Thursday, Feb 09, 2012

Gulf News

Dubai They are less expensive to put up and have a surefire chance of immediately catching the eyes — and wallets — of their intended audience. And at this year’s DSF they seemed to be around more than ever before.

Welcome then to the crowded world of in-store and in-mall banners and cutouts. For retailers looking to derive savings wherever they can, they are the advertising medium in perfect sync with these straitened times.

“Given that the DSF (Dubai Shopping Festival) phase is all about promotions and the local malls are the focal point of most of them, it makes perfect sense to go all out with in-store promotions for what is effectively a captive audience,” Mohan Nambiar, regional managing director at Mediaedge:cia, the media buying agency, said.

“In-store promotions have always been there, but it’s only this year that we have seen a lot more emphasis being placed on this format and at the possible expense of other ad vehicles.”

Reasons for shift

There are two elements working in favour of the shift — one is that local residents will invariably make it to malls and other prime retail destinations. The second applies to tourists who will shop around for the best deals in town.

For a retail powerhouse such as the Lulu hypermarket and supermarket chain, in-house promotions mean it becomes easier to convey and change their messages on a daily basis. For instance, the special offers could apply to certain product categories on one day and change to another set on the next.

“It allows for a focused promotional approach and allows us to measure the impact of a particular promotion at the end of the business day itself,” V. Nandakumar, head of corporate communications at Emke Group, which owns the Lulu network, said. “More importantly for a supermarket operator, it gives consumer feedback on what works and what does not. That’s invaluable for any marketing medium.”

While banners may have captured much of the attention in the month gone by, the other leading media platforms did manage to hold their own, according to industry feedback.

“On the media mix, it is pertinent to note that advertisers are always on the lookout for maximum returns from their budget,” Fadi Sibai, vice-president for planning at BPG Maxus, said. “The media priority and choice differs from client to client — for some, digital may be a new media to tap into, while for another which may be into digital media in a big way, radio or outdoor could be a new opportunity to look for.

“This is a relative aspect that we encounter in the evolving media environment, where advertisers keep eyeing unexplored media to get value for their budgets. From our perspective, we are seeing clients tapping into various media and the overall trends are quite steady.”

According to media buyers, going steady was the name of the game during the DSF ad run. As has been the pattern from previous campaigns, advertisers preferred to load their tactical campaigns at the back end of the event. “We see a lot of tactical campaigns during DSF and decisions on media buying are not done in advance,” Sibai said.

“We definitely saw a growth in bookings towards the end to cash in on last-minute shoppers.”

Whatever be the final tally, DSF 2012 helped dispel industry worries about a slow start to the year brought on by the advertisers’ reluctance to spend. While there weren’t any substantial increases in spending, there was just about enough to keep the advertisers, agencies and the media interested.

From that perspective, DSF 2012 did its bit and then some.

ARSHAD ALI/Gulf News

Promotions aplenty to woo customers

Retailers opted for tactical campaigns during the last phase of the Dubai Shopping Festival to cash in on last-minute shoppers. This has been the pattern of advertisers during previous campaigns too.

rates remain constant

clients bargain hard

Media rate cards have not had any significant spikes this year, and that would come as some relief for beleaguered marketers.

“So far it has been stable; with regard to satellite TV the rates, of course, depend on the media deliveries of each channel,” Mahesh Sundaresan, chief operating officer at Ikon Advertising, said. “Clients are bargaining hard and getting the deals.”

That could well be a constant theme for the full year. “While the media is trying to increase the tariffs, clients are reluctant to do so,” Fadi Sibai of BPG Maxus said.

“As we see it, clients are not likely to accept any increase in tariffs in the short term. Broadly speaking, as far as clients get value for their money, they will go with a particular media.

“It’s not what it costs, but what it returns that matters.”

— M.N.

By Manoj Nair?Associate Editor

Gulf News 2012. All rights reserved.