International OOH innovations now come to India

The India based EncycloMedia Networks, which delivers solutions and strategies for outdoor and retail advertising in more than 20 countries, has entered into a joint venture with Floorgraphics Inc., the global leader in floor advertising, which holds more than 80 per cent of the global market.

As part of the JV, EncycloMedia Networks has acquired the exclusive licence in India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal to use the trademarks, trade names, and know-how of Floorgraphics Inc. for the production and sale of FLOORads (floor mounted graphics) and proprietary In-Storeplus products such as CARTplus (ads on shopping carts), TAKEplus (information dispensers that promote indirect sales), SHELFplus (shelf talkers), and COUPONplus (coupon dispensers). EncycloMedia Networks will design, print and execute campaigns for the retail media network to its clients. Floorgraphics Inc. is present in more than 20 countries with a retail store media network exceeding 20,000 stores. The major chains include Carrefour, Wal-mart, Hippo and AmPm.

Till before the JV, EncycloMedia Networks offered floor space in a chain of 500 stores of Food Bazaar and Spencer’s with their brand of floor graphics, i-Walk. This brand is now being scrapped to make way for FLOORads. They will also introduce the In-Storeplus products within the next few months and aim to increase their retail media network to 1,000 stores within the next three months.

Sharing how the development took place, he says, “Media planning in such a JV is often a number crunching game, right from setting media objectives to measuring the efficiency and effectiveness of a media plan and the impact it has had on the sales of a particular product. We recognised this opportunity as both our companies share the same philosophy and science of retail advertising. Once this was clear, the focus then shifted to finalising the JV. We will provide clients with end to end solutions, where we only require the client to give us the brief, after which we take care of photography, design, artwork, printing, dispatch, installation and media space rental and maintenance.”

When it comes to the costs involved, Manik says footfalls in stores may vary due to their different sizes – for example, a smaller supermarket may have 200 footfalls a day, but a larger one may see about 5,000. The average cost per contact for floor graphics works out to only about 10 paise a day, and for the In-Storeplus products, it’s even cheaper.

It is estimated that an advertiser spends 8-10 per cent on retail and point of sale. However, there are brands that spend as much as 50 per cent of their budget on retail as they are urban skewed products and it becomes too expensive to advertise above-the-line. Internationally, it is now common for advertisers to spend 50 per cent of their budget on retail advertising. With the entry of organised retail in India, the platform is set for this to grow rapidly.

Manik says that though clients are increasing spends in-store, floor graphics form a negligible part of the retail advertising mix in India. Retail advertising is still restricted to posters, danglers, standees and, in some cases, digital TV.

“The true value of this medium is not yet realised. One of the most important consumer habit changes in the past 25 years is that over 70 per cent of purchasing decisions are made at the point of sale. Over 80 per cent of new product introductions fail, most of the time because they go unnoticed on the shelf. FLOORads work! With an average sales increase in the double digits, it is very cost effective, delivering the lowest cost per thousand impressions of any advertising media. Internationally, the medium is an accepted part of a retail campaign and at times the only media used to launch the product at retail,” he explains.