Walk into any of the 100 Café Coffee Day outlets across the country and chances are that you might see television commercials that are not aired anywhere else.
Welcome to the world of silent commercials, with a sales pitch that's not full-throated, but muted and substituted with high visual elements. Sure, this is not a new business model of customised ads that the coffee chain has stumbled upon. Rather it's DSN (Digital Signage Networks), an in-store media company that has put up screens in CCD outlets.
"The commercials playing inside our outlets tend to be muted so that they do not interfere with the ambience," said Simran Sabloak, general manager, marketing, CCD.
"A conventional TV commercial with a high element of voice-over and music makes little sense in a coffee shop till a logo flashes at the end of the commercial. Hence the muted theme," he added.
The digital out-of-home industry sees a strong case for customisation to suit the requirements of its nature of advertising. That is because most clients, be they restaurant chains, office complex or large retail chains do not mind digital screens in their premises as long as the volume is switched off.
Players like Laqshya Digital Media have already set-up in house creative teams to design commercials exclusively for the medium. Chetan Madaya, chief strategy officer, Laqshya Media, said, "We will soon begin creating silent ads." The company is already looking at roping in independent film makers and accrediting them to make silent commercials.
Meanwhile, ad agencies like JWT are looking at building capabilities in the digital out-of-home media space, while Draft FCB already claims to have a team in pace. This is when the segment is still in its infancy accounting for about 1 per cent of the Rs 2,000 crore outdoor advertising pie.
The Out-of-home industry is made up of billboards (outdoor hoardings) at Rs 1,000 crore, moving billboards (mounted on vans) at Rs 600 crore and airport media at Rs 400 crore. However industry estimates that the industry will move to a future potential: to be Rs 5,000 crore industry in the next three years, while the size of OOH Digital Advertising will be Rs 500 crore in the same period.
However, not everybody agrees that silent commercials are the way to go for the Digital Out-of-Home space. "We have walked away from deals where site owners insist on muted displays in their premises," says Ishan Raina, CEO, OOH Media.
He adds that the cost of producing an ad will be in the range of Rs 35-40 lakh, which is the total spend most advertisers allocate for this medium. Madaya says that his agency is working around the issue by starting with inserting blurbs in conventional TVCs to tide over the muted audio.
Laqshya has tied up with real estate companies like DLF, RMZ to have plasma screen placed at lift lobbies of corporate buildings built by these realty companies. Raina says he is in discussions with 30-40 developers and has tie-ups with DLF, Ansal, L&T and Mahindra.
