Outdoor
billboard advertising continues to be one of the most durable
and economic forms of
advertising. It is visible on high traffic
junctions, on sleepy streets, on the beaches, in the mountains,
in the countryside. In fact, there is hardly a highway or a major
street where a billboard cannot be seen.
According to the advertising
industry, 93% of all Americans pass by billboards at some point
of time or the other. This makes outdoor advertising a great way
to carry a commercial message. What’s even more important
is that 70 per cent of people glance at billboards while driving,
and 63 per cent actually read billboard messages.
The importance of outdoor advertising goes
up considerably when one looks at the costs. Outdoor advertising
costs 80 per cent less than television advertising, 60 per cent
less than newspaper ads, and 50 per cent less than radio advertisements.
It is especially useful in location like trade shows where hundreds
of thousands of people get to read the message.
The arrival of large format digital printing
presses has made billboard advertising even more popular. It is
now possible to print high quality 10 by 40, 12 by 40, and 14
by 48-foot billboard posters as single units. Most of these posters
are printed on vinyl sheets with ultraviolet coating to increase
their life spans.
The most popular billboard posters are those
that are printed on flex vinyl sheets. These posters are hung
from the sides of a billboard, and can be moved from location
to location. They are easier to handle as compared to vinyl posters
that have sticky backsides, and are glued on top of a billboard.
Printers also offer clients billboards that use pressure sensitive
adhesives.
The best billboards are those that use smart
copy, and colors that don’t merge with backgrounds. They
are designed by highly paid design and copy writing teams who
use their experience to come up with catchy billboards. The companies
that try to save on billboard copy make a great mistake. Their
message invariably fails to create an impact. Like other forms
of advertising, billboard advertising has to be innovative and
arresting.
It should use few words and large fonts so that the message can
be read from a distance.
The placing of the billboard is equally important.
The height and angle of the billboard should be such that it can
be read with ease by motorists. The same applies to lighting.
The well-lit billboards are more likely to be read than the ones
with indifferent lighting.
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