The six-month campaign – visible on six backlit mullion units – is a chance for the Tata-owned upmarket Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) car marque to engage with passengers departing from RGIA.
Shashi Sinha, senior vice-president, Laqshya, says: "The campaign carries images of the luxury XF Diesel Jaguar. The six month-long campaign is in the check-in hall at the airport used by both domestic and international passengers. JLR enjoys the media location, connect dominance and a very premium media environment, which together magnifies its luxury quotient."
Three years ago, Laqshya Media was awarded the advertising rights for RGIA for a period of seven years. This is the first airport in India which is a greenfield airport project and Laqshya Media executed the project. As Sinha points out, this includes: "Planning, design, manufacture, installation and advertising displays at RGIA."
Laqshya also has the advertising rights for Colombo Airport in Sri Lanka, making it the only Indian OOH company to have gone international in airport advertising.
Focus on airports
At the recent OAC convention in Mumbai, the OOH industry was "guesstimated" to be approximately Rs 1,600-1,800 cr and growing at a rate of 10% annually.
For companies like Laqshya, airport OOH also offers them more and better revenue opportunities, as well as options for advertisers.
Digital screens mean advertisers can maximise their use of time-sensitive messages, as well as allowing the poster owner to engage with multiple advertisers on the same screen -- for example, a daily paper in the morning and an alcoholic spirit in the late afternoon or early evening - all the better if that drink is also available at the adjacent bar.
As a result, the airport space is hotting up. For instance, visual merchandising at Terminal 3 (T3) of Delhi airport will attract the eyeballs of 34 million passengers per annum. Interestingly enough, besides premium airlines and passengers, T3 has shopping areas, restaurants, bars and executive lounges.
In addition, a business centre and state-of-the-art IT and communications equipment for the business traveller will also be part of the airport experience.
No wonder Laqshya, along with French OOH specialist JCDecaux, pitched for rights for advertising at the Terminal 3 (T3) of Delhi Airport. But it was Times OOH, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Entertainment Network (India) Limited (ENIL) which tapped into the rights for advertising for 20 years. Today, Times OOH has the rights for airports in Delhi and Mumbai.
Likewise JCDecaux has the exclusive advertising concession at the Bengaluru International Airport (BIAL) where they offer "a new experience in airport advertising".
Established player
Today, 10 firms control the lion's share of outdoor opportunities, encompassing almost 250,000 panels nationwide. The situation is similar with dedicated airport branding.
One such firm is TDI (Transport Display Innovation) International India Limited. Founded in 1986, TDI dominated the airport space. After the privatisation of airports, there was a shift. Today, the company provides advertising solutions at Chennai, Kolkata and Ahmedabad, as well as some ten or so smaller airprots in cities like Goa, Jaipur, Trivandrum and Amritsar.
The TDI mantra is: ‘Some of these cities are new business and industrial hubs in India. And people who matter are travelling to these centres.’
Hiyav Bajaj, the director at TDI, says "Airports are a great place to advertise because they not only help advertisers target affluent decision makers in business communities, but also policy decision makers with the government and public sector."
Bajaj adds: "There’s a perception that airports have a high cost of reaching the TG. In reality, the cost of reaching the TG at the airport is approximately 25% to 33% of the cost of reaching the same TG in a mass OOH environment." Bajaj says that this is due to reduced spillage and more focused TG and quality footfalls at airports (SEC AB).
These airports reach out to 38.5 lakh consumers every month. In addition, as Bajaj states: "There is an average dwell-time of one-three hours at the departures".
Unusually for a media sector where reliable metrics are hard to come by, airport travel figures have a solid underpinning, Bajaj explains: "In terms of metrics, the Airports Authority of India releases statistics of travellers at airports on a monthly basis. This is a third-party neutral number which is available to calculate reach on a regular basis. This is a significant advantage for airports compared to mass OOH where no such figures are easily available."
‘Cost-effective medium’
TDI also points out that, compared to other media an advertiser might use to reach the same TG, airport OOH is cost effective − for example, says Bajaj, among the "affluent decision-making male segment which advertisers target through news and business magazines". The cost per thousand of reaching the same TG at TDI airports is Rs. 700-1600 with the advantage of much higher reach.
There are also, however, price differentials between airports. According to Bajaj: "TDI airports are cost competitive as compared to airports like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru or Hyderabad which come at 3-5 times the CPT (cost per thousand) that one gets at TDI airports."
Shashi Sinha has a counter-view: In an ambience-driven location like an airport, advertisers look beyond "CPT" ... it is the quality that counts. The key is the kind of brands that are found at the airports at Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru.
The other notable trend one sees is the shift in production methods. Ten to 15 years ago it was conventional hand paint, litho or screen. Now outdoor is a digital print technology. Most of the OOH firms don’t use conventional printing technologies.
B Prasad of Printech Digital, a multi-location print service provider says: "Runs of 50-150 can be done economically using digital print."
He adds: "In the conventional printing process, the colours are more vivid and it can add value but time preparation, pre-press process and production process does not make it economically viable for Out Of Home segment where every campaign has timelines and on time production, installation of display is key to the success."
Clearly, the ‘no-print’ option of digital displays is transforming the advertising opportunities in the Out Of Home segment. Digital display comprises of options like LED screens and LCD screens are boosting the ad-revenue model. Most of the campaigns in Bengaluru, Delhi and Hyderabad airport have harnessed the advantages digital displays can offer in terms of time-sensitive messaging.
Bajaj says: "Airports are a proven place to target decision makers for the B2B segment. Airports work as a great medium to advertise because when people travel for business they’re in decision-making mode and amenable to changes. Similarly holiday-makers are relaxed and open to changes when travelling. Hence airports are a touch point to target both decision-makers and consumers in a receptive frame of mind spending a lot of time there."
Multiple branding for ING at the Bengaluru International Airport
Kingdom of Dreams display and standees across India by TDI
TDI offers a range of solutions (above and below) for its clients at aiports. This includes: a wide range of media solutions which include backlit translites, show windows, pillar sites, billboard/hoardings, pole kiosks, baggage trolleys, aero bridges, unipoles, stunners and product displays
Johnnie Walker campaign by JCDecaux at Bengaluru
