Mktg - India;OOH - ezone washes dirty linen in public,literally

Surina Sayal

With mobile hoardings back in action in Mumbai city, brands are cashing in on the OOH format. Recently, eZone, the electronic store which is a part of Home Solution Retail India (HSRI) of the Future Group, launched an outdoor mobile hoarding campaign to promote a new store launch.

The store worked along with Mudra, its ad agency, and Posterscope, its OOH agency, to create a 3D washing machine mounted on a mobile hoarding; actual clothes and water were swished around inside the machine with the help of a motor, making it seem like the real thing.

Haresh Nayak, general manager, Posterscope India, tells afaqs!, “Retail as a category is very different from a mass brand. Any store launch typically captures the catchment area rather than the entire city. In OOH parlance, Powai is an area in Mumbai which is ‘media dark’ – it has very few outdoor advertising options. The agency was asked to create impact which stood out, which is why such an innovative idea was conceptualised.”

The team, which included the client, came up with the idea of putting up a front loading washing machine with clothes being washed inside. A huge 8feet x 5feet 3D modular structure was created with real clothes inside seen being washed. The structure was further highlighted with a special blue light effect inside the machine after dark. The copy on the hoarding read, ‘Experience a wide range of washing machines now at Powai(in Mumbai), eZone Experience Electronics.’

The team came up with the idea of doing an innovation on a mobile billboard because it could be placed strategically as per requirement in terms of congregation points and important areas. It also worked with the idea of electronics, sticking to the core store offering.

It thought of highlighting the electronic store with high value electronics such as LCDs, but later settled upon a washing machine because it offered more options for innovation.

Nayak adds, “OOH also plays an important role because TV and print are expensive. We were asked to ensure that people were aware of the new store being launched in the area, so, as a strategy, we came up with this idea of creating impact.”

The fabrication of this creative reportedly cost the client around Rs 45,000-50,000. Two such washing machine creatives were fabricated and placed strategically in the city.

Pawan Sharda, head, marketing, HSRI, says, “The innovation has been done to promote the new store that was launched in Powai on October 19. Now, we will also be launching a store in Chennai.”

The innovation was launched in Mumbai on the same day as the store launch and will go on for 15 days. It will also be taken to other cities such as Chennai and Bengaluru.

For the record, HSRI operates Home Town, a large format home solutions store, Collection i, which sells home furniture products, and eZone, which caters to the consumer electronics segment, Electronics Bazaar and Furniture Bazaar