Banner high for the city of Mumbai

Local advertising firm to utilise its unused billboards to promote famous monuments and tourist spots

How many boring advertising hoardings have you seen in the city with nothing but the hoarding company’s name in big, lettering? Now, a prominent Indian advertising firm, with its headquarters in Mumbai, has decided to give back to the city in a unique way. With its campaign, I Love Mumbai, they plan to utilise unoccupied billboards by splashing life-sized images of the city’s most prominent landmarks.
Lalbaugcha Raja The idea is to promote the city’s tourism in a novel way, and the company in question is Bright Advertising, which owns approximately 1,500 hoardings across the city. At any given time, however, there are 50-odd hoardings which do not find any takers, and these are the ones they plan to utilise.
To start off, the company has selected seven images that are quintessentially Mumbai — the Haji Ali Dargah, the BMC headquarters, Bandra-Worli Sea Link, the Lalbaugcha Raja idol, Hanging Gardens and the Queen’s Necklace.

Says Yogesh Lakhani, proprietor, Bright Advertising, “On my travels abroad, I would always see how various countries highlight their tourist spots and cultures. I used to wonder why we never promoted tourism here like that. I think putting pictures of all our city monuments and tourist spots on hoardings will surely be an added attraction for foreign tourists.”
Mumbai-based professional photographer Mrunal Kalsekar has shot the seven locations that will be currently used on the hoardings, with the company’s logo and numbers placed in a corner. Adds Lakhani, “I have undertaken this initiative purely for the benefit of the city, the municipality and the tourism sector. It’s my return gift to the city which has given me everything that I have.”
All the images featured are shot in black-and-white to give them a vintage feel. Kalsekar is currently working on more locations that will be added to the list.