Times OOH banks on austerity drive to attract advertisers

Recently, union finance minister, Pranab Mukerjee's insisted on adherence to austerity measures, even for politicians and a certain category of officers, because of the tough times the country is going through, including droughts in several states and spiraling inflation.

Subsequently, Congress president, Sonia Gandhi decided to fly in economy class, while traveling to Mumbai from Delhi last week. Following his mother's footsteps, Congress general secretary, Rahul Gandhi traveled in the chair car of Shatabdi Express to Ludhiana from Delhi, in order to inaugurate a four-day camp of young Congressmen. All this has suddenly brought austerity centre stage.

The creative placed in airports at Delhi and Mumbai has caricatures of Sonia Gandhi and prime minister, Manmohan Singh, along with copy that reads, "You never know who might catch your message now". The campaign will be seen for another week.

"The ad conveys the fact that key decision makers of the economy are no more restricted to private jets and VIP terminals. So, there will be an addition to the number of people looking at the ads. Also, we chose sites in Delhi and Mumbai airports, because together, the two cities contribute to 50 per cent of country's air traffic," he adds.

Last year, Times OOH created a campaign, Innovate, to inspire advertisers and agencies to use their properties differently and innovate on them. The creative showed a cricketer doing a reverse sweep, signifying the innovative side of the sport. Since cricketers constantly innovate with playing tactics, the company used this as a metaphor for the possibilities of innovation in its media.

Hemrajani discloses that banking and financial services clients contribute most to Times OOH's revenues. Also, he feels that after the economic slowdown, both real estate and aviation have bounced back. Automobile is another category that has started using the airport innovatively.