The big brand fight over OOH: Times Outdoor Monitoring reveals summer trends

Colas, ice-cream brands, travel companies and air conditioning brands emerge among the top players in out-of-home advertising

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Mumbai | May 17, 2016

Some of the best known brands in the Indian market are always on ground, fighting for space on billboards and banners.

Top brands like Pepsi, Coca Cola, Sprite, 7UP, Kwality Walls, Baskin Robbins, Thomas Cook, Cox & Kings, Daikin and Panasonic, leave no stones unturned to grab maximum space in outdoor advertising and compete fiercely with each other in all categories of out-of-home (OOH) advertising.

Time Outdoor Monitoring, a third party out-of-home (OOH) monitoring agency recently conducted a survey to find out what these brands were doing for summer. The agency monitors OOH spends for outdoor campaigns and tracks the effectiveness of spends. The report is based on pan India analysis across 42 cities. The data does not cover transit media, airports, malls, inside railway stations and kiosks.

The competition among brands across different categories during January, February, March and April 2016 is as follows:

Pepsi vs Coca-Cola

In the soft drink category, Pepsi fought Coca-Cola, which is not new. The big cola war between Coca-Cola and Pepsi is eternal. The brands have been fighting each other for more than a century, but from the OOH perspective, Pepsi has been dominating Coca Cola in respect of advertising spends over the last four months.

In January, Coca-Cola spent more than its market rival. As summer arrived, Pepsi nearly doubled its ad spend over January. Coca-Cola witnessed a decline in spends in the month of February. In March, Coca- Cola spent the same amount that it had in January, but remained far behind Pepsi. Coca-Cola put up a tough fight in April, when it managed to narrow down the gap it had with Pepsi. Overall in four months the maximum space acquisition of Pepsi was 2,39,293 square feet, overtaking Coca-Cola, which had acquired 1,75,060 square feet of outdoor space in the same period.

Sprite vs 7UP

Lemon flavoured sodas make a good summer drink and offer energy. These flavoured aerated drinks keep consumers hydrated to a certain extent and also help overcome dizziness. Both Sprite and 7UP had their summer strategies in place. Sprite had the maximum OOH spends in January, which declined in the ensuing months. On the other hand, 7UP which had not advertised in January and February turned aggressive in March and April and ruled in the OOH category in March and April. In terms of space acquisition, 7UP had 116,392 square feet, while Sprite had merely acquired 42,360 square feet of outdoor space.

Kwality Walls vs Baskin Robbins

In the ice cream category, the advertising spends of both Kwality Walls and Baskin Robbins were enormous, which was not unusual. Ice creams are essentially summer treats and so ice cream companies tend to go on an advertising spending spree during the season. Baskin Robbins and Kwality Walls were key spenders in the ice-cream category.

Baskin Robbins was the highest spender in the month of January and February. Kwality Walls was far from the competition during those two months, but in the month of March and April it turned out to be the highest ad spender by promoting its new Magnum Ice Cream. Kwality Walls' space acquisition at 2,76,159 square feet was more than double that of Baskin Robbins, which had acquired 1,14,409 square feet of space.

Daikin vs Panasonic Air-conditioners

In the air-conditioner category, Daikin Air conditioner and Panasonic Air conditioner were the maximum spenders. Air-conditioners require a huge push before summer to create brand impression on consumers, because in most parts of India summers are unbearable without them.

In the air-conditioning category, Panasonic had an upper hand in January and February as Daikin did not have a presence on the OOH platform during those two months. In March Daikin came close to Panasonic's ad spends, but in April, Daikin extended its promotions to a large extent and maximized its ad spends, leaving Panasonic in second place. Both Daikin and Panasonic had almost equivalent space acquisition, having bought 1,33,451 square feet of space and 1,30,471 square feet of space respectively.

Thomas Cook vs Cox and Kings

In the tourism category, the monitoring agency observed Thomas Cook and Cox and Kings bringing out their best in the outdoor category. Tourism promotion really takes off before the summer vacation that begins in April. Popular tour operators Thomas Cook and Cox & Kings who have been in the market for a very long time, left no stones unturned in promoting their brands through the OOH medium.

In January and February Cox & Kings was ahead of Thomas Cook in terms of advertising spends and space acquisition, but in March and April, Cox & Kings was not much competition for Thomas Cook. Thomas Cook really stretched its legs in advertising spends and space acquisition.

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