Lemma – Powered by Intelligence, Driven by Technology

Gulab Patil Founder & CEO Lemma

The trio behind any company’s journey towards being a brand is Quality, Quantity, and Marketing. While commuting to work we often come across many forms of out of home advertising that try to convey the brand message to the viewing audience. Once that message reaches its appropriate target audience, that’s the start of a new relationship within the company and the newly acquired customer.

This may all seem simple but the key ingredient to this is to be at the right place and at the right time to create a connect with the right set of audiences with the most relevant brand message. Targeting is of immense importance for any advertising medium even OOH, but this also remains an unsolved problem when it comes to out of home advertising where messages are mostly static and targeting is limited to placements.

Technology has changed the way of traditional advertising. Indian markets are now at the cusp of rising advanced technology in the advertising landscape.

pDOOH, i.e. ‘Programmatic Digital Out of Home’ is a game-changer platform in the advertisement sector. It is not just another method of ad process; it’s a whole new advertising medium in itself.

Lemma is a pioneer in pDOOH solutions. Mr Gulab Patil, founder & CEO at Lemma Technologies is empowering businesses with end to end pDOOH solutions. Under his innovative vision Lemma’s team is making efforts to transform businesses.

The Company

Lemma is a pioneer in Programmatic DOOH with a vision of transforming the DOOH industry into mainstream Digital. Formed in the year 2017, Lemma is a forward-looking company focused on building platforms and solutions that suit the requirement of modern-day media agencies that look for integrated as well as innovative solutions.

Our future accomplishments are determined entirely by how every second in our life is put to a use the future is the cumulation of many nows.

As a successful start-up in the programmatic DOOH realm, they connect media buyers to a dynamic network of DOOH screens, data & audiences, thereby enabling them to harness the full potential that DOOH has to offer. Lemma is the sole operators of pDOOH technology in the APAC region with operations in India, Indonesia & Malaysia and are expanding to other countries like Australia and New Zealand

Antecedent Hurdles

Programmatic DOOH is a new concept and hence the challenges were also new with no reference material to utilize. It is with a lot of trial and error and testing that they finally developed a platform which today is all set to revolutionize the ad industry with pDOOH as a new medium to connect with audiences. The current challenges they face would be the lack of awareness about programmatic DOOH and how one can effectively use the same to deliver optimal media plans.

And the growth started…

The point where the business started seeing movement was when digital media agencies and standard digital platforms like Google DV360, Verizon and others looked at pDOOH as a mainstream digital medium. This medium offers brands, a new avenue to display ads and connect with audiences who are up and about for most of their waking hours. Media agencies and even digital platforms are now bringing in some structural changes at various levels to incorporate Programmatic Digital out of home as a part of all media plans, thereby accelerating demand for this medium.

Lemma is seeing a change in both the demand and supply side of the business. They’ve registered multi-fold growth in supply by closing contracts for 25,000 screens in 2019 against 5,000 screens in 2018. A similar trend is noticed even in terms of the revenue generated with programmatic DOOH.

Factors behind the long-standing success of Lemma

Lemma has been in the system for only about 24 months now and by far their success can be largely attributed to the could base programmatic AdTech platform which is ahead of the curve in many aspects. It’s the only true programmatic DOOH platform in the APAC region compatible with standardized digital platforms with ad serving capabilities similar to that of mobile and web. While all other players continued to perfect the existing products to suit the DOOH industry, Lemma went a step ahead and took up the challenge of transforming the medium into a true digital channel integrated within the mainstream digital ecosystem.

If learning is an act of exploration, then technology equips the explorer for the journey of a lifetime.

Quality Solutions Offerings of Lemma

Lemma focuses on building products to upgrade the existing DOOH offerings while integrating these screens into mainstream digital media. Current products in the market are basic CMS tools that allow media owners to run ads on screens. These systems are partially manual and limited to the network of screens the media owner is connected to. Lemma’s pDOOH platform ushers in transparency, automation, and ease in several of the current processes in the DOOH ad buying and selling system. Furthermore, advertisers can get access to a network of screens using a single platform i.e. Lemma.

Lemma taking a step forward with…

Lemma is working on designing systems that will now allow for real-time planning basis the data we capture using technologies like a beacon, camera, online registration systems, and others to help planners create optimal media plans and campaign optimization basis real-time audience availability and movement.

They are developing a product as a part of their DMP extension to get and process real-time audience data to retarget audiences on mobile devices through existing demand platforms like Google DV360, Verizon and others.

Technology that transforms businesses

DOOH which is the most unorganized sector in the advertising space is seeing some standardization with a product like Lemma. Furthermore, Lemma has automated several of the media processes include buying, selling, reporting, optimization and so on.

Additionally, it is because of Lemma that the digital ad industry in India is now witnessing a new advertising medium. Digital media planners who previously had no access to DOOH screen can now easily select DOOH as a new display environment for their digital media plans using the same AdTech platform, they now use to run digital ads. Furthermore, Lemma is also providing media owners with an opportunity to be a part of a 350Bn dollar market by providing them instant access to multiple digital advertisers from across regions.

A determined leader in pDOOH – Mr Gulab Patil

Mr Gulab Patil is the founder and CEO of Lemma. As a founding member, he’s deeply invested in the company’s success and has the zeal to shape Lemma into market leaders in the Programmatic DOOH space. His expertise as a business and technology leader coupled with his knowledge and experience in product development resulted in the establishment of Lemma in mid-2017.

Mr Gulab Patil has been affiliated with the digital media & technology industry for over 12 years now. This industry has evolved the fastest and has shaped up into a robust medium of communication like no other. He started his career as a software engineer in 2012 but it was with PubMatic that his journey in programmatic & digital technology truly began. He started as a team leader in the year 2012 and bid adieu to PubMatic as Director of engineering in 2017. Over these 5years,he worked on several projects at PubMatic, the most exciting one was the conceptualization & development of an ad serving platform which is now a significant revenue generator for the company.

Jeff Bezos – Founder of Amazon has always been a true source of motivation for Mr GulabPatil. He says Amazon’s brand story inspires him a lot.

The Key Achievements

Mr Gulab developed a complete mobile and video ad serving system from scratch and helped PubMatic generate multi-million-dollar revenue through this product. This was one of the crucial accomplishments that gave him a sense of the biggest achievement. And second and obvious one is the Lemma pDOOH platform, which helped him to turn his dream into reality.

He is a winner at Code Studio – Indian Technology Awards & Conference. (Oct-2019) Also, he won the BusinessWorld TechTors Awards 2019- Media-Tech Category. (Jan-2020)

The Healthy Work Environment at Lemma

Mr Gulab says, “I’d rather have it put this way that my team takes care of Lemma as their own.” The dream to drive this bootstrapped start-up into a full-fledged company is engrained in each employee who works here & that’s what makes this team unique. A team of 35 young, aspirational and talented individuals run the show and they’ve been doing a phenomenal job.

Mr Gulab says, “As a mentor, I ensure that I give them enough time and hear them out whenever needed.”

Lemma also have teams working remotely from Delhi and Mumbai and Mr Gulab makes sure that he keeps in touch with them through regular calls or visits whenever possible.

Words from the Founder and CEO for rising entrepreneurs

An entrepreneur is a visionary who motivates the team to think beyond the usual and encourage them to make it happen. It is therefore very important for an entrepreneur to make decisions that favour the larger team and help create opportunities that will prove beneficial not only for himself but also for the core team in the long run. 

Thoughts on landscape of Digital ads

Thoughts on Constant Vigilance

Constant vigilance is required to ensure brands are on top of their game. We know that online marketing isn’t a “one and done” type of thing. It requires constant vigilance from digital marketers to stay on top of digital trends. Being a part of a dynamic industry, constant vigilance is a need that helps brands build better strategies.

What are the audiences expecting from digital marketers?

Mr Gulab Patil says, “I think the need of the hour is that most digital businesses should focus on integrating seamless non-intrusive solutions to connect with users rather than being disruptive and intrusive which is a common complaint that individuals today talk about. It is important for brands to connect with the customers, but disrupting user experience may not be the ideal solution.”

His advice for those reading this The easiest way to cope with the rat race is to think about how you can outdo yourself rather than competing with others outside. People at Lemma constantly focus on how they can provide their valuable clients with better services and improve the quality of the product, making it a pleasant experience for the clients who interact with them. Of course, they do acknowledge the existence of competition brands; however, they focus their energies in delivering a better version of their product which invariably puts them ahead of competitors.

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