Kitsch is out and razzmatazz is in. In an aesthetic makeover, the City's garish hoardings are set to make way to futuristic display boards. The Bruhat Bengalooru Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP) seven 10x12 feet coloured Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) screens will soon replace the otherwise ugly hoardings in the City.
But why the LCDs? For one, these electronic display boards are a powerful tool in drawing the eye of the target audience. They can be switched on during hours that matter. Moreover, they can purvey more than one message. Thus, the same space can be used to peddle more advertisements, which obviously will bring extra money to the BBMP kitty.
Normally, these display boards run between 9 am and 11 pm. The total display time is 50,400 seconds per day. Each giant screen can accommodate close to 12 clients every month. Each advertiser gets a 10-second slot. It will cost each advertiser approximately Rs 50,000 a month.
Locations
Besides Anil Kumble Circle, the LCD screens would be erected at Brigade Road-Mahatma Gandhi Road intersection, Brigade Road-Richmond Road intersection, Koramangala, Sankey Road intersection, Minerva Circle and at the entrance of Commercial Street.
The BBMP hopes its revenues from hoardings will go up by 10 to 15 per cent with these LCD boards. It would stand to gain a good Rs 100 crore by the end of this financial year.
The screens would be put up only at places where the traffic would stop and then move. "It would not be erected at places where traffic is straight and smooth because that will distract and disturb the road user," said Dr S Subramanya, Commissioner BBMP to Metrolife.
According to the BBMP, once these LCD boards are erected across the City, the problem of illegal and unauthorised hoardings would be resolved. "Every authorised hoarding must carry a licence number of the BBMP. We found this number missing in a lot of hoardings in the City. We found that shop floor advertisement would spring up overnight and flexi-posters would be added on everyday. We thought LCD boards would curb this menace," informed Subramanya.
Good revenue
The BBMP earned Rs 6.7 crore from the 3,500 hoardings in the City. With this new form of advertising, the BBMP will earn not less than Rs 26.19 crore every year. Each LCD advertisement hoarding will cost around Rs 1.5 crore. The advertiser can choose a particular time slot for his advertisements.
The LED screen at the Anil Kumble Circle has been erected by Jagran Engage. Shalini Poojary, senior manager, client servicing, Jagran Engage thinks that a hoarding war of sorts has begun. "LEDs and LCDs are the visible media and they fall under the category of out-of-home advertising. At traffic junctions, they will force a lot of attention and that's exactly what an advertiser looks for," said Shalini.
However, road users and general public detest the sight of any hoarding. They think it interferes with driving and excites unnecessary passions. “Hoardings make the City ugly. Instead of bringing in LCD hoardings, the authorities should see to it that there are no new hoardings coming up," thinks C M Abraham, a principal consultant at a PR firm in the City.
Supporting his view is Roopa Rao, an environmentalist, who thinks that the race for better presentation of goods and services on the roadside is at the cost of the citizens' peace of mind and social safety. Whatever the mode of display, a large billboard blocks the view of natural scenery and can be claustrophobic.
But Kabeer Noorudeen, a network consultant engineer with Cisco is excited about the whole concept of LCD screens hitting the City's roads. "What matters is the quality of the LCD used. These new hoardings will give the flexibility of changing the advertisements in a minimum time and even the administrators could think of using different advertisements at different times of the day,’’ said Kabeer.
