Mumbai, the financial capital of the country added another feather to its maximum city by going 24×7. Twenty-four-hour cafés, supermarkets and cinemas give residents and visitors a freedom to use their day unhindered by the rules that govern a nine-to-five town.
Now, few questions that advertisers, brand and people need to answer with this new concept is, will Mumbai 24×7 change how people look at the city? Will this change how advertisers and brands position themselves? And, what impact the concept might have on the balance sheet of various parties involved?
The concept will further give assurance to the safe city tag of Mumbai. It’s with the logic to generate employment and revenue, along the lines of the thriving night economy of London, for the five-lakh people working in the city’s services sector. People need to feel more secure before they step out to work or to party. The new policy is restricted to non-residential areas that have their own CCTV surveillance and parking facilities, and where decibel levels can be monitored and curtailed.
Brands and advertisers have always positioned Mumbai as the historic city which has given birth to many landmark places, big industries, industrialists, dreams and many more adage terms. With the new concept the positioning and messaging will change. The initial messaging of Mumbai going 24×7 didn’t work. So, what now? Should brands focus on high end and tap on the unstoppable spirit of the city? Something on the lines of “For the city that is 24×7, we are available 24×7”. The target audience will change for the brand and will focus more around young adults who tend to work till midnight and are willing to party or shop post the working hours. Brands need to have campaigns around what ‘extra’ the consumer gets if they move out of their house and come and dine in – offers like night happy hours, more music, improving the night dine experience, available parking, more security are some points that might attract more footfall.
Is this the starting of a good time? If yes, what medium will be best suited to promote the same? Culturally, it has always been believed that the night has always catered to the dangerous or rowdy. But night also gave creativity to mankind. People from different age groups will also come together, allowing mentors and young people to jam at night, when they can dedicate time for creation of something new and interesting. The medium will play the most important role in communicating the message. The digital medium will play a vital role to tap more footfall that will bring in the revenue to the brand, brands with better geotargeting approach will have a larger market share as they will get more eye time on different digital mediums.
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The job of OOH is to connect with people in a way that other broadcasters aren’t able to. Out of home is a very unused space. It can be treated as a big TV screen which creates an impact and an immersive, shareable experience that you can’t get anywhere else. The digital Out of the home (DOOH) screens are “attention magnets”, where the interplay between ads and content boosts audience engagement. This decade, content will become mainstream on OOH screens and will be seen as a really valid route to market that can drive business results.
At India Food Forum 2020, many mall owners and the retail owners expressed faith in the Mumbai 24×7 concept and believed that the initial tepid response can’t be the benchmark of the performance of the concept. Major malls have spent close to Rs. 5 lakhs on weekend (Friday and Saturday) on digital promotion and had increased the advertisement and promotional events during the Valentine weekend. It is expected that the footfall will increase in the upcoming school summer vacations as parents won’t be concerned about the kids’ school schedule for the next day.
I believe the statement which everyone heard that the city (Mumbai) never sleeps is finally looking to come true with Mumbai going 24×7. If the messaging, medium and the campaign planning is done in a right way and reaches the targeted audience, the new amendment of the Maharashtra government will see a boost in the economy, will lead way for new start-ups in the city and will take Mumbai further up in the list of renowned global cities.
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