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Boby Kurian

BANGALORE, Dec. 20

RELIANCE Infocomm's foray into the basic telephony services, including limited mobility, will unleash a high voltage outdoor campaign that will wrap urban India in an unprecedented way. Not surprisingly, it is touted as the biggest in Indian outdoor advertising.

Even as most details of the campaign burst remain secret, advertising industry sources said that Reliance would takeover roughly four million sq ft area of outdoor hoarding space across Indian cities to support the launch of its phone services. The outdoor advertising, comprising billboards, signages, public utilities and building wraps, is expected to hit the market just 48 hours before the inaugural date - December 28.

The outdoors may be a major launch vehicle for Reliance's telephone services across 18 circles in the country. "It will be the biggest outdoor burst for any launch we have seen till date," sources in Primesite, the outdoor agency strategising and managing the blitz, said. These sources added that Reliance has placed orders with ten digital printers, who have the Vutek machines, which can speedily print the required ad output.

Interestingly, Reliance's bid to rely heavily on outdoor media is seen as an emerging trend by advertising industry observers. It is estimated that almost 60 per cent of the telecom industry's ad spend is now skewed towards outdoors. In recent months, Hutch and Tata Indicom have relied extensively on outdoors, while the hardware players such as Nokia and Samsung are also revving up this medium.

"Outdoors are considered as an effective medium to launch a service brand with aplomb. With painting giving way to digital printing, hoardings have become launch vehicles, unveiling new brands across a city or few cities overnight. Further, outdoors combine well with print advertisements to provide an excellent launch pad," ad industry sources said. For instance, Hutch, which spread out on an outdoor campaign extensively in Bangalore, has reported close to 100 per cent brand awareness in the initial months.

It is not clear how many cities Reliance will target in the first burst. "Its phone services may reach 600 cities and towns. If it spreads outdoor advertisement across all these centres, four million sq ft is required for an effective launch. But it is unlikely that it will cover all cities and towns in the initial phase," sources said. This is crucial as opinion remains divided on whether an outdoor campaign involving huge expenses is the best step forward for a national launch as big as what Reliance is promising.

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