Outdoor ASIA - July 2018

August 2018^107

W

hile there is no dearth of outdoor advertising

avenues in the third largest Metro market in the

country, Bangalore’s Namma Metro has been subtle

in generating advertising and branding opportunities.

Bangalore Metro is the second longest operational

network after DMRC but it offers only civil structures as

advertising space.

The Namma Metro project has an East-West corridor,

which is 18.10 km long. It starts from Baiyappanahalli

in the East and terminates at Mysore Road terminal in

the West. The 24.20-km North-South corridor starts at

Nagasandra in the North and terminates at Puttenahalli

in the South. The average ridership ranges between 3.6

lakh and 3.7 lakh daily.

Vijaya OOH Media and Bullseye Media handle the pillar

media format of Namma Metro and find this media

absolutely appropriate for a busy city like Bangalore.

“This segment is one of the longest and most important

routes on the Green Line, allowing a full campaign

for west and north-west Bengaluru as the train route

passes through the busiest arterial roads. Thus, the

number of people viewing these metro backlit panels

and gantries is huge,” says Pradeep Kumar, Chairman

& MD of Vijaya OOH Media, which handles sole right

for Reach 3 & 3A. Currently, brands like VIVO, Amazon

Prime, Myntra and Malabar Jewellers are tapping this

format to create awareness about their products and

brand promotions.

Unlike hoardings, the Metro pillar branding offers backlit

boxes and front lit gantries as effective advertising tools

Namma Metro, Bengaluru

in terms of ROI. “However,

certain brands do believe

in ‘living life king size’

and would prefer larger

formats. But some brands

like retail, fashion, etc.,

have a lot of faith in these

formats”, adds Pradeep.

Shajahan, Director Sales

& Partnerships, Bullseye

Media, points out that

higher footfall adds to

more viewership and is

“very well placed to catch

the attention of Bengaluru

traffic”. “Rather than going

for billboards and television advertising, pillar advertising

would be eye-catching for any individual who passes the

way with radius reaching each pillar of 20 meters.”

Also, recently, officials permitted advertising on escalator

handrails which garnered good response and is expected

to be replicated in other stations (executed by ad-roller).

Currently, Namma Metro is earning approximately Rs 20

crore per annum as non-fare revenue from advertising,

out of which, Rs 12 crore comes from pillar branding as

per Namma Metro report. The supports (a permanent

exhibition that promotes a brand or a product) at Metro

stations are now becoming popular and there is a high

demand for them. Witnessing good revenue coming from

the advertisement sector, Namma Metro is exploring more

options of advertising such as announcements and station

branding which will be tendered in the coming time.l

TRANSIT MEDIA