www.idosr.org Tyler et al ©IDOSR PUBLICATIONS International Digital Organization for Scientific Research. ISSN: 2550-7958. IDOSR JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION AND ENGLISH 5(1) 59-65, 2020.

The Importance of Billboard Advertising

Tyler Evans, Jasmine Molly, Serenity O. Eva and Aidan Miles

Communication and Media University of Maryland, US.

ABSTRACT This study shows the importance of Billboard advertising. Billboard advertising is effective for building brand awareness and broadcasting your business (or product or campaign) to as many people as possible. Because they’re in such busy areas, billboards tend to have the highest number of views and impressions when compared to other marketing methods. The largest billboard available in a campaign is known as the "bulletin," but billboard sizes can vary greatly depending on location. Billboard advertising can be relatively inexpensive depending on the size and location, but the expense must be weighed against the kind of message you want to get across. Billboards are a very quick read, so they shouldn't contain a lot of information. There are regular billboards, and then there are 3D billboards. These really go above and beyond to attract the attention of viewers. Billboard advertisements are designed to catch a person's attention and create a memorable impression very quickly, leaving the reader thinking about the advertisement after they have driven past it. Billboards advertising afford some distinctive advantages as a marketing tool. This study shows that billboard advertising in marketing has a major contributing factor towards the success of marketing products or companies. Keywords: Billboard, Advertising, importance, marketing and broadcasting.

INTRODUCTION Billboard advertising is the process of creative "customizing" through extensions using a large-scale print advertisement (a and embellishments. Posters are the other billboard, or a hoarding to those in the common form of billboard advertising, UK) to market a company, brand, product, located mostly along primary and service, or campaign. Billboards are secondary arterial roads. Posters are a typically placed in high traffic areas, such smaller format and are viewed principally as along highways and in cities, so they’re by residents and commuter traffic, with seen by the highest number of drivers some pedestrian exposure and pedestrians. A billboard is a Billboard advertising is effective for large outdoor advertising structure building brand awareness and typically found in high-traffic areas such broadcasting your business (or product or as alongside busy roads [1] [2]. Billboards campaign) to as many people as possible. present large advertisements to passing Because they’re in such busy areas, pedestrians and drivers. Typically billboards tend to have the highest showing witty slogans and distinctive number of views and impressions when visuals, billboards are highly visible in compared to other marketing methods [3]. the top designated market areas. The Essentially, billboards are large posters – largest ordinary-sized billboards are a medium that people have used to located primarily on major highways, advertise products and services since the expressways or principal arterials, and time of the ancient Egyptians. And make command high-density consumer no mistake: Billboards are a form of exposure (mostly to vehicular traffic). advertising – versus public relations or These afford greatest visibility due not promotion – because you must pay for the only to their size, but because they allow message on display. ―A billboard or

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www.idosr.org Tyler et al bulletin is a large outdoor advertising 14 feet high by 48 feet wide. space that is meant to target and attract Billboards used to be created using the attention of pedestrians and motorists sections of paper pasted together to form in the surrounding area,‖ says Digital one image, but it's more common in the Media [4]. Today's billboards attract millennium to see digital printing on vinyl attention via several formats: material. This allows the entire image to So-called ―static‖ billboards be printed on one sheet, and it can be bear the greatest erected quickly and easily. A billboard resemblance to their buy is usually for 12 weeks, so it's ancient ancestors, with important that the content be at least printed vinyl stretched over somewhat evergreen. Billboards are the a base of wood or ideal place for long-term messaging, but aluminum. Billboard anything more reactive should go extensions add a three- somewhere else. dimensional element to an Digital billboards allow creative otherwise flattened image, executions that can be personalized, or with an add-on piece or swapped out with other ads. Clients can cutout designed to enhance sometimes choose to timeshare their ads the billboard's with other companies, swapping out every visibility. Digital billboards few minutes [6]. provide even greater Billboard Usage creative freedom. They ―are Billboard advertising can be relatively essentially large computer inexpensive depending on the size and screens that can be location, but the expense must be programmed to display weighed against the kind of message you messages in a range of want to get across. Billboards are a very innovative ways,‖ B Media quick read, so they shouldn't contain a lot Group says. ―Things can be of information. as simple as switching This type of advertising can be a great between images option if your campaign is one of periodically so that awareness and branding, but it should be multiple advertisers can cut avoided if you want to convey a lot of costs by sharing a single information about your product or billboard, or they can get service. Six words is the ideal amount of more complex by utilizing copy on a billboard, and that can severely animation and real-time limit your ability to communicate with updates.‖ potential consumers [7]. The term "billboard" is derived from You should also consider the content and "billing board," a large outdoor tone of the billboard because this can advertising space designed to capture the have some negative side effects. Sexually attention of motorists and pedestrians. provocative billboards have caused Typically placed around automotive and accidents on roads and motorways—the foot high-traffic areas, billboards are Wonder bra ads were infamous for this— meant to be simple and striking. and you don't want the negative publicity Advertising agency creative departments of car accidents being directly linked to prize billboard space for its golden your ad campaign or product. opportunity to do groundbreaking, Billboards That Go Beyond impactful work, but there are some There are regular billboards, and then drawbacks as well [5]. there are 3D billboards. These really go Billboard Details above and beyond to attract the attention The largest billboard available in a of viewers. Although there are height and campaign is known as the "bulletin," but width restrictions along with distraction billboard sizes can vary greatly rules in most states and jurisdictions, depending on location. The typical size is advertisers can push the boundaries and 60 IDOSR JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION AND ENGLISH 5(1) 59-65, 2020.

www.idosr.org Tyler et al create boards that are newsworthy. Some were then "pounced" onto the board with have used smoke and other special a chalk filled pounce bag, marking the effects, and others have even had real outlines of the figures or objects. Using people "living" on them. This type of oil paints, artists would use large brushes billboard is generally not much more to paint the image. Once the panels were expensive because the bulk of the cost installed using hydraulic cranes, artists comes from renting the space rather than would go up on the installed billboard production. Creativity like this is worth and touch up the edges between panels. exploring because it gives you a greater These large, painted billboards were return on investment and media credit, especially popular in Los Angeles where which can draw thousands more eyes to historic firms such as Foster & Kleiser and your message [8]. Pacific Outdoor Advertising dominated Types of Billboards the industry. Eventually, these painted Billboard advertisements are designed to billboards gave way to graphic catch a person's attention and create a reproduction, but hand-painted billboards memorable impression very quickly, are still in use in some areas where only a leaving the reader thinking about the single board or two is required. The advertisement after they have driven past "Sunset Strip" in Los Angeles is one area it. They have to be readable in a very where hand-painted billboards can still be short time because they are usually read found, usually to advertise upcoming while being passed at high speeds [9] [10]. films or albums [13]. Thus there are usually only a few words, Digital billboards in large print, and a humorous or A digital billboard is a billboard that arresting image in brilliant color. Some shows varying imagery and text created billboard designs spill outside the actual from computer programs and software. space given to them by the billboard, with Digital billboards can be designed to parts of figures hanging off the billboard display running text, display several edges or jutting out of the billboard in different displays from the same three dimensions. An example is the company, and even provide several United States around the turn of the 21st companies a certain time slot during the century was the Chick-fil-A billboards (a day. The constantly changing texts ensure chicken sandwich fast food chain), which maximum impact and wide exposure to had three-dimensional cow figures in the target audiences. The ability to schedule act of painting the billboards with advertisements remotely, in combination misspelled anti-beef slogans such as with flexible real-time scheduling, has "frendz don't let frendz eat beef." allowed for a decrease in traditional The first "scented billboard", an outdoor upkeep and maintenance costs. sign emitting the odors of black pepper Additionally, digital billboards are and charcoal to suggest a grilled steak, continually integrating with real-time was erected on NC 150 near Mooresville, advertisement technologies to measure North Carolina by the Bloom grocery audiences or serve dynamic content. In chain. The sign depicted a giant cube of January 2015, Ooh! Media launched a beef being pierced by a large fork that campaign with Porsche that detected extended to the ground. The scents were incoming Porsche cars and displayed a emitted between 7–10 am and 4–7 pm dynamic piece of relevant content to from 28 May 2010 through 18 June 2010 Porsche drivers [14]. [11]. Mobile billboards Painted billboards Outdoor Advertising, such as a mobile Almost all billboards are painted in large billboard, is effective because it is studios. The image is projected on the difficult to ignore. According to a UK series of paper panels that made up the national survey, it is also memorable. billboard. Line drawings were done, and Capitol Communications Group found then traced with a pounce wheel that that 81.7% of those polled recalled images created perforated lines [12]. The patterns they saw on a moving multi-image 61 IDOSR JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION AND ENGLISH 5(1) 59-65, 2020.

www.idosr.org Tyler et al sign.[citation needed] This is compared to large number of wireless phone a 19% retention rate for static signs. companies, movie companies, car Unlike a typical billboard, mobile manufacturers and banks are high on the billboards are able to go directly to their list as well. target audience. They can be placed 4. Tobacco and Alcohol advertising wherever there is heavy foot traffic due to Prior to 1999, billboards were a major an event – including convention centers, venue of cigarette advertising; 10% of train stations, airports and sports arenas Michigan billboards advertise alcohol and [15]. They can repeat routes, ensuring tobacco, according to the Detroit Free that an advertiser's message is not only Press.[26] This is particularly true in noticed, but that information is retained countries where tobacco advertisements through repetition. are not allowed in other media. Multi-purpose billboards 5. Non-commercial use Billboards may be multi-purpose. An Non-commercial advertisement is used advertising sign can integrate its main around the world by governments and purpose with telecommunications non-profit organisations to obtain antenna or public lighting support. donations, volunteer support or change Usually the structure has a steel pole with consumer behavior. a coupling flange on the above-fitted Advantages of a Billboard advertising billboard structure that can Advertisement contain telecommunications antennas. B Media Group maintains that ―digital The lighting, wiring, and any antennas are billboards have brought this advertising placed inside the structure [16]. tool into the 21st century.‖ Whether or Usages of Billboard not you agree with this assertion, there is 1. Highway no doubt that billboards afford some Many signs advertise local restaurants distinctive advantages as a marketing and shops in the coming miles, and are tool. Some are obvious – billboards are: crucial to drawing business in small . Huge, and therefore inherently towns. In some areas the signs were so attention-getting (the objective of all dense that one almost immediately forms of advertising). Best at followed the last. This situation changed displaying simple, straightforward after the Highway Beautification Act was messages that most consumers can passed; the proliferation of Wall Drug easily decipher. Capable of reaching a billboards is sometimes cited as one of large and diverse audience, because the reasons the bill was passed.. they are usually placed in locations 2. Railway where they are most likely to be seen Billboard advertising in underground [17]. In this way, billboards provide a stations, especially, is perhaps a place small business owner with maximum where they find a greater degree of exposure.* Adept at fulfilling acceptability and may assist in consumers' need for multiple maintaining a neat, vibrant and safe ―touches‖ – a marketing term that atmosphere if not too distracting. speaks to the number of exposures a Museum Station, Sydney has mounted consumer must have with a business restored 1940s billboard panels along the before responding to a call for action. platforms that are in keeping with its This applies especially to motorists heritage listing. who see the same billboards every 3. Big name advertisers day on their way to work. Such Billboards are also used to advertise repetition can deliver value, both in national or global brands, particularly in increasing awareness and spurring more densely populated urban areas. action. According to the Outdoor Advertising Other potential advantages of billboard Association of America, the top billboard advertising make sense – at least under advertisers in the United States in 2017 the right circumstances. Consider that were McDonald's, Apple and GEICO. A billboards: 62 IDOSR JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION AND ENGLISH 5(1) 59-65, 2020.

www.idosr.org Tyler et al . May capture one of the few ―captive‖ . Are stationary objects that require audiences left in an ad-happy society. consumers to rely on their recall Consumers can zoom through ability. In this way, they are markedly commercials on TV, click off ads on different from online ads, which the internet and walk out of the room consumers can revisit time and again, when a radio ad fails to engage them. and print advertising that consumers But they have to keep their eyes on can read at their leisure and return to the road, especially if they're the later.* Provide people with precious driver. little information [19]. In fact, . Can spawn an almost immediate depending on who you consult, it’s increase in sales. This is why the recommended that ―billboard type‖ ―Aunt Millies‖ and ―Uncle Bobs‖ of be confined to no more than 10 the world – businesses located on words. Such a pithy message might highways with quick turn-offs – rely not be enough to buoy sales from on this advertising medium. consumers who crave information. . Allow for more geographically On the other hand, it could be targeted marketing than perhaps any enough to plant a seed or make an other form of advertising. You may impression, similar to some carmaker not know who is viewing the billboards that feature a single message, but you know exactly where adjective. they are when they read it. And if you . Offer an extremely brief, if not cater to a limited service area, fleeting, exposure time to absorb the billboards could fit your marketing information. But again, depending on goals to a T. the message, speed could be part of . Deliver a low cost per impression. the allure.* Usually are a short-term Even an expensive billboard can advertising tool, unless you make a deliver a low cost per impression if a commitment to change the message large number of people see it. on a monthly basis. Digital billboards offer several other . Make it impossible to target a specific benefits, namely the ability to: group of people (the flip-side of . Feature a moving (as opposed to reaching that large and diverse static) image. Display different audience). If your business caters to a messages at different times of the specific demographic – say, day. If Aunt Millie's kitchen is still professional males between the ages open after breakfast, a billboard of 25 and 45 – billboards provide no could advertise her lunchtime guarantee whatsoever that your specials. And if she's open for dinner, message will reach them. However, if it could attempt to lure people with your business serves a more her evening fare. Stream content expansive demographic – or you from a business's website or social decide the reach of billboards is media platform in real time, bringing worth the cost – you may be willing a compelling symmetry to a to overlook this drawback [20]. marketing campaign [18]. . Can become casualties of the outdoor Disadvantages of a Billboard elements, right along with the Advertisement message they contain. Even a Like that brash, boisterous cousin, billboard you deem affordable could billboards can excel at making their end up being a waste of money and presence known. But everyone knows that creative time if a long streak of heavy not all attention is positive or engenders a weather strikes your area. But favorable response. Beyond the size and precipitation isn’t the only cause of ―tune-out factor‖ that all advertising can visibility problems. So are 18- elicit from weary consumers, billboards wheelers and other large vehicles that present some drawbacks. They: may obstruct motorists’ vision at the

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www.idosr.org Tyler et al precise moment they approach your billboard [21]. CONCLUSION This study shows that billboard and what the same amount of money advertising in marketing has a major could buy in the form of other types of contributing factor towards the success of advertising – may be one obstacle you are marketing products or companies. It trying to overcome. But there is another should be noted that even though concern many small business owners billboard advertising plays a vital role in harbor too: They fear billboards may be the operations of the company yet it does too ―flashy‖ for their image. More not function on its own. But rather, it also traditional advertising mediums that cater depends on the other elements of to the masses, and especially radio and Integrated Marketing Communication like TV, might strike you as more suitable, if sales promotion, public relation, personal not more conservative. Only you (not selling and others to succeed. It was even your marketing team) should settle concluded that billboard advertising has this issue because you (not your the ability to influence customers in their marketing team) will live with the decision making. The cost of a billboard – aftermath. REFERENCES 1. Aronoff, Jen (2010). "Eau de 7. Bigsten, A., & Gebreeyesus, M. marketing, with hint of pepper". (2007). The small, the young, and The Charlotte Observer. Archived the productive: Determinants of from the original on 5 June 2010. manufacturing firm growth in Retrieved 8 June 2010. Ethiopia. Economic Development 2. Baack, D., Wilson, R., & Till, B. and Cultural Change, 55(4), 813– (2016). Culture, development, 840. and advertising content: An 8. Bowersox, D., & Cooper, B. exploratory replication and (1992). Strategic marketing extension of past international channel management. New York, advertising research to outdoor NY: McGraw-Hill. advertising. Marketing 9. Burgess, Katie (22 February Management Journal, 26(1), 18– 2018). "Government flags further 34. review of billboard laws as 3. Baker, Emily (18 February 2018). Greens call for crackdown on "Canberra billboard ban: New illegal advertising". The Canberra polling shows disapproval for Times. Retrieved 18 July 2018. relaxing of laws". The Canberra 10. Burgess, Katie (25 January 2017). Times. Retrieved 18 July 2018. "ACT may relax its ban on 4. Baron, D. (2010). The impact of billboards". The Canberra Times. telecommunications services on Retrieved 18 July 2018. doing business in Ethiopia. Addis 11. Burgess, S., & Steenkamp, J.-B. Ababa: Addis Ababa Chamber of (2006). Marketing renaissance: Commerce and Sectoral How research in emerging Associations. markets advances marketing 5. Belch, G., & Belch, M. (2003). science and practice. Advertising and promotion: An International Journal of Research integrated marketing in Marketing, 23(4), 337–356. communication perspective (6th 12. Cairney, P., & Gunatillake, T. ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill. (2000). Does roadside advertising 6. Bell, D., Ho, T-H., & Tang, C. really cause crashes? Paper (1998). Determining where to presented at the Road Safety: shop: Fixed and variable costs of research, enforcement and shopping. Journal of Marketing policy., Brisbane, Australia. Research, 35(3), 352–369. 13. Calder, B., & Malthouse, E. (2008). Media engagement and 64 IDOSR JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION AND ENGLISH 5(1) 59-65, 2020.

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