Surina Sayal
OOH

OAC 2008: Venue shift to make space for more

In its fourth year, the OAC moves to a new venue to accommodate more delegates and display more entries

The Outdoor Advertising Convention (OAC), which consists of an exhibition, convention and awards forum for the OOH industry, is moving its venue from the Taj Land's End in Bandra (Mumbai) to the Nehru Centre in Worli.

The venue has been shifted to allow for more exhibition space and accommodate the increasing number of delegates at the convention. The convention will be held on June 27-28 in Mumbai.

Speakers at the convention include Jacqui Kean (global brand communications director, The Economist), Sunder Hemrajani (managing director, Times Innovative Media), RA Rajeev (additional municipal commissioner, Greater Mumbai), Mark Neely (regional director, research, AsiaPacific, Nielsen Media Research) and Meenakshi Madhvani (managing partner, Spatial Access Solutions).

OAC 2008: Venue shift to make space for more
The title sponsors for OAC 2008 are Times OOH and Ogilvy Action. AP Parigi, director, Times Innovative Media, says, “Leadership brings with it the responsibility of developing the entire category called OOH Media. There are several ways to help build a category in emerging markets like India. One such initiative is to associate, support and encourage establishment of platforms like the Outdoor Advertising Convention and Outdoor Advertising Awards.”

Nabendu Bhattacharyya, president, Ogilvy Action, says, “As leaders in the industry, we are delighted to support the only common platform for the industry in the country. In the new millennium, everybody in the industry is in a bullish mood. There are new structures, new technologies, new advertisers and new partners such as local authorities. There is a renewed belief in the importance of the medium and its central role in brands communication. I hope that everyone will come together to discuss the strengths of the medium, share their insights for a greater tomorrow for the entire industry.”

With an interactive format, OAC 2008 will be the ideal place for the OOH community to interact, learn and network. “There is more interest than ever in the OOH medium in the country and the move to a larger venue will help along two fronts,” explains Vasant Jante, project head, OAC 2008. “One, the larger expo space will be able to accommodate more of the exciting products and technologies that are constantly being launched to address the OOH industry. And two, as the medium gets more competitive, with large Indian players, traditional Indian players and international giants all vying for an advantage in the growing market, we expect the delegate count to go up.”

The grand finale to the two day event will be the Outdoor Advertising Awards. The OAA recognises creativity and media innovations in the out of home segment. OAA 2008 sees the inclusion of a new category, Best Use of Posters. The format of the OAA has been constantly modified on the basis of feedback from the market, and the overall categories have increased from 17 in 2005 to 24 in 2008.

Since its launch, the number of entries for the awards has grown consistently from 275 in the first year to 500 in 2007. Jante was unwilling to reveal the number of entries for 2008, since the last few entries are still coming in, but he says the confirmed figure will be known shortly.

The jury members for the creative awards include chairman Ravi Deshpande (chief creative officer, Contract Advertising), Abhijit Avasthi (executive creative director, South Asia, Ogilvy & Mather), Bobby Pawar (CCO, Mudra Communications), Nikhil Rao (group creative director, Lowe), Juju Basu (creative director, Saatchi & Saatchi), Manish Bhatt (vice-president and ECD, Contract Advertising), Ramanuj Shastry (CCO, Rediffusion DY&R), Tista Sen (ECD and V-P, JWT), Priti J Nair (national creative director, Grey India), Sajan Raj Kurup (chairman and CCO, CreativeLand Asia), Santosh Padhi (ECD and national head of art, Leo Burnett) and Vikram Gaikwad (partner and ECD, Creativeland Asia).

The media jury consists of Ravi Kiran (chief executive officer, South Asia, Starcom MediaVest Group), Pratap Bose (CEO, Ogilvy & Mather) and Punitha Arumugam (Group CEO, Madison Media).

Have news to share? Write to us atnewsteam@afaqs.com