Originally published April 11, 2016, in Buzz on Biz
Driving through Charlotte, who can miss the Chick-Fil-A outdoor billboards featuring 3-D cows and a message scrawled across the board reading, Eat Mor Chikin? It is perhaps one of the best uses of the outdoor medium.
On the other hand, who can make sense of the board on I-20 and Wheeler Road showing what appears to be a biker and some words that don’t seem to relate to the visual that are too small to read a thousand feet off the interstate and 100 feet in the air?
Outdoor is not only an advertising medium, it is also an art form unto itself – and that is the way it has to be used. Being the largest advertising canvas available in most cities (not counting sides of buildings), it makes sense to use outdoor in many advertising campaigns when you follow certain rules.
Placement – A 100 showing doesn’t mean you have 100 boards. It means you have placed boards to cover 100 percent of the major arteries leading in and out of a market. Grand openings often use 100 showings for 30 days to make an impact.
To really get the best out of placement we always take the time to “ride the boards.” This means riding by the prospective board to evaluate its impact on the mobile viewer. Keep in mind that the message is intricately tied to the placement. If the message can convey one thought in an instant, putting it on a board that is 1000 yards off the Interstate and 100 feet in the air can work.
An easy trick is to print the board out onto an 8-1/2 X 11 sheet, hold it at arms-length and move it toward your face and past your head in three seconds. If you can’t figure it out, neither can the driver. Of course if your space is at a stop light, this doesn’t apply.
Message – My first rule is to keep the message to seven words or less. Remember, nobody wants to read a billboard but they will give you their attention momentarily if the message is simple and relevant. That’s why “directional” boards are so good. There is a message and an arrow pointing to the desired outcome. STAY HERE, EAT HERE, TURN HERE or even BANK AHEAD.
Ask yourself why a phone number needs to be on the board. Unless it spells something out in seven letters, no one can remember it. Who will want to? A relevant and memorable URL can be better if it’s short.
Don’t clutter the board with too many logos. There should be a message and a logo and they should be balanced in color, weight and size. Multiple logos are confusing and can steal the attention from the prime message.
Direction – Are you trying to reach people driving away from you or toward you, or does it matter? If you’re serving breakfast at your restaurant, reaching them on their way in to work is the best idea.
Here’s a professional secret – Everyone likes to buy boards on the right hand side of the road but I have found, by riding the boards, that my rear view mirror often covers the board until I am close enough to see it and then it is only in my peripheral vision. Your customer won’t work that hard to see your board. Make sure it is easy to see.
Cost –This is largely based on the amount of audience delivered, like most media. However, in the case of outdoor, the vehicle itself also comes into play. Bulletins, 14×48 in size, can be both digital and vinyl. Vinyl is permanent. Digital boards usually rotate six or more different messages over the course of one minute total. Units that are 12×24 units are called posters or 30 sheeters. Junior posters are 6×12 (8 sheeters). And then, of course, there are bus shelters. Your message may very well influence which type you buy and where you place them. DECs, or Daily Effective Circulation, is the average number of persons in cars and other vehicles passing and potentially exposed to an advertising display. It is the combination of board size, DEC and placement that creates value to the user.
I didn’t like digital when it first appeared because, one, you can’t embellish it with additional structural elements and, two, you only get one out of six images. Today, I realize one out of six is all you need if it’s designed properly.
Here’s a tip – It costs virtually nothing to change out the digital board. Don’t wait until it has been up a month. Change it regularly so it doesn’t become roadside wall paper.
Outdoor is a very effective medium when the subject meets the mobile customer’s needs. Use it well and the ROI can be just like the medium itself…huge.