OOH screens are 'all game' for the Beijing Olympics

Now it's not only national television that will give you updates on the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. As the entire nation rejoices in the Olympic gold medal win of ace shooter Abhinav Bindra, OOH TV screen companies are doing their bit to wish Bindra, and provide more information on the Olympics, too. And you thought these screens were only about advertising! Read on to know more.

Future TV, the retail television network from the Future Group, is offering new programming on the Games. The network is sufficiently technologically advanced to offer live information on Bindra. The top 10 athletes to watch and regular updates on them, updates on the Indian participants, and various vignettes on the Olympic Games are also being aired on Future TV. Ten Olympic Athletes to Watch is based on the most talked about athletes this season, such as Michael Phelps and Dara Torres. Each of these programmes is crisp and short, keeping in-store viewing habits in mind.

In an official communiqué, Vishakha Singh, director, marketing communication and strategy, Future Media, says, “It's a moment of pride to celebrate the first ever individual gold for India. With a focus on being relevant and contextual, Future TV engages people with content which is the flavour of the moment.”

Laqshya Digital Media, which has some 800 OOH screens, is also carrying congratulatory messages, but with a creative twist. Sandhya Honawar, national content head, Laqshya Digital, says, “We have announced his win, but with a message that says that Bindra has attained his 'Laqshya' (goal). So, we are using our name as part of the concept.” Laqshya's screens also leveraged Independence Day with the ‘Proud to be Indian, Proud of This Indian's Olympic Win’ message.

OOH Media's screens salute the new national hero, too. Under the property, 'Know Your OOH Hero', OOH Media will release four vignettes complete with trivia nuggets about Bindra, which highlight the magnitude of his achievement and other interesting facts about him and his life.

“The idea is to not just congratulate him, but to showcase from a grass-root level what makes Abhinav Bindra a true hero,” says Ashutosh Parekh, national content head, OOH Media. “The fact that he has fought various odds and surmounted all obstacles to achieve the seemingly impossible – that’s the real essence of a hero and that will be communicated to more than 55 million people through our entire network of more than 4,700 screens across 22 cities. A national hero deserves national recognition and respect.” The vignettes are scheduled to run soon and a different vignette relevant to the community at large will be flashed every week.

Digital Signage Networks, which uses its screens as vertical digital posters, has Olympics related content too, while vJive Networks' screens, which play prerecorded loops, will also play snippets and trivia on the Olympics. These loops will be updated twice a week.