Nishank Joshi on the future of in-mall advertising & effectively tapping into DOOH

The Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) advertising landscape is undergoing a dramatic transformation, marked by the emergence of immersive experiences that transcend traditional static displays. Groundbreaking projects like the Vegas Sphere, with its 16K resolution wraparound screen and cutting-edge audio-visual technology, are redefining the possibilities of OOH. These advancements are pushing the boundaries of what's achievable, blurring the lines between physical and digital realities and creating truly captivating audience experiences.

In this context, Nexus Select Trust is at the forefront of innovation, introducing the AAYAM, Maharashtra’s largest cuboid anamorphic screen, to its Seawoods property. This move signifies a significant shift in the company’s approach to in-mall advertising, aiming to create immersive and impactful experiences for brands and consumers alike.

In an exclusive interview with Adgully, Nishank Joshi, Chief Marketing Officer, Nexus Select Malls, shares his insights on the future of in-mall advertising, the role of technology, and the company’s strategic vision for growth.

Looking back at 2024, what were the key developments in the Nexus and what was the vision behind the Anamorphic Cuboid?

It’s been a phenomenon. We are at 30% over last year’s numbers, and I think we will close at record numbers. While this is the first in Maharashtra, the one that we launched two months ago in Hyderabad was the first in the South and the one in Chennai was after that. We realized that companies want more than one of these advertising spaces. When they plan a campaign, they don’t plan with just one, they want multiple placements. And all our malls attract a significant number of visitors – millions of footfalls per month – with premium spaces and beautiful ambience. So, the idea is not to build one or two or three, but to build a whole network of seven or eight of them so that brands get a perfect point for them to advertise across all of them.

How does the introduction of cuboid anamorphic screens elevate in-mall advertising?

When you look at Nike’s ads, everyone’s got social media. You look at Instagram, say Nike did this ad or someone else did. These are the guys who are pioneering it. You see these beautiful ads on screens across the world. There is none in India who is giving you that. No one.

My appeal to all leading brands of India – international and national – that you’ve got a chance to now change the landscape of advertising in India. People are starved for good advertising. The time of static advertising is gone, the time of even motion advertising is over. If you want your brand to be seen, you want it to be in 3D, something that comes out, and we are offering you that. And not in one space, but across our mall.

So, I think this is a game changer. And once we get more and more malls into the foray, I think it will be really something. Just the power to innovate and the opportunity to innovate is so great. It is for the brands to now take charge. There are opportunities to go even higher.

Given the recent government scrutiny of the advertising industry, what are your perspectives on the current regulatory landscape and its impact on the sector? Do you believe existing regulations are supportive or hindering the growth of the advertising industry?

There are stricter routines in places like Hyderabad and Bangalore. It is all about presenting to them in the right manner the opportunities that are there. In fact, I remember not so long ago there were no visual sciences, there was no DOOH in a place like Mumbai. Maybe not anamorphic, but even normal ones because they thought it was distracting to the drivers. But today you see Mumbai is full of it. So, the government is doing so much stuff on the infrastructure front because they know that this advertising is where really the money is. I’ve always believed that I am a brand who also advertises, and not merely an agency. I know that if my company doesn’t advertise, I will not succeed. So, the government knows that if they want to call companies to come and open shops, then they have to advertise. I think it’s just a matter of getting to them in the right way and telling them about the potential.

Given the rise of influencer marketing, how is Nexus Select Trust leveraging the power of social media and influencer collaborations to enhance brand visibility and attract customers to its properties?

We already partner with a lot of influencers. In fact, we’ve got multiple programs. So, moving away from DOOH, we do partner with influencers or ‘content creators’, as they want to be referred to nowadays. In fact, we’ve got a program called Style Hashtags that promotes passion throughout the year in different categories. Sometimes Indian, sometimes things like ‘Back to college’. So, we’ve got categories like ‘Little black dresses’ during Christmas, ‘wedding collection’, etc. Thus, we have content creators coming in throughout the year to make our content go viral.

What are the key opportunities and challenges that you anticipate for Nexus Select Trust in the coming times?

We aim to end 2024-25, at around 20-30% growth over last year. I think we can achieve the same amount of growth in the coming year 2025-26 as well, especially with signages like this and DOOH. I think malls are still looked at only as places where you can do on-ground activities. But the reality is that you can cover advertisements all across.

You can see so many innovations happening across the world, where brands are doing active innovations in the activation space which then go viral. That is an untapped business and untried potential in India. Imagine a brand that wants to do a video that goes viral across 10 of my malls.

I’m a company that has got 18 malls. We will end up with 20-25 malls very soon. Imagine if a company wants to go pan-India and do an innovation that goes across? It’s an untapped potential. So, it’s not just DOOH or activation or signages or hoardings or putting a kiosk here and there.

I think the opportunity to do different stuff in malls is very high – you have your target audience and an audience that spends. If you look around Seawoods in Hyderabad, the best of the brands are there, which means the audience that you want to spend time with is there, shopping. Tap into the opportunity to engage with them.

Also Read: Nexus Malls has over 125% of sales as compared to the same period in 2019: Nishank Joshi