Outdoor Advertising

More than 6 billion dollars was spent on outdoor advertising in 2005, according to the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA). That’s taking into account all four of the outdoor advertising formats that comprise this form of advertising. According to the OAAA, billboards, street furniture, transit and alternative media together comprise outdoor advertising.

Outdoor advertising has many purposes as does any other advertising medium. Sales, of course is the primary purpose however there are other important reasons to turn to this advertising medium. Fighting crime is one of the ways in which the outdoor advertising industry has made a difference. Public service messages, like those for teenage runaways are important ways to use billboards and other forms of this medium.

Technology has played a big part in the success and advancement of outdoor advertising. Depending on the format used, content can actually be changed from another location using a computer.

Sports stadiums are famous for using outdoor advertising. As technology has advanced, they’re able to feature more and more advertisers.

Buses, bus shelters and bus benches are huge venues for outdoor advertising. So are subways, airports and terminals.

Ordinary people sometimes use billboards and other forms of outdoor advertising to search for a mate, a criminal or as was the case with one woman, a job. She actually listed her credentials, picture and phone number on a huge billboard. She got 20 serious inquiries out of the deal.

For the advertiser, outdoor advertising is a powerful medium in which to reach your target audience because if people just leave their homes, they’re likely to see some form of outdoor advertising regardless of where they go. For the consumer, it brings us phone numbers, food and services or danger ahead.

A few have advertised for a wife or a husband using outdoor advertising, mostly billboards. One woman advertised for information leading to her husband’s killer. Missing persons are often advertised on billboards.

Anyone driving along the interstate may have seen the Amber Alert being advertised.

Those who are traveling some distance often look to outdoor advertising to alert them of upcoming food and gas establishments. How many of us have stopped to get the exact food being profiled on the giant billboard?

Advertising is powerful and it is powerful in many forms. Anyone who has ever stood in a taxi line outside a Las Vegas casino has no doubt seen a myriad of outdoor advertising atop the taxis advertising shows, food, casinos and the like.

Public service messages are advertised on more than one outdoor advertising format. Have you noticed the advertising panels on city wide metro buses? These are often public service messages however food and almost anything is advertised in this manner as well. Buses that run strictly college campus routes often have advertising affixed to them directed specifically to college-age consumers.

Even with the Internet and the instant everything attitude of our society, outdoor advertising has managed to grow in revenue and usefulness. It’s because we live in a mobile society and we are always on the go. We can’t help but notice this advertising medium. We can’t crumple it up and throw it away or turn it down or screen which ones we’re going to look at. In fact, more and more of us intentionally look at outdoor advertising when we’re looking for specific information.

Though billboards are by far not the only outdoor advertising format, they do rake in about 64% of the outdoor advertising dollars.

One thing about it: there’s not much time to convey a message to people moving at speeds of 60, 70 or more miles an hour. Fixed billboards have to be quick and to the point.

Billboards advertise everything from God to gum and they are the most popular form of outdoor advertising. They direct us to eating establishments, fuel stops and let the weary traveler know where he can lay down his head and how far away it is.

Commercial billboards usually let us know what is up ahead. They also advertise products from perfumes to printers. Services too, are advertised on billboards.

Billboards are also used in political campaigns.

Billboards have become a powerful crime-fighting tool. Arizona recently advertised a serial killer’s crimes on a billboard and the FBI profiled one of the 10 most wanted on another billboard.

Vinyl sheeting is used on most billboards. Most companies that advertise on billboards rent them. Many billboards are lit up today and some of them have continuous moving parts.

Public service messages have become big campaigns for billboards. AIDS prevention, runaways, teenage pregnancy and drugs are just some of the public service messages that billboards convey.

Some billboards are downright entertaining. In fact, there is tremendous competition among advertising companies to create the best billboards. By bringing their client company recognition, the advertising companies often get recognized too because people want to know who came up with such and such idea. Advertisers also vie for awards each year that comprise all formats of outdoor advertising, including billboards.

Billboards have come a long way over the years. There are various forms of billboards, the most popular being the kind you see along the highway, but billboards are also painted onto buildings, especially in densely populated metropolitan areas.

Advertising on street furniture is another form of outdoor advertising that works. Street furniture can be benches, bus shelters, bicycle racks and parking garages or structures. Street lamps are street furniture and people advertise on them all the time by placing a sign looking for a lost puppy or advertising a tag sale, etc.

According to the OAAA, the Street Furniture category of outdoor advertising also includes kiosks, shopping mall displays and in store advertising.

Phone booths are/were street furniture however you don’t see many of them anymore. However there are still plenty of places to advertise on street furniture as this format has taken 7% of the outdoor advertising revenue.

Almost all bus shelters and benches contain some form of advertising, some of which is public service ads and some of which is commercial. No matter if we’ve read those ads a hundred times, given the situation of sitting there waiting for a bus, most of us will read the ads and study the pictures over and over again.

Don’t ride the bus? That’s ok because the same company that puts the ads on the bus benches and bus shelters also puts them on the buses themselves which anyone is going to see in traffic and of course those same companies are on the billboards that we pass everyday.

By diversifying the various modes of outdoor advertising, almost everyone who goes outside their home is going to see some form of it. Some companies, of course will want to target a certain group so they will probably stick to one or two forms of outdoor advertising. However, many of them use each format for maximum advertising coverage and success.

According to the OAAA, transit advertising involves both advertising that is affixed to a vehicle as well as positioned in the public areas of transit stations, airports and terminals. We’ve all seen the advertisements on buses and taxis. This format of outdoor advertising garners 12% of the outdoor advertising revenue.

This is the format states use when implementing the Amber Alert, which is essentially a call for help to the public to find a missing or abducted child. Digital signs are positioned on stretches of highway to alert drivers and sometimes may include a license number or short description. When the child has been found, the messages are changed from a computer to let travelers know.

Buses have been wrapped entirely in advertising “sheets”. Superman and other characters have covered buses to the extent that the advertisement appears to have been painted on the bus. Juicy hamburgers beckon to us from the back and sides of buses, concerts and stars are highlighted on buses, as are movies, characters and countless other products and services.

Subways and taxis are also popular places to use outdoor advertising. Taxis often use 3-D “taxi tops” that advertise the product or service so that people behind the taxi can see it and oncoming traffic and pedestrians can read it and then there’s usually a picture or wording on the ends of the taxi top as well. These are most often printed and some are LED displays. LED displays are usually swept up by clients who want to change the message periodically or update the information being advertised.

Long-haul truckers often haul trailers with advertising panels on them. These usually belong to the company the trucker is hauling for and advertise their goods.

Outdoor advertising that employs the transit format of advertising reaches countless millions every year. Whether we’re the ones doing the moving or the advertising is doing the moving, we’re coming together and getting the message.

Almost 17% of outdoor advertising dollars are spent on alternative media advertising. Not nearly as mysterious as it sounds, Alternative Media advertising encompasses such simple things as shopping bags and dry-cleaning bags and hangers. Alternative media advertising also involves arenas and sports stadiums. Scoreboards at sporting events usually have plenty of advertising.

You’ll find alternative media outdoor advertising at bus terminals, movie theater screens and airplane banners. You’ll notice that with alternative media advertising, most but not all of it is outdoors. What sets this form of advertising apart from the others is that it reaches consumers during specialized activities.

For example, some ATM’s have advertising playing on their screens while you’re waiting for your transaction to complete. It is during that special activity that you are going to see that vendor’s advertising.

Whether you opt for paper or plastic at the grocery store, you’re most likely going to take a form of alternative advertising home with you. When you go out into the parking lot, you may notice advertising on the parking bumper. While you may not see much of the advertising on the bumper that you’re parked against, you’ll most likely see the advertising on the adjacent bumpers.

Sailboats and ferries often carry advertising messages. Major companies advertise on these vessels. Alternative advertising, though quite diverse has become a powerful outdoor advertising influence.

Countless public service messages are plastered on billboards, buses and other forms of outdoor advertising at any given time. According to the OAAA, the outdoor advertising industry contributes $300 million annually in space for public service ads. That’s a lot of reaching out and changing lives with these mini messages.

Smoky the Bear, The Red Cross and hundreds of other organizations are able to speak to millions of people on a daily basis through this venue. A seed can be planted in someone’s mind in just the few seconds it takes to speed past a billboard. We may not act immediately but once a seed has been planted whether it’s a public service announcement to donate blood, an 800 number for a runaway hotline, or a missing child, these advertising moments are literally life-changing.

When Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped in 2003, a billboard was erected showing her picture, offering a reward and posting an 800 number. When she came home 9 months later, another billboard went up in celebration of her homecoming. That public service billboard gave hope to a lot of families that their missing loved one could come home too.

We’ve erected billboards urging support of our troops. Drinking and Driving billboards are up all over the United States, one of them showing “jewelry” which are of course, handcuffs.

Other public service signage include driving friendly and countless others to persuade us to either do something we should be doing or not to do something we shouldn’t be doing. The “Buckle up” campaign uses massive outdoor advertising to get through to us.

Technology has brought the outdoor advertising industry into the 21st century with gusto. Digital displays that advertise goods and services can rotate every few seconds so that while an advertisement is constantly being displayed, one space is being divided between 2 or more messages or customers.

There are digital displays that can send messages to one’s cell phone even. Interactive displays/billboards have been in use in some areas and are sure to grow in number. A consumer once played a game on his cell phone while interacting with an outdoor digital display in New York.

Although sheets and posters are still part of the outdoor advertising industry in a big way, lights and technology in general have made so much more than posters and pictures possible. Even lottery terminals inside convenience stores are sometimes used for public service messages such as the Amber Alert. If it weren’t for this technology, many messages would never get out to the masses because the emergency would be over by the time the printing and physical labor of putting the billboard or posters together was completed.

Technology allows us to see outdoor advertising in the dark that previously we couldn’t see or couldn’t see very well. Now, many billboards are lit and even provide extra lighting to drive by.

With today’s technology, companies and individuals can choose between many forms of outdoor advertising to best reach their target audiences. Or, as is the case much of the time, they can employ more than one kind of outdoor advertising in order to reach more people in more places.

Technology allows right here right now advertising that can save lives, sell goods and services, bring us news and alerts and so much more.

Like many other industries, the outdoor advertising industry vies for awards and a place in the Hall of Fame. Advertising agencies and those charged with creating “the” campaign or sign or billboard compete with each other to come up with the best. The OBIE awards is the OAAA annual awards program, possibly named for the Egyptian obelisk, a tall stone structure which some consider to be the first form of outdoor advertising.

The awards are presented annually and include Best of Show, OBIE award, Merit and Finalist. For example, the 2006 Best of Show award went to the advertising company that came up with the campaign for a dog food company. Dogs are shown larger than life on billboards that make it look as if the dog is going to literally jump off of the billboard. The simple caption reads, “Dogs Rule” and there is a series of billboards with large dogs in different poses. One of them shows a dog jumping up to get a ball and the ball appears to be above the billboard. A lot of creativity went into this one. The awards cover all categories of outdoor advertising. Each year, one advertiser is inducted into the Hall of Fame after using outdoor advertising for several years. In 2006, Chick-Fil-A was inducted into the Hall of Fame for its “Eat more chicken” campaign that uses 3-D cows to persuade consumers to eat chicken instead of beef. The brand has been using this campaign successfully for 10 years.