Accoring to the Industry experts, the potential for lenticulars in the global market is as big as INR 10,000 crores and our competitors claim to achieve a revenue of INR 500 crores, where as, we at Rays 3D are targeting the remaining INR 9,500 crores market.
  
   
 
RAYS 3D: ADDING LENTICULARS TO OOH Advertising
Date 03-May 2008
rays3d@gmail.com
Out-Of-Home advertising is viewed as a major, competitive advertising medium. Advertisers, also consider outdoor to be a very cost-effective medium, for its high exposure that comes at a relatively low cost. It is also a medium that has been re-defined in the last decade, as it has leveraged newly-available technologies and formats. One such feasible format is ‘Lenticulars’.

For years people have been skeptical about this format and its usage in the Outdoor sector, but RAYS 3D, a Mumbai based company seems to have found the way to cater this medium into Outdoor. More on that with Anubha Sinha, CEO, RAYS 3D
Excerpts from the interview are as follows:

1. Mam, do gives a brief about your company Rays 3D, and it’s USP with Lenticulars in the OOH media?

Being a 5 year old company, ‘RAYS 3D’ has already created a niche for itself in the world of advertising and lenticulars. In the past 5 years, we have done substantial work with the leading Corporate's and currently hold 93% of the market share for Lenticular ( 3D) technology in India. We take great pride in being the ‘One stop solution’ providers for lenticular printing in India, and currently,we ranks amongst the top 5 globally.

            
Our USP with Lenticulars, is simple- ‘It has no limits for application’, and is n-sync with that of an OOH medium, i.e. “It completes the story in one frame’, and at the same time interacts with viewers and delivers the message which according to us is ‘Self Explanatory’.

2. How do you see the future of ‘Lenticular Printing Industry’ in India, when compared to the world, and what is your current share in the Indian Market?

Now-a-days, when Out-of-home advertising forms the quintessence of any product, ‘Lenticular’ as a medium re-assures that a product has more brand emphasis/registration, more appealing than standard 2D print, and according to the industry experts, the potential for lenticulars in the global market is as big as INR 10,000 crores and our competitors claim to achieve a revenue of INR 500 crores, we at Rays 3D are targeting the remaining INR 9,500 crores market, with an attitude that it will be done because we believe that Lenticulars definitely has a better recall value, and for the same, we have now put up a plant in Dubai.

And 5 years down the line, I fore see the ‘Global Lenticular Printing Industry’ to be on an upward trend, and have 25% share of the total printing industry, which would include 12-15% in packaging. Where as India in the same period shall see an upward swing from the present scenario, and is most likely to command a share of 19% of the total print market.

3. Till date people from the Industry have been skeptical about ‘Lenticulars being used in the Outdoor Media’. So, how do you think, you can make this technology popular among the clients?

Lenticular is not just a printing medium, it’s a subject in its own, which people here don’t understand. For me it was my passion, and i.e. why I have graduated in Lenticulars, so that I can commercialize this technology, and remove the myths, which are associated with it. We at Rays 3D believe, that- with media fragmentation increasing exponentially, each medium must be understood for what it is really capable of delivering. It must be targeted precisely and assessed with the end users in mind, which is why, till date we have been able to live up-to the expectations of our clients.

4. How different is your technology from others’? Is it environmental friendly? And where all do you supply your products?

Technology is the same every where, but we work on our patented Rays 3D Software, along with our own indigenous printing techniques, because of which today, we can claim to have innumerable applications for the Outdoor mediums, like: Billboards, Bus Shelters, Kiosks, Showroom façade, Glow boxes, Bus Back Panels, Delivery Vans, Taxis, etc…

To be more specific for your audience, our’s is an ‘Extrusion Lenticular Technology’ which is at present the best technology i.e. available in India and meets all the international norms, such as being 100% environmental-friendly and 100% recyclable. Our technology imbibes more sharpness and lends more volume to the creative and at the same time helps it to with stand in all weather conditions.”

With our state-of-art technology and the best of raw materials meeting all international standards in the production of lenticular images, we supply a wide range of unique ‘View Changing’ and ‘3-Dimensional’ (3d) lenticular products to our clients in countries, such as Turkey, Poland, Germany, Switzerland, UK, US- (New Jersey)and Sri-lanka. Recently, in 2008, we have put up a plant in Dubai, from where we will be handling our client base in the Middle-East.

5. Is it true that your company created the World’s largest lenticular 3d hoarding ever in 2007? Does your technology stand in all weather condition, and where all is it applicable in terms of Outdoor media? Do share with us some of your memorable campaigns in India, which created a buzz in the Ad-world?

            
Yes, it’s true that we had created the world’s largest lenticular 3 D hoarding and for the same, we were approached by Mumbai’s Political Party-Bhartiye Viddyarthi sena President Mr. Abhijeet Panse, who wanted to do some thing special on the occasion of Shri Uddhav Thackeray’s Birthday in 2007, we came up with the idea of doing a Lenticular billboard and thus were permitted to go ahead, but the challenge before us was to create a 52ft by 28 ft lenticular’s (3D) hoarding in 48 hours, which included both the making and execution of the same, and we are happy that we did it in time.

With this we have broken the myth of those who feel that a ‘Lenticular’ cannot work on big formats in all weather conditions and especially on the ‘Billboards’, because our creative for ‘Shri Uddhav Thackeray’s Birthday’ stood for 8 days under heavy rains and still did not loose its sheen.

Not only this, ‘RAYS 3D’ earlier in 2007, also did the Lenticular (3D) truck branding for their client Pepsi, who wanted them to promoting Pepsi Gold- a soft drink for the Cricket World Cup-2007, although India could not do well but the creatives from our end were up and running on the Pepsi delivery trucks for more than 6 months, without any change what so ever.

Of-lately, we also did a Pan-India campaign for the launch of Vodafone in India, where in we covered 20 bus shelters and 3 trucks across Ahmedabad, Calcutta, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Delhi and Mumbai.

6. When did ‘Dubai’ come into your plan of expansion?

Dubai happened because of our Middle East clients, they wanted to cut down on the shipping time, and also because of the distance, we could not plan out or execute the campaigns which were planned at the last moment. As we all know that advertising and promotion industry is always short of time, hence to give more effective and personalized service, so in 2008, we decided to set up a complete manufacturing unit in Dubai, with all the latest machinery, currently, the unit is already functional, and have already executed a Pan-Dubai OOH campaign.

7. Can you share with us your first campaign in Dubai, and how did this happen?

We went for an exhibition in Dubai in 2007, where in we showcased our technology and thus we were approached by many a clients, this led us to putting up a plant in Dubai. As far as the 1st campaign goes, already 10,000 poster units of his ‘Highness Mr. Shaikh Bin Rashid’, are up and can be seen all across Dubai, and like always, we have received a tremendous response from our client.

8. What Sort of Pricing Strategy, will you have for the ‘Dubai Market’? And is it going to be any different from the ‘Indian Market’? 

Pricing of a product depends on the economics of the country, which is why we see different prices for the same thing across the globe. If I compare both Indian and Dubai market, all I can say is that in Dubai the price will be little higher, to that of India, simply because the basic over head costs.

9. Can you explain in detail the factors that determine the pricing strategy? And if possible the approximate price in INR?

The bar for the pricing is set with the client’s business objectives, than we raise it a few notches higher, if the size varies, i.e. for e.g. if the campaign is to be designed for Bus-shelters alone, than we see whether the size of the bus shelter is standard or not, if it’s standard than the price won’t change, but if it is, which is very much the case in India, than the price for the creative varies. Why? Because unlike normal printing, lenticular works on a different platform.

To share with your audience, we charge between INR 500 per square feet to INR 2000 per square feet, and that again depends upon the size of the medium i.e. from a display in-store poster size of 6ftX 6ft to a billboard sized 40ft X20ft.

10. What all can we expect to see in terms of new technology from you in India?

The clients, here in India can as of now have the experience of ‘Lenticular Floor Graphics’, yet another innovative technology from our end, starting mid- of-2008. This particular technology is meant primarily for Mall and in-store promotional campaigns.

11. Why do you feel that ‘Lenticular Floor Graphics’ will create a buzz in the OOH Ad-world?

Well to answer this, I would like to share with you our experience in Milan, where we had first displayed this technology for one of our pharma-client, where it became a show-stopper. Why? Because, in this technology of ours’, the image on the lenticular glass, automatically comes up by 6 inches, and creates a virtual image of the brand, thus creating an unforgettable experience for the brand. And with the advent of more malls in India and around the world, we don’t see any reason why this won’t be a ‘Show-Stopper’.
             

12. What are your future plans, and how do you keep up on the Industry’s knowledge?

There is not enough time in the day to keep up on all the industry knowledge. In a collaborative business like advertising, it is important to stay involved, grow, learn and share that knowledge. As far as our expansion plans are concerned, we can share with you an exclusive knowledge i.e. we, at present are thinking of putting up a unit each in markets like- Germany, UK, USA and Africa. And thus make lenticular a globally accepted medium in the world of advertising.
Interviewed by : Nitin Sharma