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G2C kiosk: A common window for advertisers and citizens
The capital will have about 2,000 kiosks for citizens to facilitate accessing government information and transactions, which will also double up as advertising platforms
By October, the capital will have about 2,000 kiosks for citizens to facilitate accessing of government information and manage transactions. Initially, these kiosks will provide information on railway timings, tourism and other vital information on services provided by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and the Government of Delhi. Later, the aim is to provide services such as payments, public grievances, ticket bookings, renewals, issue of government certificates and form downloads from the same outlets.
The kiosks are a part of MCD's Aapke Dwar project and aims to provide a single window for a variety of services which citizens need from various government departments. Bartronics India, a Hyderabad based company, bagged the rights on a build, own, operate, transfer (BOOT) basis last year for installing these government-to-citizen kiosks in the capital. The project cost is estimated at Rs 800 crore. The first kiosk was installed recently at Paharganj, near the New Delhi railway station.
As part of the deal, Bartronics will pay a fixed license fee to the MCD. The services and information will be offered free of cost. One source of revenue for the company will be the service charge collected by the company from the concerned government department, depending on the type of service offered.
However, the company will earn revenue by offering advertising space inside the enclosures. For instance, danglers, prop-up displays and an ad display area of 10ftx10ft on the exteriors of the three walls will be available at each kiosk. It is learnt that the company has already tied up with Selvel Media, an OOH company, to sell advertising space.
When afaqs! spoke to a few industry practitioners, they offered mixed reactions on the potential of these kiosks as an advertising platform. Mandeep Malhotra, senior vice-president, Mudra Max agrees that the brand owners and marketers are fast realising the need to understand the neighbourhoods and such kiosks will be an effective medium to do that.
Malhotra adds that besides the local services such as small restaurants and boutique owners, these kiosks could also serve as an effective platform for the retail players. To yield a better ROI (return on investment), he says that the companies should put some metrics into place.
The companies also need to maintain a database of such neighbourhoods and design their communication accordingly. Besides, the media owner also needs to sell the inventory by dividing it in networks, based on consumer profiles of the clubbed localities. "If this can be done, it will turn out to be a win-win situation for all," he says.
On the other hand, Raj Mohanty, senior business director, Poster Publicity, seems to have a different opinion. According to him, corporate advertisers are more eager to take up sites at key junctions, rather than opting for properties placed close to the residential areas. In this case, he feels that the ad rates need to be kept reasonable and can't be as high as the bus shelters.
Incorporated in 1990, Bartronics is a Hyderabad based company that started with providing solutions in bar coding and continues to focus on supply chain and inventory management, logistics and asset tracking systems.