Billboards and Banter

“It never works on me.”

This is the common remark I hear right after a new advertiser asks me if billboards “really work or not.” It is as if they feel the need to answer their own question or steer me in the direction of the answer they want me to give. I suppose outdoor advertising is viewed in such a negative light for a variety of reasons, but price is the most glaring. It is rarely the cheapest route to go, but maybe there is something to that. In everyday life, better things tend to cost more, right? So a billboard on a busy Interstate costs six times as much as a schedule on an obscure cable channel? Maybe there is a good reason for that.

I have always been fond of billboards and outdoor advertising. Billboards, vehicle wraps and other outdoor media all work for branding and top-of-mind awareness in one capacity or another. It doesn’t take much effort to view or engage, it can be 24 hours, it is often in the way of where drivers want to look so it has to be avoided in many cases, and it is seen as a soft sell – off on its own minding its own business, not invading your personal space. Often times it can be more powerful than regular print or TV ads. It can be informational, influential and just plain entertaining. As consumers, nay, audience members, we instinctively want to be entertained. I find that even the medium’s most pessimistic even refer to at least one billboard as funny, clever, attractive or noticeable and serviceable – even used as a landmark when giving directions. So I cannot just nod my head in agreement as someone tells me that billboards are a waste of money or that they just don’t notice them. Clearly it works, for better or for worse.

But what does “work” really mean? Most businesses consider billboards difficult to track, meaning they find little to zero direct response that can be accounted for in sales. They tend to overlook the psychology involved in the advertisements. Think about Coca-Cola. How many billboards for Coca-Cola can you count in your lifetime? Got a number? OK. Now how many times can you account for ordering a Coke at a restaurant or stopping by the 7-11 for a Big Gulp of The Real Thing and voluntarily telling the cashier, “I am getting this because of that cute polar bear sipping the icy Coke bottle on the big sign 23.8 miles from here” as you hand over your cash? Zero, right? (Which is also another fine product of Coca-Cola without any calories). Nevertheless, we see those images on the side of the road – how crisp, clean, cold, refreshing and icy the drink looks – and it seeps into our brains for years to come.

I once had a company tell me that they spent their entire budget on billboards for a solid six months and saw nothing in return, so they’ve sworn off billboards. I asked what the billboards looked like, but they couldn’t recall the ad. Strike one, in my mind. I think I’d remember how sorry the ad was that tanked my six-month budget. I’d have it on my dartboard as to never make that mistake again. I asked where the boards were positioned and again the answer wasn’t convincing. Strike two for me. If I wrecked my budget at a particular intersection of a particular city, I’d definitely cringe every time I drove through for the rest of my life. Strike three? Well…who spends their entire budget on billboards? Something doesn’t add up, so either I’m not getting the whole story or they were ill advised in dropping that much money in an unproven medium exclusively. Despite all of these swings-and-misses, how do we know they didn’t “work?” Unless the message on the signs read “redeem this code” or “this product only available at X location” it sounds like it may have been a branding ad to begin with, whereby six months is an awfully short deadline on seeing drastic returns.

Four or five years ago I worked on a billboard campaign for a medical client, which was the only ad medium they ran for 12 months. No radio, no TV, no newspaper. The billboard boasted their new logo and their new slogan, while at the bottom read their street and web address. Clean and concise, and strategically located on a high-traffic highway less than two miles from the office, and just three exits away. It was surprising to learn that many of their customers (new, first-timers) came in claiming that they heard the radio ads. Funny, since the one board was all we did.

Even though the customers see it on TV or see it on a sign, they are not always conscious of what struck them or moved them to act. The point is that it was absorbed and stuck with them. This goes for any medium, but billboards can visually have that affect in a significant, lingering way.

Choosing to do billboards or outdoor media certainly depends on your type of business, but it depends on your customers, too. After all, if you owned a tractor supply company, chances are a billboard at Times Square probably isn’t the best move to catch the attention of rural farmers. But a bread company might be wise to have an outdoor ad for their brand across the street from a busy grocery store to catch the eye of shoppers before they pull in the parking lot.

If I owned a restaurant, a salon, a retail store, or a tax office, I would make a billboard campaign as one of my core ad strategies. It’s 24 hours of someone seeing my company’s reflection, integrity, services, and possibilities displayed at a glance. Certainly to introduce at least. It makes my company look bigger than it really is and makes it appear legit. The public knows it costs money to put your name up in lights, so it says something positive about the position of your company. It can cover more ground consistently more than just about any other option. With the limited space, I wouldn’t put my numerical address and phone and fax like so many places do. The rule of thumb is no more than 7 words, but even that is pushing it. Instead, I would list the location as next to some landmark and put up my web address. Drivers will have better likelihood to remember a simple www dot name than 7 digits…while driving and probably talking, singing or, God forbid, texting. Have you seen those typical lawyer billboards? They list something about their big draw of injury or mesothelioma or something well-known and offensive; and there is usually a photo of the lawyer looking stern and well-groomed; and about four 1-800 numbers and locations. If I’m stuck in a traffic jam ten feet from these things, I still don’t have enough time to read all the text or, much else, make sense of what I do read:

· “Are You Suffering from Asbestos?”

· We fight for the right and our clients Get Their Due

· Offices in Denver, Golden, Sterling, and Thornton. Principal Office in Golden, CO.

· John Q. Everyman, Attorney at Law

· Member of BBB, Member of CO Bar, Member of My Basement Fantasy Football League, Member of many credit unions; Accredited by a neighborhood notary public

· Family-owned and operated Since 1993 (fine print here)

· The Law Office of Patience, Patience & Paragraph –

· 1234 Address Lane; 1-800 A, 1-800 B, 1-800 C

· (web address of 20+ letters, including hyphens and underscores)

We all know the ones.

I’d make sure it looks better than the landscape around me, and I’d make sure to change it before it got stale and expected. If your board hasn’t changed after six months, the daily commuters will begin glossing over the board as if it were a cloud or tree in the distance. Keep it fresh and keep their attention. If I was leery about the drawing power of it, I would have the ad read something like “mention this board and get X” – if the offer is worth it, the customer will speak up.

Billboards aren’t the only way to go, but they have a strong history of success that cannot be ignored. If billboards aren’t effective for you and if they truly “don’t work on you,” then take down your store sign above your roof or turn off that OPEN sign hanging in your door and see if your customers find you all right. You can bet they will at least see your competitors’.

-Lance LaRue, Advertising & Creative Manager at Americom Marketing Ad Agency in Beaumont, Texas 2011