Amazing Billboard Ads

Posted on September 30, 2019 by admin

We are constantly bombarded by messages enticing us to buy something. Look at a website and the next thing that pops up is an array of ads for that item from competing companies. Open your e-mail and there are full-color, animated sales flyers whether you asked for them or not. Ads come in many forms including posters, window displays, newspaper and magazine ads, t-shirts, web, and social media, but the most effective type is still in the form of amazing billboard ads.

Advertising is big business. This year it topped $100 billion dollars in the USA alone. Outdoor or billboard advertising accounted for 7% of that.

Some billboard ads appeal to certain potential clients. Others garner more attention from a different niche market. But what, exactly, makes an outdoor effective? The most amazing billboard ads follow certain designs and creative elements, and we’re giving you some intriguing information on them below.

Why are Outdoor Ads so Effective?

Billboard ads have been proven to be highly effective. Who can resist reading a big, bold billboard or a colorful ad the full length of a city bus? It’s difficult to miss an ad that covers an entire wall.

Outdoor ads are limited only by the imagination of advertisers. Have you noticed ads in cab windows, on bus shelters, affixed to park benches? You will find them on kiosks in shopping malls, plus trains, in airports, and even front lawns. Most commonly, however, outdoor ads occupy space nearest to roads in the form of billboards and with good reason. Every day, people commute t0 work, home, stores and more, and within that drive time, they either knowingly or unknowingly pass by a captivating billboard.

We spend more time away from home than we do inside so it follows that outdoor signs catch our eye and lure us to buy. Still, what makes amazing billboard ads effective?

Outdoor Signs Have High Impact

Where magazine or newspaper ads have to capture a viewer to the medium, outdoor advertising requires no such invitation. It’s right there. It’s in your face. It’s part of your environment. You can’t close it like the newspaper, shut it off like the TV, or shut it down by clicking your mouse.

You have no control over whether you view it. The longer and the more often you see it, the greater the impact.

Outdoor Ads Grab Your Attention

Outdoor ads stand alone. They aren’t competing with other ads the way TV, internet, and newspaper ads do.

Outdoor ads are often visible from afar. They stay in your visual range for several minutes. Outdoor advertisers strive for color, movement, and creativity that make them attention-grabbing and memorable even long after you’ve seen them.

Outdoor Advertising is Surprisingly Cost-Effective

Studies on return on investment (ROI) for outdoor billboard ads found that outdoor advertising is very cost-effective when compared with other types of advertising. The reason, again, is that they’re hard to ignore and they even subconsciously entice buying decisions.

Outdoor Advertising Reaches A Wide Audience

If you’re trying to reach a wide niche market, outdoor advertising is an excellent marketing platform for your brand, company, organization, or enterprise. Outdoor advertising has a broad audience. Being outdoors, businesses have the eyes of thousands of potential consumers. Many of them are hard to reach in other advertising media forms.

Where Do People Shop?

The short answer is: Not where they used to shop. Surveys discovered that over seventy percent of things purchased are not bought in retail centers and shopping malls. When it comes to advertising, location is crucial. Outdoor advertising is the most effective medium when it comes to making an impact on shoppers before they purchase.

Consumers Like Outdoor Ads

Ads on TV are hated! DVR companies make a fortune on providing the viewing public with a means of ignoring ads. On the other hand, outdoor ads are actually popular with consumers. An Australian study proved that locals and tourists preferred buses with ads than those without them. Over a third of American drivers said they welcomed the distraction of billboard ads.

Outdoor Ads Combine with Other Advertising

Outdoor advertising need not stand alone. It has been shown to combine well with other types of advertising. The result is a heightened impact on both types of ads.

Outdoor Ads Offer a Fresh Message

Thanks to modern technology, outdoor advertising gives brands and enterprises a novel, creative, attention-grabbing approach. It’s a way to reach potential consumers in an open, fresh appealing way.

Why are Billboards one of the Best Types of Outdoor Ads?

On average, people spend more than twenty hours a week in their cars. Here are some interesting statistics on commuters by state. For billboards, these drivers and their passengers are a captive audience.

Amazing billboard ads are big, bright, visually appealing, easy-to-read as you pass without undue driver distraction. Moreover, studies have shown that these messages leave a lasting visual impression.

Best Copy for Outdoor Ads

When it comes to compelling copy for an amazing billboard, you have to remember that you are competing with the driver’s smartphone, GPS, radio, and morning coffee. So, your message needs to be big, bold and easy to read in passing. It also needs to be clever but not cutesy.

A good rule of thumb in copy is six words or less. Six seconds is the usual time spent passing a billboard. Also, consider the words and their length.

You want to get noticed but not be a distraction whether you are a traditional roadside billboard or a mobile billboard on a bus or truck side.

You’re not trying to get a response. You want to entice a potential consumer, provide information, and get your brand out there. Billboards promote products and support brand campaigns.

Best Visuals

Good visuals are big, bright, bold. They elicit a feeling from the viewer and provide a lasting memory of what they have seen for only a few seconds. Thanks to computer-aided design and vinyl sign software packages these visuals can be created effectively for both stationary and mobile billboards.

Outdoor Ads Faux-Pas

Not all billboards are effective. Here are some things to avoid when designing a billboard:

Ineffective Use of Color

Thanks to computer-aided design the sky’s the limit when it comes to color. Your ad must be attractive to grab the viewer’s attention and provide a lasting visual.

Hard-to-Read Fonts

Choose fonts carefully. Stylized fonts, curly print, thin letters are a bad choice on billboards. Aim for easy and fast reading format.

Too Much Text

As cosmetics maven, MaryKay, said of women’s makeup, “Less is more!” Avoid large chunks of text. Six words is a good rule of thumb.

Poor Placement

As with real estate, in the world of billboards placement is a major decision. Not selecting the right location can be the demise of your add no matter how effective the design.

Amateur Design

Hire a professional. Many companies hoping to save a dollar try to use a software package to create their own billboards. The results are often poor if not disastrous. The money spent on professional billboards more than pays for itself in return on investment.

Let us help. bMedia billboards have proven customer satisfaction and results.

History of Billboard Advertising

Posted on August 17, 2019 by admin

The first billboards were invented in the 1830s. They became a popular form of advertising in the 1860s. Then, as the 19th century came to a close, the proper format of a billboard was defined and their popularity skyrocketed.

In the 1830s, a man named Jared Bell created some of the very first billboards. These billboards advertised circus acts like Barnum And Bailey. The billboards were often large posters, displaying colorful pictures. They emphasized unique features and promotional elements for each of their upcoming shows.

The 1860s saw a major shift in billboard advertising. Businesses were able to purchase outdoor space to utilize for billboard display. Soon enough, advertisers began taking advantage of the new laws and regulations, setting up different billboards and experimenting with their own forms and creatives. They were often hand-drawn or hand-painted and labor-intensive.

Two things happened in the last four decades of the 19th century:

Billboards became more popular, which led to the founding of various billboard associations. Some of the most famous from this period was The International Bill Posters Association and the Associated Bill Posters’ Association. They helped launch billboard advertising, as a concept, nationwide.
As these associations became more prominent, standards for billboard advertising began to subtly change. In 1889, the Paris Expo revealed the first-ever twenty-four sheet billboard. That twenty-four sheet format became the standard format for billboards everywhere.

Jared Bell created some of the first billboards for famous circus acts in the 1830s
Nw legislation allowed advertisers to purchase outdoor space for advertising purposes in the 1860s
The International Bill Posters Association and Associated Bill Posters’ Association introduced billboards to other advertisers
The first twenty-four sheet billboard was shown at the Paris Expo, and then the World’s Columbian Exposition.
This twenty-four sheet format became the standard billboard

When Billboards Took Over Advertising

The Model T was one of the first affordable cars. It changed the United States, and ushered in an era of cheap, low-cost manufacturing. As more people became reliant on cars, roads and highways were soon built to support them. Soon enough, advertisers realized that setting up billboards on roads and highways was an excellent advertising strategy.

After the introduction of the Model T, cars quickly became the main form of transportation. Older methods of transportation — railroads and horses, mainly — became a secondary option.

Due to this influx of cars, cities were forced to adapt their infrastructure to accommodate the growing automobile market. This lead to the creation of better roads and highways. Shortly after, advertisers realized that this would become prime advertising real estate.

While billboards were always a popular form of advertising throughout the 20th century, it wasn’t until the creation of the Interstate Highway System that billboards became extraordinarily successful. The Interstate Highway System — a system that connects the different states together through safe and efficient roads, spanning 49,000 miles — was a goldmine of display opportunities.

Hundreds of businesses used this method of advertising to their advantage. Most of these businesses set up conventional billboards. But, there were other businesses — for example, Burma Shave, Coca-Cola, and Palmolive — that realized that by designing humorous and captivating signs, you could entertain bored drivers.

The popularity of the first cars, Model T, lead to the development of better roads and highways
Advertisers realized that these roads and highways could be used to set up billboards
The Interstate Highway System lead to billboards becoming one of the most popular forms of advertising
Businesses started using billboards to create advertisements that entertained drivers

The Highway Beautification Act

The placement of billboards on the Interstate Highway System was largely unregulated. There were very few restrictions regarding the size, spacing, placement, and design. This lack of regulation changed in 1965.

The Interstate Highway System brought a great deal of prosperity to the billboard industry. Billboards were extremely popular, and the businesses and products they were advertising even more.

In 1965, the Highway Beautification Act was passed. The Highway Beautification Act set limitations on the number of billboards that could be placed along highways, as well as regulations on factors such as size, spacing, and lighting.

While some in the industry thought that this would put an end to billboards, it didn’t. Instead, billboard designs complied with the newly formed regulations.

The Interstate Highway System and the placement of billboards was largely unregulated
This changed in 1965 when the Highway Beautification Act was passed
Advertisers were forced to comply with various regulations regarding spacing, size, and lighting
Billboards remained popular, but they had to change and develop in order to comply with these new regulations

The Future of Billboard Advertising

Today, billboards still comprise a large percentage of the advertising market. Instead of going with traditional billboards, though, advertisers are using digital methods. Digital billboards bring less work and fewer overhead costs while delivering a more vivid and engaging form of advertising.

To some, billboards are seen as a “relic of the past”. For advertisers, though, this is far from the truth. As of today, billboards comprise 66% of the “out of home” advertising market. Many of these billboards are digital.

Digital billboards require less work than traditional billboards. They also offer more possibilities for creativity and experimentation.

Instead of shipping an advertisement to a billboard company weeks in advance, all that’s needed is a file. If you want to experiment with different creatives and ideas including, colors, fonts, styles and sound effects for your advertisement, you can do so easily. If something doesn’t work out, simply press a few buttons to make desired changes.

Along with that, digital billboards and other outdoor media are starting to integrate sensors and cameras. These allow for more dynamic and engaging advertisements that directly interface with whoever is viewing the ad.

While the billboard advertising form will continue to shift and change, one thing is certain: billboards are here to stay.

Billboards still comprise a significant portion of the advertising market
The traditional billboard was replaced with their digital counterparts
Digital billboards require less maintenance than traditional billboards
Sensors and cameras are being used to create interactive ads

Billboard Advertising in Puerto Rico

bMedia is a Puerto Rico local outdoor media company specializing in billboard advertising. While we’ve come a long way since hand-painted signage and extremely labor-intensive displays, we are happy to continue servicing one of the oldest forms of advertising. This advertising strategy has been proven and methodically implemented for companies across the nation. We offer our support and creativity for businesses exclusive to Puerto Rico. Contact us for pricing and additional information.

Advertising in Puerto Rico

Posted on April 12, 2019 by admin

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The Locations of our Billboards
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Advertising in Puerto Rico through billboard advertising is often overlooked as outdated in the digital age, but this belief couldn’t be less correct. This is especially true when you’re looking at a market such as Puerto Rico because it’s a densely populated island, and many people spend a lot of time in cars. Without much else to stimulate their mind while sitting strapped into their seats, striking advertising signs will really catch their eyes. Also, you don’t have to go through the great expense of finding advertisement signs for sales. We offer competitively priced solutions for you to simply rent space on the signs that we maintain.
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Here are some statistics from the Arbitron National In-Car Study about outdoor media advertising.

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Learned about an event they were interested in attending
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Reported receiving directional information from a billboard
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Visited the retailer they saw on a billboard later that week
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Learned about a restaurant they later visited
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Whether you’re already a fan of outdoor media or are just thinking about getting involved, bMedia can get you through the process in a way that will produce positive results. We have 18 outdoor billboards at strategic locations throughout Puerto Rico, and they’ve all been positioned in places that are most likely to be seen by large groups of potential customers. Additionally, we’ve done a lot of tracking to know how many people will view each one, and we can even give you more details about what types of people these are. This will help you plan your advertising campaigns in a way that they primarily target the groups you’re hoping to reach. Also, our expertise and experience in the business allows us to give you plenty of advice on what makes a good billboard, as well as what methods will be less successful and should be avoided.
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There are many different results that can come from a successful billboard campaign, so the amount of strategies that can be followed is pretty much unlimited. However, two of the biggest reasons for creating outdoor advertising billboards are to boost your image and increase your sales numbers.
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The advances of computers and technology have offered many other opportunities for advertising in Puerto Rico, and this is probably the main reason that people so often think that billboard outdoor advertising no longer works. They get used to using all the detailed tracking data provided by online sources, and they forget that physical objects can also be analyzed. But, outdoor billboards are still extremely useful, and there is still a lot of data that can be examined to determine their usefulness.

Additionally, outdoor billboards have some specific advantages over purely electronic forms of advertising. For example, when they’re driving down the road, consumers don’t have a million other flashing icons to catch their eyes like on computer screen. Also, they are basically a captive audience who has no choice but to see your message. Plus, outdoor billboard advertising doesn’t have to compete with technology because it can be used in line with other digital resources. For example, you can use your outdoor billboards to advertise your website address, and then consumers can visit that to start working with your digital strategy.
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Unlike with many other forms of advertising, you can control where someone will be when they see your outdoor billboard. Using this physical advantage can be beneficial in many different ways. For example, knowing where the viewer will be allows you to put an advertisement that is relevant to their current situation, and the message can be customized to fit the feelings of the customer at that point in time. This will help them recall the message later because they will associate the feelings they received from the outdoor media billboard with what they were doing at the time. For example, if they were on the way to the beach when they saw an ad for a product to protect their skin from the sun, then they will be more likely to think of that brand when they’re shopping for something similar. Additionally, this whole strategy make consumers feel that the brand is thinking about them and is actually a part of their life. It’s a great step on the pathway to brand loyalty.
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At bMedia Group, we have helped many successful companies increase their brand with our knowledge. Working with so many organizations has given us the experience we need to help your campaign be even more successful, and we’ll use everything that we’ve learned about outdoor media to help strengthen your advertising strategy.
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Funny Advertising Fails

Posted on March 27, 2019 by admin

Advertising is all about creating associations. People who see a clear message alongside your brand will connect the two in their mind even if they don’t consciously realize it. But this effect is a double-edged sword; if someone attaches their brand to a poorly made advertisement, it can really hurt their image. Of course, if an advertisement is so bad that it’s funny when people share it online. So these advertisements are either fails or successes depending on whether or not you believe that all publicity is good publicity.

Yahoo 404 Error?

For any website, serving a user up a 404 error is an embarrassment. For one of the world’s largest search engines, producing a 404 should probably never happen, so the unfortunate number placement in this baseball stadium next to the Yahoo banner makes for funny advertising fail. Location always matters!

What Does That Say?

If you’re having trouble reading this on a screen that’s standing still imagine trying to read it while you drive past at more than sixty miles per hour. This sign seems like a real traffic hazard. Even if you can read it the slogan “see your teeth as we do” doesn’t feel worth the effort required.

Hunters and Hygienists

So I’m confused, are they holding my dental hygienist hostage? Listen, it’s great if you have hobbies and sometimes you can even work your favorite pastime into your ad campaign. But your job and your hobby need to align in some way for it to work. All this sign makes me think of is my teeth mounted on the wall beside some antlers.

Quality Control is Crucial

Even great designs can blow up in your face if the idea isn’t executed correctly. This ad must have looked great on the screen it was designed on but because the people putting the sign up didn’t put care into their work the whole impact was ruined. It just goes to show how important everyone, from the ad executive down to the person who actually has to physically put the ad up.

Diabetes, Straight Ahead

This sign placement is either incredibly unfortunate or ingenious. If the diabetes sign was there first, then McDonalds made a huge mistake. But if the McDonalds sign was the original sign then the people at the Ad Council found a great way to spread their message and make people question their unhealthy eating habits.

Join the Fun!

Because of the way the picture was cropped we can’t tell what the full sign says. What we can say for sure is that this sign seems to be encouraging people to die, and that’s always going to be a bad advertising move.

Celebrating Remarkable Women

Mixing social issues and personal promotion always requires a tricky balancing act and the people behind this sign handled the challenge with the grace of a boozed-up bull in a china shop. Honoring women is a worthy goal, but when that’s your goal you probably don’t want to make it look like your company doesn’t have any female leadership.

Love Your Curves

On the topic of mixed messages, here we have another case of good intentions and poor execution. If you want to sell your product to women who identify as curvy, then you should probably hire some models who aren’t so skinny. This advertisement manages to feel pandering, tone deaf, and insulting all at once. In that way, it’s actually quite an accomplishment!

This is Bland Flavor

Always triple check your font choice. Look at it yourself, show it to a friend, then show it to a stranger. If the designer behind this ad followed those steps, someone might have pointed out that the cursive I and S come together to look like a B, turning “island” into “bland.” It doesn’t help that the food in the picture ranges from black to brown to white. A little bit of garnish might wouldn’t have hurt.

Technical Error

Just as technology has opened up new avenues for success, it has also created plenty of new chances for failure. In the old days, a billboard ad would never need to be rebooted. Then again, this might be a good advertisement if it was put up by one of Intel’s competitors as a way to paint their products as faulty.

1-800-CALL

Last time I checked 1-800 numbers needs a few more numbers than this. What are the last three numbers? I know that CALL translates into 2255 but what three numbers do you get out of four generic looking lawyer types? Who thought this sign was complete? So many questions, so few answers.

For more humorous advertisements check out our article on: Funny Signs and Billboards.

How Does Facebook Spend its Advertising Budget? Billboards.

Posted on February 26, 2019 by admin

Have you ever seen a billboard ad for Facebook and stopped to wonder why one of the top online advertising powers in the world invests its marketing dollars into outdoor advertising?

Maybe not, but oh the irony. We personally think it’s pretty powerful that Facebook – an online marketing tool that stresses using its advertising tools to promote business – spends it’s own marketing dollars on a traditional form of marketing in billboards.

Live What You Love Campaign

One of the more noticeable Facebook billboard campaigns took place early last year across India. The campaign, entitled “Live What You Love” pushed groups, pages and events to Indian users in an effort to encourage them to join groups to find like-minded people.

The ads aired on prime time tv, and across prominent billboards in Mumbai, New Delhi, and several other cities.

Spam Is Not Your Friends Campaign

Perhaps the better-known example of Facebook using TV, print ads and large billboards is the most recent campaign that began in March of last year around America. The sparse billboards and bus stop signs proclaimed “Spam is not your friends”, “false news is not your friends” and “clickbait is not your friends” along with a promise to change the way things appear in the newsfeed.

This campaign was in response to bombshell revelations about how Russian bots used Facebook to disseminate false information, spam, and clickbait to influence the 2016 presidential election.

Facebook then went on to launch a summer campaign in the European Union to advise users of their rights under the General Data Protection Regulation Act.

Traditional Advertising is Still Key

Facebook’s efforts to reach its users not only on its own platform, but through traditional advertising methods like TV commercials, print ads and outdoor advertising on billboards, bus stops, subway signs and more underscore that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

In fact, outdoor advertising and billboards are the only advertising industry that is seeing more forecasted growth. In 2018, outdoor marketing was expected to grow 2% to account for an $8 billion market.

On the other hand, other traditional advertising saw a decline last year:

National TV Advertising: -1.5%
Local TV Advertising: -3.5%
Newspaper Advertising: -19%
Magazines -15%
Radio: -4%

The fact that outdoor advertising is the only section of the market seeing profitability amongst a mix of other traditional advertising methods shows us that outdoor media, billboards and signage are still one of the most effective ways to reach consumers when not on a digital platform.

Digital is the Difference

However, there is a marked difference between the success of traditional billboards and of digital billboards. Digital options are proven to be more cost-effective, and the bright, eye-catching effects that allow for multiple ads to appear on a single billboard makes the display more profitable for agencies and billboard owners.

Industries are taking notice of this, too.

Across a span of 10 years (2013 forecasted to 2023) spending on traditional billboards remains flat at $6 billion total. However, digital billboard advertising climbs year over year. From $646 million spend in 2013, the market is expected to hit $2 billion in 2023.

Billboards of the Future

In the world of digital advertising and smartphones, some of the biggest streaming and service providers spend a huge amount of their marketing budget on strategic outdoor displays. In fact, even the iPhone has poured marketing funds and innovation into billboard strategy, with its iPhone X selfie campaign. Netflix also invests in billboards everywhere.

The Outdoor Advertising Association of America estimates that for every dollar spent on an outdoor advertising ad, it delivers $5.97 in return on investment. With new developments in location data and tracking, this is only forecasted to grow.

That’s because billboards are being fitted with tech and sensors to recognize when a person is nearby, or even analyze their smartphone data to specifically target passerby with curated content. Technology integration is revealing new advertising avenues every day, including computers analyzing data and statistics to decide when and where to place digital ads for the best impact.

In addition, new surfaces for advertising are being explored, including stationary car and taxi windows, as well as interactive and targeted directories, bus stop signs, retail windows and more. The outdoor advertising industry shows no signs of slowing, and the future of the digital billboard is bright!

Grammar Mistakes in Advertising

Posted on August 22, 2018 by admin

It’s true, grammar mistakes can happen anytime. Unfortunately, that includes when creating billboards and advertisements, too! Here are our favorite examples of marketing messages with mistakes that made it past the editors. Next time you’re thinking of skipping the proofreading process, remember these hilarious examples of grammar mistakes in advertising. It might pay to take a look at your work just one more time!

A Tasty What?

Oops. We love an ice-cold Miller as much as the next person, but we can’t get behind this confusing billboard. We’re just curious how this simple phrase made it through the editing process all the way to a billboard without anyone noticing the misspelling of contradiction.

Don’t Write Copy In a New York Minute

This Reebok ad on the subway is a great reminder of why it pays to take your time. The copywriter missed an E in “everything”. It certainly highlights everything that’s wrong with rushing! This isn’t the worst typo we’ve ever seen, but it’s embarrassing for the company. Not to mention the cost of replacing these ads when they catch wind of the mistake!

Servers Are Unsung Heroes

One of the biggest problems with roadside business billboards like this is the lack of space… and spacing. It’s clear that this Days Inn board meant to commemorate Veterans. However, without a space in between the two lines, it seems like they’re commemorating hot breakfast servers. Hey, hot breakfast is pretty important, so maybe they have a point.

Stay In School, Kids

Perhaps even more embarrassing than a big company letting a typo slip through in their signage is a college! Cincinnati State College put up this billboard not realizing that an extra N had snuck into “technician.” Being a place of higher education, we’re sure they didn’t hear the end of it for quite a while.

I Don’t Think That Word Means What You Think It Means

While not a billboard, this car decal certainly gave us pause. We’re not sure who would print such an error-filled message or if the driver came up with it themselves. The incorrect form of but is in use here. Plus, the sentence should read “you’re abusing that privilege.” The irony speaks for itself.

No, This Is Not the Krusty Krab

Another case of no punctuation gave drivers a laugh on this roadside billboard. The signage of a popular food chain probably meant that Spongebob toys were finally at the location, and they were hiring managers. Unfortunately, these two different messages got combined. While amusing, this tends to look poorly on the business and would probably make quality manager candidates think twice. Plus, is Spongebob even qualified to hire managers?

Punctuation Saves Lives

This cautionary sign is designed to warn hunters that pedestrians use nearby trails. However, without the necessary grammar and punctuation, it seems to reference hunting the pedestrians themselves! While the sign may give you a good giggle, consider what a costly and dangerous mistake this could turn out to be. Please note that it is illegal to hunt pedestrians.

What’s In a Name?

This is a fairly harmless grammatical error compared to some of the others on this list. The problem with this sign is that we’re pretty sure this is a sports bar, not a bar belonging to Sport. There’s no need for the apostrophe. We wonder if anyone came in asking to talk to Sport recently?

I’m Suddenly Not Hungry…

This is the worst example of careless spelling and advertising mistakes we’ve seen. By leaving off the letter G, this hamburger special turned into a hamburger horror! This image from a popular American fast-food chain went viral, although we’re sure they fixed it pretty quickly. That’s just another reminder that proofreading your work is incredibly important. In the age of viral images and video, a mistake like this could bring you an awful lot of publicity you would rather avoid.

The Best Super Bowl Ads of 2017

Posted on February 10, 2017 by admin

The Super Bowl is the time of year when the best teams prepare to compete with each other. Tons of planning has gone into a specific strategy, and they want to be the most talked about group after the game is over.

When it ends, only one advertisement can be the best, but it can be hard to choose. Oh, and there’s an NFL game being played when the commercial breaks aren’t showing…

Types of Commercials

This really is a big stage for commercials, and the price range shows it. In 2017, the cost for a 30-second spot was $5 million. When you’re spending that kind of money, there isn’t much room to make an error. The styles vary from funny to serious to utterly absurd, and sometimes they even try new methods such as filming during the show.

For a variety of different reasons, here are the best Super Bowl ads of 2017.

Cam Newton vs. a Buick

https://youtu.be/Nx2PMnSzCB4

Buick seems to be refreshing its brand image, in quite an entertaining way. The popular quarterback Cam Newton shows off his skills around some kids who are much newer to the game than he is, and even a supermodel makes an appearance.

Mr. Clean is a Ladies’ Man

https://youtu.be/GDzMxlw2Fgo

The trusty old Mr. Clean is back, but he’s a little more risqué than he’s been in the past. Plus, this commercial gives a valuable insight to any man wanting to be sexier for his wife or girlfriend.

The Accepting Airbnb

The vacation rental website decided to go the serious route with their big commercial this year, and they focused on highlighting their value when it comes to dealing with people who are different. The ad was made in a very simple way, but the message came across clearly.

John Malkovich Needs a Squarespace Site

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNInrUkctc4

https://youtu.be/YjzYaLxplbw

This clever ad takes two parts to tell the story of John Malkovich trying to get the correct web address for the website of his new fashion line. The extra clever part is that he actually did launch a men’s clothing line, so we can only assume that he uses Squarespace and had an awkward time getting the rights to his own name.

Hyundai Puts Off Filming Until the Last Minute

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7n-GxJBw1k

The car maker Hyundai followed a fairly common Super Bowl theme of being patriotic and supporting soldiers, but they managed to work another gimmick into the ad. Instead of filming it beforehand, as was the strategy for every other commercial ever made, they had two crews on opposite sides of the planet putting it together while the players were on the field.

It worked.

LIFEWTR Gets Artistic

https://youtu.be/7i_GEgNchRY

This bottled water company believes that creativity and design are crucial to their brand, and they have a special edition set of bottles designed by certain artists. The commercial itself is very image driven, shows art being created, the music is great, and water manages to have a starring role.

Skittles Romance

One of Skittles’ trademark strategies is to always have funny ads, and this one doesn’t disappoint. You start by rooting for the teenage boy who wants to impress his girlfriend, and then you end up being jealous of her family.

Sprint Continues to Go After Verizon

https://youtu.be/fkLH-GBJaHg

In one of the stranger and more traumatic ads of the 2017 Super Bowl, Sprint shows a dad faking his own death in order to get out of paying his Verizon bills. This ad will definitely be noticed and talked about, but it also runs the risk of feeling too intense.

An Action-Packed Ad by Wix

This one really felt more like an action movie than a commercial for a website platform. The main character is a chef who is so involved in the building of a beautiful site for his business, that he doesn’t even notice Jason Statham and Gal Gadot destroying the place while battling some bad guys. They even help him move his company in a new direction!

NFL Super Bowl Babies

https://youtu.be/9csH_Hy-7A4

The NFL follows up last year’s ad about babies who were born 9 months after a Super Bowl, by showing actual babies dressed up as iconic NFL legends. It’s a good test of your knowledge – can you identify them all?

Man and Machine by Lexus

https://youtu.be/h_iktzXK4K0

Lexus goes a lot more modern while comparing a man and a machine, and it makes you wonder which is which. It’s crisp and creative, and it’s impressive enough to watch over and over.

#DriveProgress with Audi

https://youtu.be/G6u10YPk_34

Audi went with a very touching ad that had a message from a father concerned that he’ll have to tell his daughter that men aren’t equal to women in the workforce. However, she inspires him so much that it ends with bright hope for the future.

TurboTax and Humpty Dumpty

https://youtu.be/wgh6K1TXw28

Have you ever wondered why Humpty Dumpty was sitting on the wall before he took his great fall? Well, TurboTax finally got to the bottom of it.

What Was Your Favorite?

These are some of the best commercials shown during the Super Bowl, but there’s no mathematical formula to prove which was the winner. Which did you like the most?

Relate to your Audience – Classic Puerto Rican Commercials

Posted on August 1, 2016 by admin

How successful is your advertising? Do you even have a strategy?

Most companies do, but there are quite a few who don’t do it correctly. And the truth is, a little mistake can put you out of business, but a minor correction can drive your sales through the roof. It all comes down to relating to your audience so you can give them what they want. Do you feel confident that your company does that?

The Point of Advertising

There are many different reasons for advertising, but the ultimate goal of doing it is to increase the amount of money that your company makes. However, there are a lot of different ways to go about it. The simplest example is trying to convince customers to stop what they’re doing and go pay for your product or service. A more complex idea is building up a specific image around your brand that will influence the decisions potential customers will make in the future, and this often is done in a way that patiently waits until they are ready to get out their wallets – then it swoops in and makes the sale.

The thing to know is that you can try as many of these different types of strategies as you want, but they are only going to work if you remember to do the most important thing: get the attention of specific customers.

Picking a Target Audience

Before being able to relate to your audience, you have to decide who they are. You can narrow them down by age, income level, interests, or a number of other factors. One of the best ways of doing it is to really think about the product or service that you are offering. Who does it solve a problem for? Once you know the answer to that question, try to figure out more about these people. It helps to know where and when they shop, how much money they make, whether your offering is a necessity or a luxury item, and other similar concepts.

Once you’ve figured this out, you’re ready to make your advertisement. You know who your customers are, why they need your product, and where and when they’ll give you their money. Now, it’s as simple as making sure that your ad speaks their language.

Risks of Not Choosing the Correct Audience

Unfortunately, narrowing it down to the exact type of customer can be difficult. Also, many managers are afraid of excluding larger groups because they think it will lose overall sales. But, advertising to smaller groups almost always leads to larger profits! This is because generic advertisements that are aimed at getting the attention of everyone tend to backfire. They ultimately get ignored by all the different groups, and their money ends up going to other companies. However, targeting a specific group means it will be more noticed and the message will get across more successfully.

What Does This Have to Do with Puerto Rico?

Most of this is known by successful business managers, but what does it have to do with Puerto Rico? Well, a lot. If you’re operating your business on the island, you will have to decide who your market is. If you’re part of a big international brand, it can sometimes be enough to simply localize the advertising strategy in a way that pulls in Puerto Rican culture. In this case, basically the target audience is the locals, and that has narrowed it down from everyone else on the planet. The overall strategy will have already figured out how to position itself for the right types of people. Use the local lingo, show Puerto Ricans, and mix the music.

On the other hand, if you’re simply a local company, you might have to distinguish between yourself and other similar businesses on the island. This is where it helps to have a small and defined target audience.

Mixing Types of Advertising

Another important thing to note is that it’s important to mix different types of advertising. You want to reach your targets where they are, so you can target teenagers on Facebook, but probably not their grandparents. But, it usually works best to use a few different channels. An online video can educate them about your product, a billboard can remind them every day on their way to work, and a sale can get them through the door.

Classic Puerto Rican Commercials

If you want more examples of what the purpose of this is all about, just think about some of your favorite ads that you’ve seen. There are plenty of classic commercials that have done well over time. Here are a few examples of favorites from the past, do you remember them?

Who Is Your Audience?

So, do you know who your audience is? Are you ready to reach them? Give us a call, and we’ll make sure your billboard becomes a valuable part of influencing your customers.