Surina Sayal
OOH

Idea takes a walk outdoor

The telecom brand's 'Walk when you Talk' campaign is being executed on bus shelters and gantries across cities

Innovations and creativity run in Idea Cellular's DNA. The telecom brand has come up with some of the most memorable TV campaigns and outdoor ads in recent times. So, it is not surprising to see another line-up of gripping out-of-home work.

The ideas were conceptualized specifically for OOH media and originated from brainstorming sessions between Idea Cellular and the creative team at 141 Wall Street.

Idea takes a walk outdoor
Idea takes a walk outdoor
Idea takes a walk outdoor
Idea takes a walk outdoor
Idea takes a walk outdoor
Idea takes a walk outdoor
One of the new ideas, which has been executed on bus shelters and gantries across cities, consists of multiple LED figures of people standing in a line. The figures are holding phones to their ears. A sequential lighting system has been used, where two people are lit simultaneously. The lights keep moving down the line, one after the other, such that it seems like the two people are walking across the creative.

Praveen Vadhera, country head, OOH, Bates 141, says, "The need was to conceptually extend the 'Walk when you Talk' campaign in OOH. Hence, to bring alive a sense that walking and talking is becoming a movement, this idea was conceived."

He adds, "What brings the idea alive is the animation-like movement of the people holding mobile phones. It was originally planned as neon, but given the higher flexibility of LEDs and stronger daytime visibility, it was executed with LED lights. The LEDs also provided us the opportunity to create closer to life animation."

In Ahmedabad, Sambhaav Media's bus shelter property has been employed for the LED innovation. The bus shelter is 60 ft long, and thus, lends itself well to the innovation, giving it scale and making it a talking point.

Two teams, Apex Media Link from Mumbai and Satish Hooda from Ahmedabad, worked closely with 141 Wall Street to implement the idea.

Other OOH concept-based innovations have been done as well, across big cities and smaller towns.

Focusing on the fitness factor related to walking and talking, one of these shows a cut-out of a fat man sitting atop the creative, thereby causing a dent in it. Another one shows a hoarding divided into two parts. The larger portion of the hoarding with convex edges reads "Before walk when you talk"; and the other portion, with concave edges, reads, "After walk when you talk", implying a fitter body after 'walking and talking'.

The innovations have been executed in Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Pune, Delhi and Hyderabad by 141 Wall Street and in Bengaluru, Lucknow and Jalandhar by Platinum Outdoor.

Vadhera speaks about Idea's motivation for constantly experimenting with OOH innovations: "The motivation to be innovative is in the DNA of the brand itself. One of the key brand promises has been to deliver an elevating experience. This makes it essential that it is reflected in all aspects of the communication, whether creative or the media execution -- hence, the need to consistently innovate in OOH. The innovation makes the communication work that bit harder to deliver higher cut-through."

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