Urvashi Arya, Sr Brand Manager, Bausch & Lomb joins OAA 2024 Jury

OAA 2024 onboards Urvashi Arya, Senior Brand Manager, Bausch & Lomb, as a Jury member. The OOH Advertising Awards, formerly known as Outdoor Advertising Awards, is open to entries. The awards function will be held at Hilton Garden Inn, Embassy Manyata Business Park, Bengaluru, on July 27, 2024.

Holding an MBA from IIM Calcutta, Urvashi has 8 years of experience in strategic marketing and brand management in FMCG companies, primarily in personal care and healthcare space. Urvashi spearheads marketing for vision care business, currently overseeing 60% of the revenue. She leads strategic power brands like BioTrue, Ultra, and SoftLens, which recently won IMA-Gold and MOMMY'S-Gold awards. Most notably, Bausch & Lomb BioTrue won the Gold award at the 15th Annual Shorty Awards (New York).

Sharing her insights on creativity receiving recognition in OOH advertising, Urvashi told Media4Growth: “Creativity forms the underpinning of OOH advertising. With consumers' attention spans shorter than ever before, brands are becoming more creative in messaging, visuals, and properties. Digital screens, interactive installations, and collaborations are revolutionising traditional billboards, captivating audiences in new and exciting ways. Due to difficulties in measuring ROI and sometimes stringent regulatory requirements, brands often compromise on creativity in the OOH space. However, as brands continue to prioritise innovation and consumer connection, the importance of creativity will likely become even more apparent and celebrated in the OOH advertising landscape.”

Highlighting the distinct changes observed on the OOH landscape in recent years, Urvashi said, “While there have been significant changes in the budget allocations to digital versus other media, the spends on OOH have remained fairly constant. Outdoor fraternity including advertisers and agencies have been able to work very well together to ensure that the focus on OOH is not diminished. Some of these tactical moves are shaping up the overall brand strategy.”

She highlighted a few instances, by saying, “Brands are really fast in adapting moment marketing to OOH while traditionally they were doing it only on social media. Besides, now there is advanced technology available to measure the impact of OOH media campaigns. I read about a company that lets advertisers track the movement patterns of consumers who have been exposed to their ads with the help of GPS. My favourite is the use of CGI in outdoor campaigns which blurs the boundaries of digital and physical.”

On how the OOH Advertising Awards recognise amazing work in the OOH industry, Urvashi says, “OAA is a leader in identifying and recognising exceptional OOH campaigns in India. Being one of the pioneer institutes in this space, they have seen the industry evolve over the years. I appreciate how they highlight the diversity of the Indian OOH landscape, where advertisers & agencies are excelling in everything from mega budget campaigns to smaller digital innovations.”

“I'm keen to observe campaigns that are innovative and resonate strongly with the brand's target audience. It will be interesting to see brands that have demonstrated effective use of technology and CGI. Each entry's originality and alignment with brand objectives will be central to my evaluation. Finally I'd be interested in seeing what tangible results did the campaign deliver for the brand.”