MAM
Shubhra Kakkar named MD of Media Marketing Compliance
Mumbai: Media Marketing Compliance (MMC), the independent marketing compliance consultancy, has appointed Shubhra Kakkar as managing director. She will be launching the company’s office in India, based here.
Kakkar has over 18 years of experience in marketing audit advisory and integrated marketing communications. She has an in-depth understanding of agency advertiser dynamics, contractual challenges and marketing procurement across India and South Asian markets.
In her previous role as FirmDecisions VP of marcomms, she led media and creative agency audit & advisory projects. Before working in auditing, she held roles at Edelman India and The PRactice – Porter Novelli, advising Hewlett Packard, LinkedIn, and Tata Consultancy Services.
Commenting on the appointment, MMC CEO Stephen Broderick said, “We continue to receive demand from global clients to include India in its audit programs. It has increasingly become a key market, boasting year on year growth in marketing spend for some time, but it is one with complex practices and a need for greater transparency.”
“Shubhra and I have worked together previously, and I am delighted she is joining us to launch a permanent office in India. It will help us sustain existing client relationships in that market, build new ones, and work closely with organisations such as the Indian Society of Advertisers,” he added.
Talking about her new role, Kakkar said, “Earlier this year, both Dentsu and Magna predicted that ad spend in India is set to grow faster than any other global region in 2021/22. It is a crucial time for our clients to ensure that this investment is properly managed, and we want to become known for bringing transparency to a fascinating, rapidly developing market. I am pleased to be joining MMC and its growing global team.”
MAM
GUEST COLUMN: How data and adtech are driving OOH growth in India
Data and technology are reshaping OOH and boosting advertiser confidence.
MUMBAI: Out-of-Home (OOH) advertising is evolving from a traditional, location-driven medium into a data-informed channel that blends physical presence with digital intelligence. For Nipun Arora, co-founder of Osmo, this transformation is redefining how advertisers plan, execute, and measure campaigns in India. In this piece, Arora explores how traffic, mobility, and AI-powered data are enhancing site and audience insights, why DOOH is accelerating precision planning, and how authenticity, creativity, and repeat exposure are driving renewed advertiser confidence in OOH.
For years, Out-of-Home (OOH) advertising operated with minimal reliance on data. Site selection was largely driven by visibility, location, and a planner’s understanding of traffic patterns.
That is now changing rapidly.
The first shift came with traffic data, offering basic estimates of vehicular movement. This evolved into mobility data powered by GPS signals, enabling deeper insights into audience movement and behavior. Point-of-interest data further refined this by helping advertisers understand who is likely to be present around a location.
Today, artificial intelligence and computer vision are unlocking an entirely new layer of site and audience intelligence. Together, these data streams are transforming OOH from a real estate-led medium into a data-backed one.
The rise of Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) is accelerating this shift. Campaigns can now be planned, scheduled, and optimized with increasing precision bringing OOH closer to an adtech model. That said, as a physical medium, OOH still operates within real-world constraints, making this transition gradual rather than absolute.
At the same time, advertisers are returning to OOH with renewed interest.
One of the biggest drivers is authenticity. Unlike digital platforms, OOH offers real-world visibility free from bots, fraudulent impressions, or ad blockers. What you see is what exists.
There’s also growing digital fatigue. Consumers are overwhelmed by constant online advertising, often choosing to skip or ignore it. OOH, by contrast, engages audiences naturally within their environment, without interruption.
Mobility further strengthens its impact. As people move through cities daily, OOH benefits from repeated exposure building recall over time in a way few channels can match.
Add to this the power of creativity. Large formats and contextual executions don’t just capture attention, they often extend beyond the physical space, finding life on social media.
Finally, the increasing availability of data at the planning stage is boosting advertiser confidence. Better insights mean better decisions and more accountability.
As cities grow and movement increases, OOH is uniquely positioned at the intersection of physical presence and data intelligence. Its evolution from billboards to big data isn’t just a technological shift, it’s a redefinition of the medium itself.
Note: The views expressed in this article are solely the author’s and do not necessarily reflect our own.
