MAM
Milestone Brandcom introduces measurement matrix for outdoor
MUMBAI: While marketers are still looking out for a measurement mechanism to understand RoI for the out of home segment, Milestone Brandcom has gone ahead to create one. The outdoor agency has come up with an audience measurement eco-system called ‘Milestone Optimizer’ that will make planning, buying and evolution processes transparent.
The agency has invested over Rs 5 crore in developing this apparatus and has covered top 10 cities in India which they believe accounts for 75 per cent of outdoor advertising spends. The cities include Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Pune, Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Ludhiana. The agency will cover additional 25 cities in the next 18-20 months. The system has registered 25000 site details of these 10 cities. The tool right now will be used by the agency for its own clients. In the long run, the agency is looking at gaining confidence of the industry to make ‘Optimizer’ as a standard mechanism.
“We wanted to move away from site level discussions,” says Milestone Brandcom MD and founder Nabendu Bhattacharya. The Optimizer introduces a new measurement matrix Gross Impression Points (GIP) which will help measure the reach and frequency of an outdoor campaign. Bhattacharya believes that the outdoor business is expected to grow to 12 per cent this year and he thinks this will happen because of the stability of new government in power and positive economic growth that is expected in the coming months.
“In the world of hyper local targeting it has become difficult to customise campaigns at the micro level especially in outdoor. With Optimizer we are sure to develop outdoor campaigns even with very specific briefs,” adds Bhattacharya.
Milestone Optimizer was developed with the support of industry veterans, media owners, marketing and brand managers across categories and brands. IRS iLAP (Hansa Research); TGI (IMRB Research), Traffic Study (Gfk Mode); Technology Partner (Unikov Technologies) are a few credible databases used in developing a robust scientific planning OOH tool.
Through GIP, outdoor campaigns can also be compared with the more conventional forms of advertising such as print, TV and radio. It will also allow brands to evaluate category benchmarking and market threshold level of activity giving a whole new dimension to media planning. The agency will soon focus on developing digital out of home campaigns.
Brands
Hemlata Sharma joins ONEOTT Broadband as chief business officer
Former Zee Media distribution head to steer growth, partnerships and strategy
MUMBAI: Hemlata Sharma has joined ONEOTT Broadband as chief business officer, bringing with her more than three decades of experience across television, telecom and media distribution.
Sharma most recently served as head distribution, research & CRM at Zee Media Corporation Limited, where she worked closely with editorial and senior management while overseeing distribution, consumer research and customer relationships for 14 news channels including Zee News, WION, Zee Hindustan and Zee Business, along with ten regional state channels.
In that role, she led nationwide distribution across platforms such as DTH, Hits, IPTV, cable networks and DD Free Dish. She also drove consumer research and strategic insights on a pan India scale, analysing content performance, anchor impact, programme slots and audience behaviour to guide editorial decisions and programming strategy.
Her portfolio also included managing one of the largest alliances with Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited and overseeing the global distribution monitoring of Wion across North America, Mena, Europe, Africa, APAC and Australia.
Earlier, Sharma briefly served as head sales and distribution at Triplecom Media Pvt Ltd, an engagement driven OTT platform bringing together content, gaming, music and advertising for the entertainment distribution ecosystem.
Her earlier career includes a senior vice president stint at Ten Sports Network, where she played a key role in relaunching the sports broadcaster as an independent bouquet comprising Ten Sports, Ten Cricket, Ten Action and Ten Golf following the Zee takeover. During this period, she moved from vp west to head strategy for cable and dth and later national head retail distribution, helping build the network’s retail distribution vertical across India and launching dedicated golf and football channels.
Before that, Sharma spent over six years at Bharti Airtel as general manager operations for Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. She initially led marketing and corporate communications before moving into sales leadership, where voice sales grew by 86 per cent and revenues by 96 per cent. She later headed business operations, expanding annual business volumes to Rs 100 crore while significantly reducing operational costs.
Sharma began her long association with the media distribution ecosystem at Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited as regional head sales and distribution for central India. During that period, she played a role in the early rollout of pay television channels including Zee Cinema, HBO, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network, while also contributing to the launch of Siti Cable in key central Indian cities.
With her new role at ONEOTT Broadband, Sharma is expected to focus on strengthening business strategy, expanding partnerships and driving growth across the company’s broadband and digital distribution ecosystem.
