report to OUTFRONT Media’s Executive Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer, Clive Punter, and will be based in New York City.

“We are excited to welcome Cecilia to our growing digital team,” said OUTFRONT’s Clive Punter.

“This is the latest example of our ongoing commitment to being a leader in marrying digital technologies and out-of-home solutions.” Lang brings over 20 years of extensive knowledge and experience in digital sales, covering a wide range of media platforms including print, mobile, video, events, tablet and social. Previously, she spent nearly two decades in leadership positions at The Washington Post Company, most recently as Vice President Global Media.

In this position she was responsible for the creation and leadership of the digital sales team and management of all national and international ad revenue. In addition to launching advertising for several websites, mobile and tablet products, she led the strategy for native, video and programmatic platforms. Lang oversaw digital sales offices in major global markets including Boston, Chicago, New York, London and San Francisco.

Punter continued:

“In 2015 we made great progress in utilizing digital and mobile technologies to introduce new out-of-home services that provide more value and targeted outreach. Cecilia will lead a team that will help us continue to disrupt the status quo and deliver new digital offerings through our ON Smart Media platform and the OUTFRONT Mobile Network.”

Canada: Quebec City Magic Festival Creates Stunning Invisible Posters

The agency lg2 teamed up with the Quebéc City Magic Festival to create a rather crafty way of promoting the event.

A fair amount of posters were placed around cities, featuring only a white background, a black top hat and a small text below it asking the passerby to take a photo of the poster with flash, revealing a secret message – and of course, the secret message is the festival itself.

Watch the video here

AUSTRALIA NEWS

Australia: oOh!'s Million Dollar Pitch campaign via BCM shines light on the plight of returning soldiers

A powerful three-month Out Of Home advertising campaign for Walking Wounded to raise awareness of the shocking plight faced by Australian soldiers returning from war was launched today.

The campaign aims to raise funds to enable Walking Wounded - established to support the psychological recovery of Australian soldiers - to expand its mentoring and counselling services to help soldiers transition back into the community.

The national campaign will launch across oOh!'s road, retail, fly, café, office, study, venue and sport networks featuring real stories of Australian soldiers who took their own lives last year and drawing attention to the incidence of suicide by returning soldiers. The creative highlights that while 46 soldiers have died in active service since 1999, 239 soldiers have taken their own life since returning.

In the following months the campaign will evolve with creative designed to gain deeper engagement with the community through more interactive digital executions and integration with online, mobile and social platforms.

Brian Freeman, CEO and founder of Walking Wounded, said the tragic levels of incarceration, family break-ups, homelessness and suicide amongst soldiers as a result of what they witnessed while at war is not widely known within the community - and when they do hear it they are shocked.

Says Freeman: "Walking Wounded knows that if we can mobilise the community and provide returning soldiers with mentoring and counselling, we can change all this.

"This campaign will help us raise the funds to expand our services to help us achieve zero tolerance of veteran suicide.

"While for the first two years of operation Walking Wounded has been able to help returned soldiers through the generous support of some sponsors this campaign will help take us to the next level of success."

Walking Wounded, through a winning pitch by its creative agency BCM, was provided with $1 million worth of advertising space from oOh! as part of the Out Of Home advertising company's 2015 Million Dollar Pitch competition. BCM representatives will also go on a world trip to hear from global experts on marketing and technology trends and visit some of the world's leading Out-Of-Home advertising hot spots.

Key updates about the campaign, results and marketing trends and insights from the trip BCM is undertaking as part of the prize will be regularly updated at www.oohmilliondollarpitch.com.au.

oOh! chief executive, Brendon Cook said the entire company has become emotionally invested into bringing the Walking Wounded campaign to life after hearing the charity's purpose and realising the opportunity of bringing BCM's creative to life using the reach and engagement of oOh!'s unmissable network.

Says Cook: "It is shocking to hear that veterans who have fought for Australia don't feel they have the support in place to transition back into the community. "The campaign, overhauled website, social media strategy and refreshed business plan were all developed by BCM pro-bono, which has all the elements of a powerful and successful campaign, utilising the unmissable and innovative potential of our network.

"We are not only providing Out Of Home advertising space, but working with Walking Wounded and its agencies to help this organisation achieve its goals. We are spreading the message via our content platforms such as HIJACKED, ShortPress, QView, and across our entire inventory news feeds including our iconic Bourke Street Mall digital billboard. "We have had tremendous support from some 35 of our landowners, installation contractors, agencies and printers who have donated their own services to help Walking Wounded achieve their objective."

BCM managing director Paul Cornwell said its inspiration to enter the Million Dollar Pitch on behalf of Walking Wounded evolved out of its work for the launch of Eggs for Soldiers for their client Sunny Queen Farms which aimed to raise awareness and funding for the organisation. Says Cornwell: "The creative for this campaign was formed from insights we gained about Walking Wounded's business, the community issues they were aiming to address and the challenge of cutting through consumer apathy, or donor fatigue as we call it, with the thousands and thousands of charities and causes asking people for help.

"This guided the creative development process for the campaign that ultimately resulted in something that would cut through the clutter and resonate with consumers through its newsworthiness and relevance. "We then set about testing the limits of oOh!'s innovative products to maximise impact by contextual targeting of messaging. We also looked for new ways of engaging consumers by leveraging the technology available within oOh!'s innovation products.

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Australia: MCN enters digital out-of-home fray – bolsters investment

Channel Ten and Foxtel content will screen in Aussie shopping centres, as Multi-Channel Network (MCN) looks to expand in the digital out-of-home (DOOH) sector.

The group has made an additional investment in its TV-OOH offering, taking its network to 36 large format, full motion 16:9 screens. TV-OOH is a content-driven network of digital HD television screens designed to close the loop between television and the cash register.

It has also partnered with QIC and Vicinity Centres, which own sites including Chadstone, to roll out the expansion. MCN CEO Anthony Fitzgerald says the screens are part of its strategy to create a unified platform for advertisers to reach the customer journey.

“The outdoor media market is one of the most rapidly growing advertising sectors in Australia,” Fitzgerald says.

“With MCN investing and innovating in a true television-style OOH network, we can offer advertisers an incredible opportunity to close the loop and extend their message through to the point of purchase.”

TV-OOH can be used by advertisers for localised messaging, day parting, augmented reality, social media amplification and live-streaming. MCN also plans to leverage its Multiview panel and partnership with Quantium to enable media buyers to better identify which malls their key buying demographics are shopping in.

MCN national director – TV-OOH and Qantas In-Flight Entertainment, Paul Sutcliffe, says the ability to offer a “television style experience’ out-of-home is increasingly important.

“In 2016 we will see increased demand for a combined screen experience, giving audiences a seamless content experience regardless of where they are,” Sutcliffe says.

“Expanding our TV-OOH Network is an integral part of MCN’s broader unified television strategy, providing best-of-class content for our clients to their customers in all spaces.”

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ASIA NEWS

India: JCDecaux gets exclusive rights for Chennai Metro advertising

The 10-year contract includes exclusive external wraps, internal train branding and complete train dominations with both internal & external branding

Outdoor advertising leader JCDecaux yesterday announced their exclusive contract for advertising rights for the Chennai Metro Rail Limited’s (CMRL) rolling stocks. Unveiling their first train wrap at the Koyembedu Metro Station, the event witnessed representatives from CMRL, Renault – the first advertiser on the train wraps and JCDecaux. Reliance Trends is their second advertiser. Currently, JCDecaux has seven trains to wrap in the existing Chennai Metro corridor but eventually they intend to grow in the market.

The 10-year contract with CMRL comprises of exclusive external wraps, internal train branding and complete train dominations with both internal & external branding. The contract further strengthens JCDecaux’s Transport portfolio in India, which also includes the exclusive advertising rights of the Delhi Metro Airport Express Line and the Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru. JCDEcaux is present in 3700 cities across 60 countries and reaches about 340 million viewers every day. JCDecaux in India started in 2006 with their first contract of bus shelters in Delhi.

Focusing on their ‘DNA’ of cleaning and maintaining the installation, JCDecaux won the Delhi Metro Airport Express Line. In the following years, MMRDA approached them for bus shelters contract in BKC and later other bus shelters in Mumbai. Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru is also another key in JCDecaux’s portfolio in India. Having done a good ground work, JCDecaux was successful entering Chennai. Pramod Bhandula, Executive Chairman, JCDecaux India said, “It took about six to seven years to enter this market. Chennai as a market for advertisers is very rigid. It has a very strong foothold on local brands. When we felt that policies are favourable, we tapped on it and got the Chennai Metro contract.”

On the growth front, Bhandula mentioned that the OOH industry is growing by 10-12% and will continue to grow. “Like it is said, new media will not kill old media. All forms of media will exist and there will always be someone who will use the medium. Apart from that, the industry has huge challenges which make it difficult for the brand to aggressively enter various markets. 2016 will have some more additions to the JCDecaux portfolio in India,” he said.

Commenting on the contract, Bhandula said, “We are elated to have been appointed as the media partner for CMRL. We look forward to rolling out the comprehensive media solutions, as part of our plan to build a high-quality media platform for the Chennai Metro.” CMRL became operational in June, 2015 and currently has 2 Metro Lines spread over 45 km covering 32 Stations: 19 underground & 13 elevated. The two metro lines cover the key locations and intersections in the city with an estimated 282 Million commuters per year with a 5% traffic growth.

Full article here

India: We can create an ecosystem with traditional OOH at the centre: Mauricio Sabogal

Mauricio Sabogal , Global CEO of Kinetic Worldwide was in the country for a brief visit and we took the opportunity to meet him and Suresh Balakrishnan, the newly appointed CEO (India, Middle East and South Asia) at Kinetic Worldwide, who took over responsibilities in January 2016.

2015 was widely considered as a recovery year for the OOH sector and the industry will now look to build on its gains in the year to make 2016 even more successful and Kinetic is also looking to further cement its position in India, a market that it considers firmly in its top 5 regions.

Excerpts from the interview :

Mr. Balakrishnan, can you tell us what are the challenges and the opportunities in front of you as you take over the reins at Kinetic India?

Suresh Balakrishnan: One opportunity I see is that I have joined India's largest OOH company. One challenge you always face is how to make something that is successful even better and more successful. I think it is more challenging to do this than to take over a brand that is not doing well and making it successful.

Kinetic has 26 per cent market share in the country in the OOH space. My challenge is now how to take this to the next level. I think to do this India will have to dovetail into many of the things that the global markets are doing. Some of these things we can do in India tomorrow, while some might require 6-8 months for us to get ready but it is a process of evolution.

For example, this whole process of making every static poster interactive is something that we are ready for as a country because of the penetration of smart phones. But there are other things, like programmatic buying, which we are testing in the US right now, which might take some more time to come to India. The point is that there is already a lot of work being done in the global arena on these fronts and so it is a question of when do we want to roll these out in India. All these concepts will be unique and Kinetic will be the first one to bring them to India.

As a leader in this field, it is our duty to do this. We have to drive this category and the industry in the direction we want it to move. For example, we want to make it a more tech savvy industry and only a leader can do this. We want to see more CSR; so these are the things we will be pushing because we want the industry to move in this direction.

Full interview here