UP Talks OOH: A talk well received

Talks OOH! The concept from the house of VJ Mediaworks Pvt. Ltd an initiative to highlight the past, the present and the future of out-of-home advertising in various regions, adopting a skewed region wise approach to facilitate the growth of OOH. The initiative started with Delhi was the first destination and this year the focus moved on to the state of Uttar Pradesh with UP Talks OOH! Which happened on September 18th 2010, at Taj Residency in Lucknow.

The state of Uttar Pradesh while is known for its rich culture and heritage it is also a promising and growing economy. Being the second largest economy in terms of state GDP and also the most populous state in the country, Uttar Pradesh spells lucrative opportunities for Brands. While Brands look out to tap UP with advertising messages Outdoor surfaces as an effective medium for them. With more than 600 media owners, who own various media properties, the size of OOH advertising industry is pegged at Rs. 100 crores. The state has more than 70 districts and apart from Lucknow and Kanpur, there are 10 more districts which are quite active in the business of OOH advertising. However this growth of OOH in UP has a slew of challenges, which hinder the growth. Thus with the aim of to confront these challenges, UP Talk OOH as a forum put on table and brought to the center stage some crucial issues proving to be obstacles to the OOH industry in this region. The forum also focused on the role the OOH community can play in realizing the plans of Civic Body in terms of beautification and developing infrastructure.

The one day conference witnessed a house full of stakeholders from the industry, from Media owners, to agencies, sub-regional associations and government authorities each of them were all geared up to Talk OOH for UP. The conference started off with the keynote speaker Alok Rajan, Pricipal Secretary, Urban Development – Uttar Pradesh highlighting the role of Outdoor Advertising within the city mandate, and also went about apportioning the opportunity Outdoor advertising industry has in UP. Rest of the day was an amalgamation of talks, debates and dialogues which revolved around the challenges OOH industry faces in UP, the potential UP has in terms of attracting OOH spends and avenues for Public-Private Partnerships were explored.

UP Talks OOH! got more intensive and interesting with two interesting Panel discussions – ‘Lucknow Talks Specifics’ which had the OOH industry representatives asking questions to the authority and authority giving them valid answers and explanations and the second one being ‘Self Regulation – And urgent need, but still remains a talk: Why and Why not? Which elaborated on the need of Self- regulation, both were moderated by Pravin Vadhera.

The event also provided a singular opportunity for the different sub-regional outdoor associations to highlight their predicaments while doing business in their respective towns and cities. The conference underlined the importance of building a sharp regional focus on the opportunities that are waiting to be tapped in the regional, urban and semi-urban outdoor markets.

With a count of 200 delegates participating and a daylong of constructive dialogue, UP talked and walked OOH!