About Billboards

Big, bold and unable to be turned off by viewers, billboards are a traditional means of advertising a business or product. This large outdoor advertising structure traditionally was found along high traffic areas such as busy highways. These days, billboard forms of advertising are popping up along the sides of buildings, inside airports, at bus stops and mounted onto flatbed trucks. For businesses, it is a cost-effective way to sustain brand awareness for long durations.

Types

Traditional billboards come in two shapes and sizes: bulletin and poster. Bulletin billboards afford the greatest visibility due to larger size and ability to creatively customize with extensions such as arrows that extend beyond billboard borders. Poster billboards, located primarily in industrial and commercial areas, are smaller in size and viewed mainly by commuter traffic and local residents.

Mechanical billboards utilize tri-action movement technology to show three separate ads on the same board. This enables three messages to be conveyed on the same board at a cheaper cost to the advertiser.

Revolutionizing the billboard industry, digital billboards allow static ads to rotate through a continuous loop of multiple advertisements. Entirely digitized on an LED screen, these billboards allow for multiple advertisers as well as cost-effective and continual ad updates. The advanced technology utilized on digital billboards is also allowing for more interaction between ads and viewers such as the Piccadilly Circus Coca-Cola billboard that responds to the weather. The only downfall of these billboards is their potential to distract drivers with their constantly rotating and frequently updated advertisements.

Other types of billboards include mobile billboards, which are flatbed trucks with large paneling where ads can be placed, online billboards or banners, and sidewalk billboards that are utilized along highly trafficked pedestrian walkways.

Function

Billboards relay a product or service message to passing pedestrians or drivers in the hopes of arousing interest. Given the short time span spent glancing at billboards, they must be easily readable with only a few words and bright colors. A billboard's imposing presence should, ideally, reach consumers and maintain brand awareness. A billboard's ability to capture attention is critical as it influences customers when they are mobile and most likely to make purchasing decisions.

Size

Traditional billboard size is 14 feet by 48 feet for bulletins and 12 feet by 24 feet for poster billboards.

Time Frame

Typically billboard contracts begin at 16 weeks but in some cases shorter terms can be arranged.

Effects

Designed to capture attention and create a memorable impression with a rapid glance, billboards should establish a connection with the viewer while sustaining brand awareness. Essentially, the billboard should tempt the viewer to examine a product, service or business more in-depth. Billboards help generate this temptation through their high awareness level among commuters who are constantly having this message imprinted in their brain day after day. When successfully incorporated into a marketing campaign, a billboard helps increase market share and the customer base.

Considerations

Even though billboards can have a very strong presence, there are some considerations to take into account. First, while billboards can dramatically increase market share there is no accurate way to measure how effective the billboard was in generating product or company interest. Secondly, billboards come in limited availability with the prime locations usually being monopolized by big corporations. Also, while billboards are great for sustaining brand awareness, they are not the best avenue for initial branding awareness. Lastly, a billboard's message must be brief, concise and relatively simple, especially given the minimized retention by drivers as they whiz by.

History

Located in pedestrian or motor-heavy trafficked areas, billboards can be a very powerful advertising tool. If your billboard is successful, viewers will contact you. Once they contact you, you are free to make your sales pitch to persuade them of how fabulous your product or service truly is. Billboards allow you to arouse interest with a continual advertising message that viewers can't switch off. More important, they are a way to constantly imprint your service on viewers' minds, generate new customer bases and expand a company's bottom line.