Asia Outdoor Advertising: There’s a need to change the client’s mindset

On the final day of the AOA awards, Craig Harvey, media director, Synovate Asia Pacific, while rounding off the speaker sessions, stressed on the need for research options in the out-of-home (OOH) category, which will ensure better acceptance and credibility with clients. Helen Willoughby, CEO, Outdoor Media Association Australia, also spoke on similar lines.

Willoughby talked about the importance of a joint industry interface to interact with the many issues that the OOH industry faces, be it government bodies, environmental issues, or the adoption of the right measurement systems. That is certainly the way forward for the newly set up Indian Outdoor Advertisers Association. With Mumbai already wearing a cluttered look, and Delhi set to host the Commonwealth Games in 2010, the industry in India could clearly do no harm to its cause by banding together early to ensure that its voice is heard.

Wilson also drove home the effectiveness of multiple formats over single formats. His pitch was probably best described by his own quote: “Filling time rather than asking you to give up time” is one of the key differentiators for OOH.

Jonathan Kneebone, a writer/director at The Glue Society, an independent creative collective, of which he is also a co-founder, was of the opinion that the big challenge today was to change mindsets to look at OOH in the right perspective. Starting from the brief for outdoor media – which needs to focus ideally on one single issue – to being daring enough to take risks with the many unconventional options it offered, Kneebone made a strong case for more experimentation. He showcased the best use of outdoor media, at a total cost of just $150, done for a sitcom in the US, where the client needed to communicate a time change on a limited budget. They opted to use hoardings in countries outside the US, which also included a hoarding in Iraq worth $150. Daft? Not so. The resulting press coverage across media in the US was far more valuable than the money they spent, not to mention the reinforcing of the core values of the show itself.

For the delegates, the conference probably worked to reinforce the reasons why they see a future for the medium, while also delivering some interesting pointers and learning from developed markets such as the UK and Japan.

As always, one wondered about the story behind each of the fantastic campaigns that were showcased, especially the story of how clients were convinced to go along. Speaking to members of the Indian contingent, that probably remains the biggest challenge because, barring select clients such as Hutch/Vodafone, accepting outdoor as a possible multiplier is a big issue here.

Of course, the pickings were small in Singapore for the Indian agencies, but no one had any worries on that score, as there really isn’t any doubt that the industry has a steep learning curve ahead.