AskHarishBijoor

Q: Why is the Out Of Home (OOH) industry gaining so much of moneys and attention? What’s the new change here? Who uses it most?

-Raveen Kumar, Mumbai

A: Raveeen, India and the Indian at large are getting that much more on-the-go. With more and more homes becoming twin-income households, both husband and wife are on the go. Add to it children on the go all the while, to school and college. Add to it the fact that people are indulging in long commutes, as it is getting more and more expensive for people to live close to the work places. All this is creating outdoor eyeballs on the go! The marketer is therefore looking at OOH with a new vision set altogether. This is a sector slated to boom exponentially.

In terms of economy and money spent on the medium, the medium delivers more than it eats in terms of money. This is a big draw as well.

The biggest user of this medium today is the media and entertainment industry. As much as 72 per cent of all OOH is media and entertainment industry related. This perks up even more as you get into the bigger cities. For the television medium for instance, Outdoor is a big draw. It offers a contra-medium to stare out of. Television is totally indoors just as OOH is totally Outdoors!


OOH is slated to increase its relevance to the marketer and consumer in specific. As technology makes inroads into the medium, expect Mini NY Times Squares’ to emerge all over the big cities of India.

Q: Is there not a coffee over-load in the country today? With Starbucks slated to enter as well, is the market not already cluttered?

-Shilpi Jain, Ahmedabad

 

Shilpi, more the merrier.

As of today, as per a research prognosis put together by me, India can take a total of 5400 Cafes. However, as of this point of reply, there are only 2006 Cafes in India. The market gap is therefore wide and deep. Wide in terms of the number of Cafes this country of 1.2 Billion people can absorb, and deep in terms of coffee offerings that will deepen consumption from the current frivolous levels to a deeper degree, as we see in the markets of the US and UK and parts of Scandinavia and Europe.

The entry of Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts will energize the India Cafe market. There is bound to be a deeper degree of investment in terms of sweat and money by the existing Cafe players. This itself will help broaden and deepen the base for coffee in India. Add to it the different formats that will enter. Dunkin Donuts worldwide is a pick-and-go play. On-the-go coffee consumption is still nascent territory in India despite the population being peripatetic within cities. This will add more zing.

Players are investing right, and with a great degree of intelligence. Carpet-bombing of a market with density of outlets helps in dense market economies. Expect to have as many as 21 Cafes in 1 sq kilometer space, just as you will have just 5 Cafes in a 50 Km space. Market density and propensity to consume, as well as affordability indices will govern this density of outlet seeding.

The challenges to all Café players are all about managing costs, just as one strives to deliver the best International standard of Cafe experience. This is the biggest challenge for all of them, irrespective whether they are a ‘desi’ offering or International.

Q: There is this new trend of studying personalities such as Dhoni as a leader and movies as case studies in management institutes. Does this help and work? Is this all not a gimmick to get publicity in media?

-Dhyan Nanjappa, Delhi

A: Dhyan, you certainly seem to have had an over-dose of this. There is gimmick-angst in your question.

In reality, there is traditional management theory and then there is Pop Management theory.  Studying leadership styles through personas such as Dhoni or a Sachin or for that matter an Aamir Khan through his personification of Mangal Pandey, are all part of new age Pop Management theory.

The fact remains that very un-related people can help us learn styles of leadership. One can learn leadership from a beggar equally, as much as from a successful cricket captain such as Dhoni. Most folk however gravitate towards those who are overtly successful than those who are covertly successful. Few study leadership from a beggar on the street-corner.

The Corporate world can derive lessons for sure from everyone and everywhere. One can learn valuable management lessons from the virtual world of Twitter, just as you can from the real world of Dhoni. What is important is how you co-relate information and as to how you link one cog to another wheel.

We have many Dhonis in the corporate world even today, just as we have enough Chanakyas and enough Gandhis and enough Vinoba Bhaves. Every persona has a role, depending which part of the cyclical corporate environment we are going through.