Hype Integracomm is one of the growing OOH (out of home) media companies in India, owning media assets in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune. Hype owns all the media assets that it markets and follows the BOT (build-operate-transfer) model in conjunction with the local governing bodies.
After successfully launching the Smile TV network in western route of local trains in Mumbai,Hype has inked another deal with Railways in the same route to put up designer grab handles in Mumbai’s trains!!!
I get the whole logic, that Mumbai local trains are one of the best consumer touch points, an ideal way to reach the masses with communication messages, after all Railways is the lifeline of this city. About 7.77 million passengers travel daily by train and each train carries about 75,000 passengers daily. The journey time generally varies between 20-100 minutes. Good enough time for advertisers to make their point.
However, my point is, trains in Mumbai are straight out of "Ripleys Believe It Or Not". The sheer numbers are mind-numbing. It wont be a hyperbole if it is stated that life long train journey is a death defying accomplishment! It is just too crowded!Period. I mean in all the chaos & struggle, adding branded grab handles...will it serve the purpose? People who board the trains are for a brief period paralysed and become in almost semi-liqiud state (sweat+ability to take desired shape depending upon how much space one gets!)
Hype's Winning Idea
Grab handles is the medium that is closest to the eyeballs and offers a very high brand recall value!!! Yeah Right!!! It is also closest to ones head, maybe a good hit would make some sense prevail! What about the brand fit? And the least said about the ambience the better!
Apart from this the grab handles bear stark contrast to the rest of the interiors of the train which seem grossly untidy. In terms of look and feel, they are far away from the Metro trains or regular trains which are present in Developed countries.
Another point of contention is that off late trains have been used excessesively for brading activity. Right from external brand wraps to internal posters...branded products and services providers to not-so-known players...everyone has been there and done it! And of course Railway stations are an exmaple of too much in too little space.
Contract
Hype has won a five year contract to put up these handles in the trains run on the western route (WR). While exploring a very innovative advertising medium, this will also bring in hefty revenues for the railways.Each compartment of the trains will have about 125 handles, which is 40 handles more than the current number of metal and wood handles. About 67 trains of WR will have these handles installed over the next couple of months. Hype is investing nearly Rs 10 crore for the entire project.
Hype has also won contracts to install similar handles in trains of central route (CST to Kalyan), BEST buses and has installed these in the local buses in Bengaluru.
Cheaper option
Ad space of each of these designer handles is 7x 3.5 inches on both sides. Advertising on these handles, say for a month for a whole train, could cost an advertiser anywhere between Rs 1.5-2 lakh.The handles have a smart design and give a cheerful, vibrant look to the compartment when they display uniform images of the advertisement on top of these grooves.
Bottomline
Commuters have welcomed these sleek, comfortable handles in the place of the hard iron handles. Response from advertisers has also been good. However, a true win-win situation will emerge only and only if the revenues generated out of these activities are channelised in making railway commuting hygienic,safer and and a pleasurable affair. After all this principle should be a central one for an accountable BOP Model.
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