Performance Analytics in OOH - I

The What of It

Prologue

Hashbrown Systems is arguably (because they always argue), the only company that successfully delivers on Performance Analytics when it comes to Out-of-Home Advertising and subsequent marketing campaigns.

In an effort to make it as transparent as we could to our clients, future customers, stake holders and brands that rely on our numbers and methodology, we shall, in a series of articles, demonstrate, the science behind it.

But first, why do this? Many years ago the explorer George Mallory, who was to die on Mount Everest, was asked why did he want to climb it. He said, "Because it is there." We choose to do Performance Analytics for Outdoor Advertising because that goal will serve to measure the results of all the energy, manpower, and resources spent on an outdoor campaign.

Outdoor Advertisement, which has been the oldest form of advertisement in the history of humanity and has survived the onslaught of newspaper, print, radio, television and if the hearts and minds at Hashbrown Systems continue with their stellar work, OOH will outlast and outperform digital advertisement as well.

Concerning OOH bits

We shall not be discussing about why OOH works. We shall also not bother ourselves with the various impact studies of OOH and the share of advertising revenue that is allocated to outdoor advertisements. We shall not delve into elaborating why OOH is necessary for branding and evaluating the reasons why Google, Facebook and Microsoft rely on out of home advertisement and marketing to build their brands and create their image among the folks out there in real world. 

Hashbrown Systems has been on a long OOH journey that began with internal audit and monitoring for an outdoor agency and gradually progressed into planning, execution and performance. We write and ship some of the most advanced and intelligent Applications that manage all aspects of an outdoor media campaign.

There is one problem, however, the solution to which has been so elusive, that a lot of good minds had decided to apply their mental acuity elsewhere, and we don’t blame them either. When you attempt to measure what hitherto has been casually attributed to emotions or vague understanding of the geography, it could be one of the most thankless jobs in the world. Unsurprisingly, most of that has served the providers well and the importance of Outdoor Media being what it is, there is no other way about it but to follow the beaten road.

At Hashbrown, We Walk A Different Path

Hashbrown Systems is a company of numbers, metrics and measurement. Everything we do is about improving, increasing or enhancing performance. We are the seekers of truth, so we work with numbers and we know numbers do not lie. Our team of mathematicians and statisticians, guide and goad us into following a fundamental approach to solving problems – be it that of institutional sales, financial markets, or in this case, OOH Advertising.

Before we take you to a journey of numbers, metrices and gravity models, we must identify what is it that we are attempting to measure. And most importantly, see whether it is necessary and vital to the needs of the industry or not. That is the higher truth we seek. The question is if this is a problem that needs solving or the problem is so ingrained that it has become systemic and the powers that be have decided that the problem is no longer a problem and that actually makes it one less problem to solve.

First Impression, Last impression, Hundreds of Thousands of Impressions

As we continue our discussion, we would share with our dear readers the science, the methods and the reasonings that provided a sense of direction to our approach that was akin to a meandering river across a floodplain. We had the flow and a sense of purpose, and the direction came from some very generous industry stalwarts.

...Before We End

Sometime in the summer of 2017, we identified a few locations in Delhi and began analyzing the traffic patterns, surroundings, and all that is pertinent to an Outdoor Media campaign, thereby unearthing some of the answers that Brand Managers seek but never get. We followed a very practical approach where we recorded traffic during different hours of the day and analytically compared findings from other locations.

In the next off discourse, we will look into that study and we shall share with our readers the experience we had with various stakeholders of the industry, from outdoor media owners, OOH advertising agencies, a brand, one of the big four accounting firms and their auditors.