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Tag: Fabian Cowan

  • Posterscope India announces key elevations and leadership changes

    Posterscope India announces key elevations and leadership changes

    NEW DELHI: Posterscope India, location-based marketing specialist from the house of Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN), has announced the elevation of Deepak Kumar to the role of director, while Fabian Cowan dons the new enhanced role of country head, effective immediately. They will continue to report to Haresh Nayak, president, Posterscope APAC & COO DAN Media Brands.

    Under the fresh mandate, Kumar will continue to lead Ambient, ROOH, C Lab. Additionally, he will also take charge of Brandscope, the hyperlocal out of home specialist under DAN. Kumar joined Posterscope Group as vice president in 2013. Prior to that, Kumar was with Times of India.

    In the new expanded role, Cowan will be responsible for scaling up Posterscope’s business, nationwide and drive growth for the budding entities – Eunoia and Indeed Smart City. He joined Posterscope India in 2011, and today boasts of an advertising career straddling over 26 years. 

    “The agency’s endeavour is to build on the organisation’s strength and continue to drive data-led technology and creatively fuelled solutions for clients. Over the years, Deepak and Fabian have significantly contributed towards this vision. They have played a pivotal role in introducing new services and even accelerating the growth. Their valuable experience across the space and the proven track record of success has earned them additional responsibility. I believe, in the new role, Deepak and Fabian will take our business to greater heights,” said Nayak.

    Kumar said, “I am truly honoured by the appointment and the confidence placed in me by the leadership team. In the new role, I will strive to strengthen our brands, build powerful client-agency relationships, and bring value to the industry. I have always believed that a leader’s true strength is revealed in challenging times. The Corona phase is the testing time and I have geared up to make a breakthrough.”

    Cowan said, “Follow your curiosity, wherever you can find it – This quote from Anna Holmes has kept me excited about the things I do every day. From out of home, and ambient in my earlier stint when I started at Posterscope to leading creative, smart city and government initiatives now the challenges have never ceased and the curiosity to explore has only kept manifesting itself. This is an opportunity I am looking forward to and I know that I have a team and a belief system that will make this a very exciting phase professionally”

  • Covid2019 communication: Is it time to change OOH messaging?

    Covid2019 communication: Is it time to change OOH messaging?

    NEW DELHI: It has been close to three months since the announcement of a nationwide lockdown in the wake of Covid2019 and even longer since the governments across states have been trying to promote the necessary social distancing and other precautionary measures via advertising. While there has been constant innovation in digital and TV commercials, with the constant addition of newer faces and updating of messaging with changing scenarios, OOH hoardings are still covered in the initial set of messaging. Case in point, the following hoardings spread across Mumbai, which have been a constant for months now!

    Posterscope India director Fabian Cowan believes that for communication to be effective it needs to be refreshed with time, based on the current environmental cues and prevalent truths. Therefore, a refreshed set of creatives and communication is most certainly required to be promoted by the civic bodies.

    “The elements and tone need to be in line with the current stage of the pandemic. If staying at home was the single-minded focus at the start of the pandemic, maintaining the right kind of social distancing could be the line of thought in the current context as restriction begins to ease.”

    Laqshya Media group CEO Atul Shrivastava adds, “The Covid2019 communications had utilised the OOH space for over two months. However, awareness is still needed especially in the larger cities where the curve is still climbing. Therefore, a few strategic locations with high visibility should be chosen for specific Covid2019 communications. As people start going back to offices across the country and supply chains open up, there needs to be a healthy balance between public service and commercial activity.”

    Kinetic India co-CEO Charanjeet Arora feels while it is important to refresh the messaging, it is totally the government’s call to do it or not. “Honesty, it is a pandemic and the government understands the magnitude of it. In their long list of priorities, I think saving lives is on top right now.”

    He continues, “If I talk about just Delhi and Mumbai, they are much evolved markets and internet penetration is quite high. People are aware but there is a constant need for communication because the memories in our country are constantly shuttling. It is important to have this (Covid-centric) communication but there is a need to work on the frequency as we have to build the sentiments of businesses back. For example, in Delhi, at least 30 per cent of all OOH billboards should have this communication but the areas should be chosen based on the need.”
    So, should the brands be taking the onus of acquiring OOH space and share Covid-related messaging?

    Arora doesn’t think it will be wiser for brands to constantly keep talking about the pandemic in their messaging. “Brands need to be subtle and empathetic in their communication, surely. It shouldn’t look like a high-decibel sales pitch. But they should be talking about their own brand experience and usage.”

    If Cowan as to be believed, brands too are looking forward to incorporating the same style of out-of-home messaging going ahead. He says, “Currently there are encouraging signs with regards to the increased number of enquiries and considerations being made on possible open markets, especially with respect to green zones. We see this as a positive development. While these discussions currently are in the realm of media possibilities and its deployment our sense is that the communication will largely be centred around sales and benefits of ownership of such products given the current context.”

    Shrivastava says that most brands are trying to strike a balance between awareness and sales pitch and the pure commercial advertising will take a few more weeks to come back. “They are keeping marketing communications sensitive, meaningful, relevant and optimistic. Many companies have launched new initiatives to give them an edge in the age of the New Normal. The brands are communicating these initiatives more to portray to the consumers that they care for their employees and their consumers.”

  • Posterscope India director Fabian Cowan urges to follow COVID-19 lockdown

    Posterscope India director Fabian Cowan urges to follow COVID-19 lockdown

    MUMBAI: COVID-19 has forced the population to stay indoors, and industries are moving their functions online. In this unprecedented situation,  citizens are counting on the essential service workers who are risking their health to keep the society running smoothly. Some of them have been working silently without us realising how important they are. Posterscope India director Fabian Cowan expresses his gratitude to healthcare providers and other essential services personnel for their support during the pandemic.

  • Posterscope predicts disruptive growth for OOH in 2019

    Posterscope predicts disruptive growth for OOH in 2019

    In unison with the seismic changes that the industry is witnessing across the media, marketing and communications community, out-of-home is also transforming at pace and is presenting many new and exciting opportunities. Consequently, 2019 is expected to be another important and exciting year for OOH in India. The expected growth rate stands to be anywhere between 12-15%.

    Posterscope India, one of world’s leading location-based marketing specialist – from the house of Dentsu Aegis Network, expects disruptive growth this year which is full of events that have historically boosted advertising. These include the upcoming General Elections, the Cricket World Cup, and of course, the Indian Premier league among other marquee events.

    Digital out-of-home (DOOH) inventory will continue to increase and reach the levels of respectability it deserves while its share of revenue will see a significant rise. New categories of advertisers will come to the fore and dislodge some traditionally strong advertising categories. Meanwhile, newer infrastructure will provide varied and interesting advertising options.

    Below are some of the key developments that Posterscope believes will continue to drive OOH’s rapid evolution:

    DATA DRIVEN OOH

    Campaigns will be driven using data that go beyond demographics to online behaviour, card transactions, app usage and location analytics to decide where the OOH ads should appear.

    ROI-LED OOH

    ROI will be the driving force in the next 12 months. Posterscope India expects to see boundaries in OOH being pushed through digitisation, automation, scientific planning tools, machine learning and cross-media collaborations to drive and achieve returns that are in line with other media offerings.

    GROWING DIGITAL OOH

    With DOOH inventory increasing, advertisers can now unlock at scale the flexible capabilities of DOOH by running creative bespoke to key triggers such as time, audience and weather. Posterscope’s ROOH digital OOH exchange is pioneering efforts in this space.

    CLUTTERED EVENT CALENDER 2019

    The year being a particularly busy one in terms of large ticket events from sports, entertainment and even elections, we believe there will be a surge of investments from a varied base of advertisers.

    LOCATION INTELLIGENCE

    As locations-based marketing specialists, Posterscope India believes in its ability to act as a common thread to tie multiple data sets together to create a clear OOH story about what’s changing the way out-of-home is being offered.

    SMART CITIES

    A new area of urban development is upon most major cities globally, and in India, this is coined under the ever-ambiguous term and scope of ‘Smart Cities’. The way in which technology will redefine everyday tasks, transport and logistic services is now becoming a reality. Via partnerships with leading smart city development organisations, The Digit Group and DG Cities, Posterscope India is creating opportunities and encouraging brands to lean in, learn and redefine how this investment can last a lifetime.

    DISRUPTIVE OOH

    Consumers are now always connected with more than 90% of OOH consumers using their phone whilst OOH in each week. In addition, we spend over two hours every day on social and messaging platforms sharing the things we stumble across and catch our eye in the OOH space. Now more than ever, disruptive innovations can deliver attention and engagement far beyond where it stands in the real-world through digital sharing.

    Says Fabian Cowan, Director, Posterscope India, “In a fast paced ever changing out-of-home ecosystem, having informed intelligence of what are going to be the drivers of change is critical to our offerings and client associations. We firmly believe that we have the leading technology platform, the best planning tools, the strongest data and analytics capabilities, the most advanced automation programme, the broadest and most diversified view of the out-of-home channel and, most importantly, the best people to manifest and deliver the best ooh solutions.”

    Haresh Nayak, Group MD, Posterscope – South Asia adds, “As industry leaders we are driving change across the medium. Our predictions are not only based on year-long research and a close watch on trends but also based on our understanding of how cities and consumers transform with advancements in technology, access to data, infrastructural developments and evolved travel patterns. 2019 is poised to be a very exciting year for OOH and our predictions depict that amply.” 

  • Brandscope India launches new communication for Embassy Group

    Brandscope India launches new communication for Embassy Group

    MUMBAI: Brandscope India – the outdoor arm of the Posterscope Group again hits another nail of innovation in the outdoor space in Bangalore for the launch of Embassy Group’s luxury property – Embassy Pristine, Bangalore one of the leading property developers of India. The objective of the campaign is to introduce the new property in an impactful and unique manner stating its USPs for a sustainable lifestyle.

     
    Given the stated objective the Embassy’s creative agency Oysters Advertising devised this innovation to create a visual impact through a 3D effect of the elements highlighting the features of the property on the billboard. Brandscope then implemented this effectively. Four such innovations underlining 24 x 7 water supply by putting live buckets, solar energy by putting solar panels, rain water harvesting by sintex tanks, pollution free transportation by cycling  to work  elevated the connect with the target group.  
     

    Speaking about the campaign, Reeza Sebastian, Head – Residential Marketing, Embassy Group, said, “OOH has been a large part of our media mix and we have found the traditional Outdoor medium to be far more effective in communicating our message around residential projects. We wanted to particularly highlight the sustainability initiatives at our lake front project, Embassy Pristine in Bangalore and keeping this in mind, our agency Oysters Advertising has conceived a very innovative and clutter breaking campaign that has resonated well with new customers”.

     
    Explaining the concept behind the campaign, Arun Kumar, Creative Director, Oysters Advertising, said,” “The idea  was to start a conversation and develop a social campaign that engaged our core audience While we have always endeavoured at Oysters to deliver out of the box solutions for Embassy, we sought to challenge the OOH box with the Embassy Pristine campaign. The objective of communicating the green initiatives and its real everyday benefits came to be distilled in the line “Green living gets real at Embassy Pristine” . The innovative concept developed by our team along with the strong support from Embassy Group and the flawless execution by Brandscope went a long way  in making the campaign a huge success.”

     
    Addressing the innovation, Haresh Nayak, Managing Director, Posterscope Group commented, “While we are increasingly being surrounded by new age digital opportunities, this campaign suggests that innovative campaigns can be intelligently delivered on traditional outdoor properties when combined with the right operational expertise.”

    Fabian Cowan, Vice President, Brandscope India added, “The essence of a good concept lies in its effective implementation. The client’s belief in our abilities to carry out this well thought out innovation was the key to this successful campaign and we consider it a privilege to be associated with Embassy Group.”

     
    The Embassy Pristine Outdoor Innovation Campaign was recently awarded ‘Silver’ at the 4th exchange4media OOH Advertising Awards 2014, in the category ‘Best Creative in others’.

  • Posterscope launches out-of-home offering Ambient OOH

    MUMBAI: Recognising the paradigm shift in the way the Out of Home media has changed, Posterscope India Group has launched its out-of-home offering, Ambient OOH.

    Building on the premise of the proverb, “Tell me and I might forget, show me and I might remember, but engage me and I shall understand”, Ambient OOH promises to offer brands a unique OOH offering, be it your target market in coffee shop, roads, offices or simply looking at the sky – you can reach them all using one or more ambient media options, the company said.

    Posterscope India Group MD Haresh Nayak said, “Interestingly, advertising in India today has gone through many changes in techniques and style of promotion. Gone are the days of passive communication, it‘s all about how your brand engages and interacts with its target audience. Secondly, the changing lifestyle of consumers calls the attention of advertisers to re-study the mediums of brand communication and through Posterscope OCS (Outdoor Consumer Survey) we have seen that Ambient OOH is growing much faster than traditional OOH”.

    Ambient OOH, through its proprietary tool Ambient Score maps over 20 channels of ambient environment (Malls, Multiplexes, Coffee shops, Beauty parlors etc). It further gives consumer demographics, reach and frequency numbers covering more than 25000 touch points reaching out to footfalls of more than 3 million consumers.

    Ambient OOH business head Fabian Cowan said, “As the Indian consumers evolve, and there is a far greater need to engage them across platforms and experiences. Integration and innovation across traditional and new media opportunities is the key and at Ambient OOH we are well equipped to deliver not just innovations that are out of the box but also engagement and experiences that are well within the box, that have hitherto been ignored.”

    The company has a team of 20 members and offices across Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Kolkata.

    Ambient OOH has already partnered with clients like Nissan, Tourism Australia, L&T, Bose, Samsung, MTV, ETV, Visa, Adidas, BMW, Standard Chartered, Movies Now, Ferrari, Benetton, NDTV Good Times, Skoda Auto and Reebok.

    Ambient OOH is part of Aegis Media‘s Posterscope Group in India. The Aegis Media India group comprises Posterscope the global OOH sector leader, Brandscope, Hyperspace (Retail), PSI (Airports), Carat, an independent media communications specialist, Vizeum, Carat Fresh Integrated (Experiential), Doosra (Creative), Isobar, the global communications agency with digital at its heart and IProspectCommunicate 2, a search and performance marketing company.