OOH looks at consolidation

According to the agreement signed on 28 August, between AAAI President Dr M G Parameswaran and Noomi Mehta, chairman, IOAA, the coalition will work together to help the outdoor advertising industry in India to grow in an organised and regulated fashion, to ensure that proper systems and processes are followed and timelines are adhered to, and commitments are honoured on both sides.

 

One of the special guidelines issued as part of the collaboration disallows an advertiser to shift business to another agency until the dues are cleared from their previous contracts. 

 

The agreement proposes to put in place a suitable mechanism to penalise defaulters and bring everybody in line with the policies and good practices, while focusing on regulating and disciplining advertiser behaviours in matters concerning outdoor trade, agency remuneration, corporate governance and adherence to payment deadlines.

 

A step further to this, Mehta of IOAA, said, "The IOAA, on its part, has embarked on an ambitious project to conduct viewership studies on OOH, initially in major cities. Further, it will ensure 100 percent listing of all sites with a unique identification number in a scientific manner for the benefit of all concerned."

 

Until now, the two associations, in their individual capacities have been attempting to bring order in the OOH chaos. One instance is IOAA's Credit Control Council (CCC). An initiative activated on 7 June, 2012, under the CCC, IOAA works in tandem with the association members and the advertising agencies to ensure due credits to both parties involved. Till date, the association has a success rate of 48% in the program. 

 

On the other hand, the AAAI, a national organisation of advertising agencies, in operation since 1945, promotes professionalism between advertisers and advertising agencies and the various media. The AAAI represents a very large number of small, medium and large-sized agencies, who together account for almost 80% of the advertising business placed in the country. It is recognised as the apex body of and the spokesperson for the advertising industry at all forums – advertisers and media owners and their associations and Government. 

 

Considering the highly fragmented OOH space and the credit system that the industry works on, the coming together of the AAAI and IOAA is a positive move for the industry.