IOAA’s OOH Pinnacle Awards set to debut, to laud media owners’ contribution

The Indian Outdoor Advertising Association (IOAA) is all set to debut its OOH Pinnacle Awards, an initiative to recognize and applaud excellence across the Indian Out-of-Home (OOH) media landscape. The Pinnacle Awards ceremony will be held as part of the OOH Advertising Convention (OAC) 2024 on July 26th at Hilton Garden Inn, Embassy Manyata Business Park, Bengaluru.   

The Pinnacle Awards is essentially an endeavor to shine the spotlight on OOH media owners and acknowledge their resilience, unwavering strength and efforts towards sustaining the growth of the medium. 

Speaking about the OOH Pinnacle Awards, Pawan Bansal, Chairman of IOAA, said, “There has been a need for a very long time for a platform to recognize & applaud media owners. The Pinnacle Awards is an endeavor to fulfil this need. It’s a small start this year, but we hope to make it big from next year onwards, with several unique facets expected to be added in the coming years. For example, one of the key initiatives this year as part of the awards is to recognize the contribution of the handful of women who are part of the largely male dominated OOH industry. This is perhaps the first if its kind initiative across the globe.”

With Roshan Space Brandcom as the Presenting Sponsor, and powered by Publicis OOH, OOH Pinnacle Awards essentially aims to inspire the pursuit of excellence in every facet of the out-of-home advertising business.

Sharing his thought on the sponsor support and partnership,Pawan added, “We are grateful to Roshan Space Brandcom for stepping up to present the OOH Pinnacle Awards as Presenting Sponsor and Publicis OOH, for Powering it and hosting the evening after party, celebrating our media owners. Also let me take this opportunity to thank our other partners, Prakash Arts, Srishti, Atenti & Origins for partnering us in bringing this idea alive.”

Commenting on the association with IOAA Pinnacle Awards 2024 as the Presenting Sponsor, Junaid Shaikh, Founder & MD, Roshanspace Brandcom, said, "OOH Pinnacle Awards presented by IOAA debuts this year to celebrate and acknowledge extraordinary efforts of this industry. As a legacy OOH-DOOH media company we have ascertained growth against all odds. These awards are much in line with our thinking, heralding the best works of the Indian OOH industry. We appreciate the effort to bring the industry and fraternity together on a common platform of quality, creativity and credibility.”

Echoing this thought, Sejal Shah, Managing Director, Publicis OOH at Publicis Group, said, “It is time specialist OOH media agencies recognized that OOH media owners are the lynchpin of OOH media. Without them and their steadfast commitment, the medium would not have grown at this exponential pace, bringing multitude of brands into its folds. At Publicis OOH we strongly feel that we should applaud and support Media Owners for their stellar work, which drives the medium to achieve excellence.”

Meanwhile, here’s a look at the Pinnacle Award Categories and their details as shared by IOAA: 

THE OOH SUPER POWERHOUSE- NATIONAL

This genre recognizes and applauds the extraordinary effort and outstanding work of media owners across the country. The work could span expansion & growth, innovation on existing media format or introduction of new innovative formats, or contribution to raising the general aesthetic and design standards in OOH.

THE OOH POWERHOUSE- REGIONAL

This grouping recognizes and applauds the extraordinary effort and outstanding work of Media Owners in each region: North, West, South & East. The work could span expansion & growth, innovation on existing media format or introduction of new innovative formats, or contribution to raising the general aesthetic and design standards in OOH.

OOH DESIGN PINNACLE

This category has been created with the intent of creating benchmark of Excellence in Design & Construction of OOH. It will recognize and applaud different/unique project designs & process, or construction techniques in a media asset. It will focus on what makes the media asset an exceptional design & construction proposition.

BEYOND THE GLASS CEILING AWARD

In the out of home advertising industry, the gender proportion is highly skewed to towards male dominance; only a handful women have been able to make a mark, especially as media owners. This award is to recognize those women who have smashed the glass ceiling or inspired or enabled other women in the industry to do it.

OOH- HALL OF LEGENDS

There are several towering individuals in the industry, who have dedicated their professional life to the betterment of this medium. This section recognizes the lifetime efforts of these individuals.