Top 5 Emerging Technologies of Outdoor Advertising in India

Did you know that the Indian millennials comprise around 65% of the total population of our country? As nearly as 2021, India will witness being the youngest nation in the world. The ever-increasing purchasing power of the Indian youth and its growing size is grabbing the eyeball of all the media campaigners, bringing in a golden era for the Indian advertising industry. The consumer spending in the country is about to take a leapfrog to around $4 trillion (268 lakh crore) by 2020 with above 50% of the working professionals belonging to millennials. The outdoor industry in India is still striving to fully grab the attention of this demography and is really backdated when it comes to the matter of embracing newer technologies built specially to grab the attention of the youth.

Millennials are viewed as the netizens in a land of digital immigrants. And it is quite normal that in today’s digital era, a connection between OOH advertising and technology is undoubtedly the future of advertising in India.

Below are a few examples of the latest technology that foretells the story of advertising in India.

1) Geo-fencing Technology
Geofencing is an affordable location-based tool that sends texts to smartphone consumers who arrive at a preset geographic location. It generates higher sales revenue by integrating smartphones with billboard advertising in India. Helping both marketers and advertisers to boost local businesses and cut expenses on the high-cost online advertisement.

Through research, we have learned that millennials reciprocate in a more engaged manner if the ad is niche and personalized towards them, and geo-fencing works towards accomplishing the exact goal. Its effectiveness works perfectly when it engages customers by sending timely offers and coupons.

2) Beacon
Beacons are tiny and battery powered, invariably active devices that use low energy Bluetooth connections to beam signals to smart devices, such as tablets or smartphones, covering a range of around 300 feet. Technically, installed beacons enhance brand engagements and drive sales through new customers.

Beacons also give marketers and retailers an upper-hand in extracting helpful information about their customers, for example, which products they have observed, how long they are staring at a particular aisle. Apart from these places, beacons are best for OOH adverting in micro-locations and multi-floor constructions such as office buildings and shopping malls.

3) Digital Billboards
A Digital Billboard generally displays the digital images, slides, short videos through ads. The timings and at what sequence it will portray ads can be set manually. This flashy customizable feature provides marketers with better flexibility in modifying personalized content more frequently to create a solid impact.

4) NFC
Near-Field Communication, or NFC, is a band of wireless communication protocols, just like Bluetooth, which normally enable devices to share data, and also provide wireless access like keyless entry.

Through NFC, consumers can unlock the tags placed on billboards, magazine pages, electronic payment devices, digital signage displays and “Smart Posters” like print-based posters. The demography based content will automatically be flashed on their smart devices that include extra offers and information. The layer of connectivity is simple yet offers great potential to generate scale. The client takes the leverage of each NFC chip as it costs very low and the consumer gets access to extra mobile content, contact info, social media interaction vouchers and payment option.

5) Digital Signage
Digital signage combines technologies like LED, LCD, and projection to broadcast content such as video, digital images, streaming media, and data.

They are truly effective in public spots, retail stores, transportation systems, restaurants, hotels, and stadiums. They allow a great stage for popular marketing and outdoor advertisements catering personalized digital contents with high levels of engagement, enriching customer’s buying experience.

With the imminence of these fresh advancements in the market, the biggest challenge of OOH advertising would be looked after – that is, real-time information in relation to the reach and efficiency of each advertising campaign can be flexible and precisely acquired, and can definitely be implemented for successful and effective future media roadmap.