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Billboard Advertising Effectiveness

Posted on December 20, 2020 by admin

Billboard advertising effectiveness has never been in question. That’s one main reason we still see billboards even today, after being around for so long.

With the emergence of social media advertising and other digital marketing trends, some may consider that outdoor advertising is past its hay-day. But that misconception is largely unfounded.

In fact, with the rise of the digital age, billboard marketing may even be more relevant and effective today. Not to mention, the measurables and key performance indicators alike are easier than ever to track, like impressions, reach, etc.

With ever-developing effects, such as digital screens, 3-D figures, or different structures, the concept of the billboard and why it works remains the same. Companies should instead consider the billboard as a key (if not main) method of advertising and a staple across all industries.

Any way you look at it, billboard advertising works, and its effectiveness has proven itself for decades. Here are some of the top reasons for billboards advertising effectiveness:

The World is On the Move

Over time, countries all over the world have become more mobile. People spend less time at home. Whether enjoying a road trip or travel, commuting to work, or simply seeking a new experience, the citizens of the globe are on the move. There’s always somewhere to go. Are you in their path?

All that time in our cars adds up, and advertisements placed roadside where travelers and commuters can see them are sure to be noticed.

Drivers are a Captive Audience

Drivers’ eyes are on the road, but their eyes can also fall upon the large, visually appealing billboards by the roadside.

It has always been true that drivers are a captive audience and it is becoming even more true with harsh legislation banning texting and driving, as well as driving while distracted tickets rolling out every year.

While drivers can turn down the radio or subscribe to a completely ad-free channel, they jeopardize their very safety by taking their eyes off the road. With very little else to safely distract them, chances are they will spend a few moments peering at that billboard.

And, unlike other advertising mediums, outdoor ads cannot be turned off, hidden, or thrown away.

Billboards Inspire New Ideas

An effective billboard for a restaurant, attraction, or even a unique shop can generate instant sales for travelers who are looking to explore a new area. Some billboards for certain products can be seen actually right outside the storefront!

With a growing culture of exploring off-the-beaten-path and seeking unique experiences, a well-placed billboard that provides directions to an unusual spot can generate instant sales.

This makes a billboard a surprisingly cost-effective method of advertising, as well. Although the original billboard itself can be pretty costly to design and erect, if placed effectively, it will more than make back its cost in sales.

Advancements in billboard technology have also added a new dimension to billboard advertising effectiveness, with the ability to display multiple ads throughout the day.

Brand Repetition & Exposure

High brand awareness lies in repetition and exposure. While a tried-and-true marketing strategy, may help your brand awareness efforts, doing so is not only expensive but also increasingly difficult to get noticed (unless you dish out some major cash on ad platforms).

Billboard advertising is the only marketing media where the advertiser has full control of the ad space. The ad has constant exposure – no other media allows your message to be displayed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It’s is a powerful marketing tool.

If what audiences see in your billboard makes them laugh, inspires them, reminds them of a positive memory or any other avenue of emotional connection…you’ve probably secured a loyal customer.

Let’s face it– today’s consumers are constantly barraged with advertisements in print (maybe not as much these days), online, over the radio (again, starting to see less of this too), commercials on television, and even on social media. And because you probably typed in something like, “Billboard advertising effectiveness” into Google, you’ll probably get some more ads (not from us) delivered to you with that message.

With a constant stream of sellers courting each consumer, a very particular method of selection based on an emotional connection has emerged. Think about it: if an advertisement can charm you or make you laugh in the few seconds it takes to view it, don’t you think more positively about that company?

The same concept applies to billboards and works in Out Of Home (OOH) advertising better than many other advertising avenues. You have a captive audience guaranteed to glance over your billboard for at least a few seconds, think about it while they drive, remember the visual, and engage in their mind.

Impact & Creativity

Billboard marketing is big, bold, colorful, and creative.

With all the technological advancements and swirls of advertisers globally, companies are encouraged to top one another in creativity and thinking outside the box. Consumers have come to expect this and celebrate it.

For example, Chick-Fil-A is just another fast-food sandwich stop, isn’t it? Wrong.

Chick-Fil-A is a globally recognized brand for a myriad of reasons, including their top-notch customer service, good works, and their famous billboards.

The second you glimpse a familiar black and white billboard in the distance with hand-painted splashes of red, you know what you’re looking at. That’s even before you see the 3D cows posed in a variety of amusing positions, or the humble red Chick-Fil-A logo. The cows “vandalizing” the billboard has become an expected and creative part of their advertising strategy, and to look at their earnings, we think its’ working. You know exactly what their message is and the creative aspect of cows delivering that message is the difference – “Eat More Chikin.”

So if you are looking to stand out from the crowd, reach people faster and more effectively, consider billboard marketing in your arsenal and budget.

If you’re interested in outdoor advertisement opportunities in the Puerto Rico area, there are plenty of options and areas from which to choose. Contact bMedia to learn more.

How Long Does a Billboard Stay Up?

Posted on September 22, 2020 by admin

Billboard advertising uses a large print advertisement to market a company, a brand, a product, a service, or a campaign. Billboards usually appear in high traffic areas in cities, along highways, on buses, or on building walls where they are seen by large numbers of riders, drivers, or walkers.

All About Billboard Advertising

We see them everywhere in every size and color. Technology has changed them but they are still an in-your-face type of advertising that not even social media can surpass. Here are some things you might not know about billboards.

They’ve been around for thousands of years—even before newspapers. An obelisk advertising a runaway slave was set up in Thebes, Egypt.

Electronic billboards are not as new as we might think, either. They’ve been around for a century. In 1904, a billboard pioneer, Oscar Gude installed the first electric sign in New York City. It advertised whiskey.

The largest billboard is in Madrid. At 5,265 square meters, it is the size of twenty tennis courts or an American football field. It weighs as much as a male hippopotamus.

New scented billboards appeal to sight and smell. A North Carolina grocery store billboard erected a “smellvertising” billboard with a grilled steak aroma.

Research shows that we may be exposed to as many as four thousand ads each day. An Arbitron study found that nearly three in four viewers notice ads and read them.

The Power of Billboard Advertising

The average American spends 17,600 minutes in a car. That’s 300 hours annually.
At last count, there were almost 350,000 billboards in America. Eight thousand of these were digital billboards.
Over three in four people consciously look at billboards when they are driving or riding.
Over half the population admits to finding a billboard ad highly engaging within the past month.

Advertising on Billboards: How Much does it Cost?

Many factors determine the cost of billboard advertising. These include the size of the billboard, its location, traffic volume in the area, and estimated viewership Billboard advertising costs are usually monthly. They may range from $250 on a rural highway to $22,000 in New York’s Times Square.

The world’s most expensive billboard is in Times Square. Google paid $2.5 million to rent the billboard for its debut. The cost was $625,000 a week. That’s 125 times the average NYC billboard rental. Times Square’s daily traffic is 300,000 people. Google’s billboard was viewed by nine million tourists and New Yorkers that month.

Along with the cost of the space rental, you need to consider the cost of ad design, the creation of the billboard-size advertisement, and the cost of installation.

A successful billboard can be read and appreciated as you pass by. Moreover, it takes viewers on a four-second journey. Since drivers can read only a few words in passing, the message must be the essence of an idea. Text-less messages can be powerful.

Effective billboards interact with their surroundings. Their bright colors and eye-catching graphics build brand recognition and elicit an emotion from the viewers. This is emotional marketing. The best ones for 2019 were selected by Edina.

New Trends in Billboard Advertising

Urbanization continues to grow. Thus, billboards will expand, enlarge, and become more technically attention-getting.

More billboards will be digital.

There is a trend toward more interactive billboards. Advertising spaces will be increasingly responsive and flexible towards audiences. These new interactive billboards will present the niche market with personal, engaging messages based on information about their habits, interests, and consumer preferences.

New trends will focus on the consumer—what he wants; what he needs; his shopping times; product appeal.

What Goes into a Billboard Advertising Decision?

Thanks to digitalization, billboards have become effective advertising tools of the twenty-first century.

Billboards provide multiple “touches”. The number of exposures is important when attempting to convert viewers to buyers.

With billboards, you have a captive audience of riders and walkers in high traffic areas. TV viewers can speed past commercials. Those slick, costly magazine and Internet ads often go unnoticed.

When an individual decides to advertise on billboards, many things determine this decision. Companies have specific goals for their advertising. They want to get the most exposure for their limited advertising budget. They weigh the odds of how many in their niche market will see a billboard, remember its message, and want to find out more about the product or service.

Biggest takeaways from billboards

Billboards are huge. Thus, by their very size, they command attention.
For small businesses with limited advertising dollars, billboards are effective.
Billboards reach a widely diverse viewership.
Billboards can deliver results—if the conditions are right circumstances.
The average American spends almost an hour a day driving or riding.
Three in five Americans learned about an event, a restaurant, a product, or service on a billboard. Of those, three in five later visited the location.
Even expensive billboards deliver a lower cost per impression when you calculate how many people see them.

How Long Does a Billboard Stay up?

There is no one right answer to this question. It depends on several things. Is the billboard still generating new customers? What are your campaign goals? Do you have the budget to continue paying for this ad? Have you measured your return on investment? Are you getting your money’s worth?

If you are advertising an event, the billboard is time-sensitive. After the event, you are wasting your advertising dollars leaving it up.

Is it time to make a change to another location where more of your target market will see your ad? Have you considered switching to a larger ad? Is it time to go digital?

Have you thought about a building wall ad, a bus side ad, or a bench ad?

A general rule is that billboards stay up at least one month. Many campaigns are up for several months.

If you have decided that billboards are right for your company, check out the outdoor advertising information.

Why Are Billboards Effective?

Posted on September 18, 2020 by admin

They’ve been around for so long and continue to be something we see frequently. So why are billboards so effective? Even though many consider billboards to be antiquated, they still comprise a significant amount of advertiser spending.

Billboards may be antiquated, but they are undeniably effective. Due to their effectiveness, a good billboard is an invaluable piece of advertising that can easily lead to greater brand awareness, greater sales, and greater profit.

People Spend A Lot Of Time On The Road

The total population of Puerto Rico is 3.2-million people. For every 1,000 people, in Puerto Rico, 614 people own and drive a car. There are a lot of drivers in Puerto Rico, and people in Puerto Rico spend a lot of time on the road. Since there are so many drivers in Puerto Rico, it’s very easy for billboards to be noticed and seen.

You Can Place A Billboard In Areas With Heavy Traffic

The San Juan area, in Puerto Rico, is exceptionally busy. The busiest highway in San Juan sees an average of 286,600 people driving across it every single day. That is a lot of people, many of whom are spending large amounts of time on the road, waiting for the traffic to lessen so they can get to wherever they need to be.

Since billboards are, more often than not, large advertising displays that are placed along roads, they can be set up in areas like San Juan. By being set up within those areas, you are able to convey what you offer to many, many people. So consider the number of eyes on billboards when you ask yourself, “Why are billboards so effective?”

A Good Billboard Is Very Memorable

A billboard, if it is well-designed, can be extremely memorable.

So memorable, in fact, that it not only spreads awareness of your brand and what you are offering but inspires the person who noticed the billboard to follow up and see what you offer.

A Good Billboard Conveys What You Offer In A Compelling Manner

A billboard, if it is well-designed, conveys exactly what you offer in a manner that is genuinely memorable and compelling.

Through the use of images and words – among others, if you’re using a digital billboard – you are able to create unique advertisements that capture people’s attention, showing them what you offer while also entertaining them with the advertisement’s design.

People Will See Your Billboard More Than Once

Just about everyone has a familiar series of routes that they take. Each one of these routes makes it easy for people to get to work, school, home; and anywhere else that they need to go. By placing a billboard on a popular route, it is very likely that those same people will see and engage with your billboard many, many times.

As science has shown, if someone sees a particular advertisement over and over, it will become internalized and associated with a particular service or idea. Billboards allow your brand and services to be noticed and internalized by the people driving by them, allowing more and more people to know what you do and to follow up on what it is that you offer.

People Enjoy Looking At Billboards

Just over a decade ago, a study known as the “Arbitron National In-Car Study” was conducted. One of the most interesting pieces of information this study uncovered was that around 71% of drivers actively look at and engage with the billboards that they see while driving. Billboards break up the monotony of driving – especially long drives – and give people something nice to see and think about.

You Can Use A Billboard To Advertise Anything

As a form of advertising, billboards are extremely versatile. Much of this versatility comes down to the medium itself, which can make use of unique colors, drawings, words, shapes, and figures; among a plethora of other elements.

Since billboards can make use of those elements, billboards can be used to advertise just about anything. This means that no matter what you offer, you can use a billboard to reach large numbers of people with ease. But, of course, for this billboard to be successful, it must be well-designed and it must make use of an effective billboard marketing strategy.

You Can Place A Billboard Just About Anywhere

Most people, when they think of billboards, think of large, colorful boards that are on the side of a road. That is, generally speaking, quite accurate. But, the billboard medium is so varied and diverse that you are able to not only advertise anything, but you can place a billboard just about anywhere.

Moving billboards and digital billboards are two examples of the versatility that billboards offer.

A moving billboard is a billboard that, more often than not, sits on a vehicle. As the vehicle drives by, people see the billboard and notice who you are and what you offer.
A digital billboard is a billboard that makes use of a digital screen to convey messages in a unique and dynamic way. Digital billboards come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, allowing them to be placed just about anywhere.

Billboards Can Be Very Dynamic

Why are billboards so effective? Because they’re ever-changing.

Digital billboards are only becoming more and more popular. It isn’t difficult to see why this is the case, since digital billboards allow for incredibly versatile and dynamic advertisements to be created with the kind of ease and efficiency that traditional billboards simply don’t allow for.

For many advertisers, one of the most unique benefits that digital billboards offer is their inherently dynamic nature. Digital billboards can be set up to display jall kinds of unique and dynamic advertisements that make use of videos, various sounds and musical compositions, animations; and a wide variety of other extremely unique elements. Each one of these elements allows for dynamic advertisements that are genuinely distinctive and incredibly memorable.

You Can Change A Billboard Quickly And Easily

A traditional billboard is, essentially, completely static. You can change a traditional billboard, but doing so is expensive and labor-intensive. Because of this, when you set up a billboard with a particular advertisement, it’s likely that advertisement will remain there for as long as you are using the billboard.

Traditional billboards aren’t the only billboards that you can use, though. More and more advertisers are using digital billboards, which can be changed very quickly. If a particular message isn’t working, you can change the message that’s being displayed with the click of a few buttons.

Because of this, digital billboards make it easy for you to respond to what isn’t working, and what is, with the same ease that internet advertising – to name one example – allows for.

Why are billboards so effective? Simply put, they’re large and attractive, they’re in high-traffic areas, and they’re effective.

Billboard Design Tips

Posted on August 19, 2020 by admin

Technology is boosting marketing practices in amazing ways, but outdoor advertising is remaining as strong as ever. From design to development, creating a successful billboard is slightly more complicated than just drawing the idea on a napkin and getting it made.

It requires a lot of planning, a lot of measuring, and sometimes a lot of tweaking. However, with these billboard design tips, you’ll save budget on design, even if you don’t end up designing the billboard in-house.

Billboard ideas can stem from a variety of factors and inspiration. With a few billboard design tips, you’ll start thinking about the larger picture – not just what’s on the billboard.

Where Do I Start With Billboard Design?

Designing a billboard can be intimidating, especially if you don’t can’t envision what it’ll look like or what it’ll say. How can a designer know what to design if you don’t know what to tell the designer? Start with these main billboard design tips before you even start creating the design.

Every design starts with these main steps:

Step 1. Define the Goals

As with any marketing strategy, don’t just make a billboard for the sake of doing it. You need to decide what you want to get out of your campaign, and then you’ll be able to think of the ideas that will accomplish that. Some billboards advertise a promotion, others announce a new product, and many simply remind consumers of your brand. The respective goal for each of those could be to get customers into the store soon, educate them that there’s a new product available, or just make sure your company is fresh in their mind next time they need to make a buying decision.

Step 2. Market Analysis

Great billboard ideas often start with research and analysis. One of the key aspects of creating a billboard is location. For example, a busy road into an urban center will be seen by many commuters, and one at the entrance to a shopping center will carry a message to customers about to spend money. You can get quite detailed information about how many people will pass by your sign on a daily basis, and thinking about the area where they’re going will help you determine their demographics.

Step 3. Define the Target

Coming up with the appropriate target group is quite similar to setting the goals of the billboard. Outdoor advertising will usually be seen by a variety of people from different backgrounds in various demographic groups, but it’s a good idea to target it to someone more specific. People in a different age group or income level generally have different interests, and speaking successfully to one group is a much better idea than falling short of all of them.

A billboard for the Chevy Malibu used software recognition to identify drivers of similar cars and tell them why this one is better. This is an extreme example, but it shows how the creators were only targeting groups that were interested in certain vehicles.

Step 4. Have a Clear Message

Once you know the goal, target, and location of the billboard, you need to figure out the exact message you want to say. Billboards generally need to be simple and straightforward, so trying to get more than one message across usually won’t work. Don’t tell your customers that your store now has a new brand of shirts and that children’s clothes are on sale. Pick only one, and stick to it – otherwise, they won’t hear either of them.

Step 5. Pieces of a Bigger Campaign

Billboards can stand alone, but they’re generally more impactful when combined with a whole campaign. It’s a good idea to use them to reinforce ads given online, on TV, or through some other advertising medium.

Xbox once made a “Survival Billboard” to advertise a new video game, but it was part of a competition that was streamed online. Even though the sign itself wasn’t physically viewed by a ton of people, it was part of something bigger – and it worked.

Step 6. Get Creative

Once you know what your sign should say, you need to think of a clever way of communicating that. Don’t be afraid to outsource this part if you’re too close to it, but also don’t be afraid to keep it in-house if you have a great idea. It won’t be as noticeable if it looks like all signs advertising something similar, but if it does it in a unique way (like this anti-smoking billboard), people will really engage with it.

Step 7. Keep It Simple

One thing to remember about a billboard is that people usually see it as their going past (often while driving a car), so they only have a few seconds to take it all in. You should use as few words as possible (try to keep it under 6 or 7), and don’t put anything on it that’s unnecessary. Even your logo doesn’t need to be included every time.

Step 8. Avoid Gimmicks

It’s easy to create a silly billboard that people will notice, but it’s worthless if it isn’t your target audience talking about the message you want them to hear. Your design and message have to resonate with your audience.

Reebok recently made a running billboard that’s a good example of successfully using an unusual idea. It wasn’t just a gimmick because it appealed to the competitive nature of its target group, and it followed their new brand concept of pushing yourself to Be More Human.

Step 9. Think Outside the Sign

As technology and billboards are getting better, they don’t have to be just a sign. They can use technology to let people play along (like this McDonald’s video game) go to dramatic lengths to highlight a problem (like this mosquito billboard), or even help people out (like this sign that gave drivers a safe place to rest).

Step 10. Measure, Analyze, and Repeat

As with all marketing and advertising, you should measure the results and see how well it worked. For great billboard ideas, plan to continuously update your strategy to match your business goals, and don’t be afraid to reuse the successful elements of your campaigns.

What Makes a Good Billboard Design?

Okay, now that we’ve got the hardest part out of the way, we can actually focus on the design aspects of your billboard. Here are some other billboard design tips to consider to have your brand and message stand out:

Be Consistent

Whatever your message is, make sure you get your story straight. There should be brand guidelines that you follow for all billboards, ads, and creative you produce. Find your identity, find your story, find your voice, and keep that consistent.

Be Bold

The bigger, the better. Be loud. Remember, your audience is driving or engaged in something else, so the easier it is to read and understand your message, the more impactful it is. Don’t be shy, use actionable words like “do,” or “now.”

Be Simple

Your audience doesn’t have time for complicated messages or multiple calls to action. Be clear about what you want your audience to do and how to do it.

Be Authentic

Being genuine and “real” is the best approach. People can sense when you’re not speaking from the heart, so make sure you connect with rhetoric.

Smart Billboards

Posted on May 16, 2020 by admin

You’re being watched…we all know that the day would come that robots would invade our world. However, it looks like science fiction was being overly dramatic in a lot of horror stories; they never mentioned how profitable the robots would be.

That’s right – we live in a world where billboards are thinking. They can read you, decide what you’re thinking, and give you the best possible ad. From there, all you can do is grab your credit card. Billboards have been around for a long time, but as technology continues to improve, billboards do, too. With the introduction of augmented reality (AR) and artificial intelligence (AI), we’re starting to see more and more smart billboards.

Did you know this was an option for your business?

What is a Smart Billboard?

Billboards were installed in London as a test of the technology to see if it was possible for a computer to successfully design the perfect ad – on its own. They had a digital display, and they had a camera inside to read the people looking at them. The first step was to decide what sort of mood the person was in. Then, depending on whether the viewer was happy, sad, or neutral, it would display a different version of the ad. Afterward, it analyzed the responses to measure how successful the ad was. Finally, it repeated the good ads and trashed the bad ones.

Nowadays, we all own some piece of technology that is labeled, “smart.” We enjoy smart technology in things like:

Smartphones
Smart TVs
Smartwatches
Vacuums
Cars
Smart glasses (yes, there are really smart glasses now)

And, to an extent, we’ve already been exposed to smart advertising – ads that change and optimize themselves over time. You will see these types of ads when you search for a term on Google, when you visit a website and then exit out, and when you’re on social media. Smart advertising changes depending on how they perform with different audiences that they interact with. What’s most recent, though, is how this technology has made its way to the billboard – smart billboards.

Advertising, as it’s always been, is designed to capture your attention and inspire some sort of action. That hasn’t changed. What has changed is how technology has evolved from traditional billboards – and even digital billboards, for that matter. It’s not as easy to ignore a smart billboard that learns about you over time and therefore adjusts its message.

The Technology Inside

You might imagine that they developed some sort of incredibly advanced technology to make this happen, but that actually wasn’t the case. This was put together by the M&C Saatchi Advertising Agency, and they were working with Clear Channel and Posterscope to make it happen. The billboards just had a Microsoft Kinect camera inside, so they were really just using technology that had already been developed for playing video games. Kinect is able to read people’s reactions, so it gets the job done.

How AI and AR Are Changing Billboards

Artificial Intelligence has made its way into billboards, which has obviously sparked conversation around the brands using this technology in their advertising. Here are just a few ways that Artificial Intelligence is changing the way brands do advertising (specifically on billboards):

Object recognition – through AI cameras and sensors, billboards can now detect facial features. This helps them decide whether they think people who are passing the smart billboard are happy or sad. It can determine a certain demographic, as well, telling the difference between ages and genders – and serving relevant ads in response.
Statistics/data – AI cameras and sensors can also give valuable data on billboard areas. Billboards are keeping track of the amount of traffic that the area receives each day, etc. This helps brands determine which areas are best for placing another smart billboard.
Recognition of climate and surroundings – not only are these smart billboards able to recognize objects, but also things like weather, noise levels, and even cigarette smoke. You’ve probably heard of the advertisement that ‘coughs’ every time it senses cigarette smoke in the air. Other smart billboards can sense if it’s hot outside and recommend a cold drink or smoothie.

Bahia: The Coffee of the Future

Unfortunately, this whole campaign probably created a lot of angry customers. For the experiment, the advertising agency decided against using a real brand, so they simply made one up. The product was an instant coffee called Bahia, and it’s not the type of thing that usually draws a lot of attention.

The Evolution of the Ad

The billboard was only advertising one brand, so it was fairly limited in what it showed. It didn’t promote sports cars to one person, laundry detergent to the next, and allergy medicine to a third. Instead, it was programmed to use a series of different fonts, colors, and styles to see how different people reacted to the plea to buy coffee.

Why Spying on Your Customers Works

While the first instinct of many is that this whole idea is kind of creepy, it can actually work to improve everyone’s life. If you remember that the main goal of advertising is to let people know about products or services they want, then this just helps eliminate all the noise on the street. Instead of wasting your time, these smart billboards were able to show people what they wanted to see. Also, since it measured reactions to seeing what people liked and didn’t like, and it can help make higher quality advertising in the future. It’s basically like having a focus group that’s composed of, well, everyone.

Why the Internet Isn’t As Important as We Think

The internet has become a great place for businesses because it makes it possible to measure things in a way that has never even been remotely possible. A lot of companies have been using it as an excuse to steer away from more traditional forms of advertising media, but this could put a stop to that pattern. Internet browsing history is a great way to build a profile of your customer, but nothing beats walking around town with them and asking them their opinions. If this technology can be in a few bus stops in London, it might not be long before it’s all over the globe.

This Campaign Doesn’t Invade Your Privacy

One nice feature about this little experiment is that it was designed in a way that wouldn’t let it cause any invasion of privacy. It didn’t follow the standard internet strategy of storing all your information. Even if it did, it wouldn’t make a huge difference because it never actually knew who it was looking at.

Time for You to Do the Same

Do you use similar techniques in your business? Even if you don’t want to go to such extreme measures as this campaign did, are you taking advantage of modern advertising strategies? The marriage of technology and traditional advertising is a key relationship in influencing consumers.

Brand Wars in Marketing

Posted on April 30, 2020 by admin

Top brands going head to head with each other through public advertising makes for true legendary marketing. From famous rivalries between Coca-Cola and PepsiCo to an all-out ad war with several car manufactures, there’s plenty of health brand wars competition to be viewed on the regular. And with the age of digital and social media, these opponents can now ask their followers to chime in. The result? Endless hashtags and some serious shade. Take a look at our full list of brand wars in marketing.

These battles have spanned decades while some are more recent, but all were made very public. In fact, most of the shots fired were printed in magazines or featured on billboards. Nothing quite liking sparking interest through some friendly and not-so-friendly competition. Creativity stands at the forefront of effective billboard advertising, so these brands have taken visuals and messaging to another level.

Check out the list from bMedia:

Brand Wars Competition

1. Chick-fil-A vs. Popeyes

You were likely living under a rock if you missed this well-documented feud from August 2019. The top dogs in the chicken game decided to spit some beef over their featured sandwiches. The aftershock was seismic. The battle went global and the spat was officially dubbed the “Chicken Sandwich War of 2019,” by Business Insider.

The hype began escalating shortly after the release of Popeye’s hand-breaded chicken filet sandwich. After a series of clap back tweets, the pair were publicly mixing and challenging customers, followers, and more to vote their favorite. The resulting response was phenomenal as both chains sported crowds of people while the hashtag #ChickenSandwichWars continued to trend.

Soon after, McDonald’s was sporting its own new spicy barbecue chicken sandwich. KFC refused to be outdone and produced variations and fusions, one of which featured doughnuts, plus their chicken and waffle. It was truly one of the internet’s best moments and we continue to witness some of the cascading effects.

2. Miller Lite vs. Bud Light

Nothing more American than traditional brew drinking. As a favorite past time for many, beer drinking is certainly considered at the top of the list of weekend thrills. But like many other products, folks tend to flock to their most beloved brand. However, it didn’t stop the long time competitors of Miller Lite and Bud Light to scheme up a battle in 2019. Of course, it wouldn’t be properly American unless executed during the Super Bowl.

Bud Light was the brand that started the infamous feud. After suggesting that both Miller Lite and Coors Lite used corn syrup in their respective products, they received a proper response. Brand wars in marketing are certainly entertaining if nothing else. Audiences nationwide watched the commercial ad with Bud Light adopting a “Game of Thrones” scene — watch it here — where a barrel of corn syrup is delivered to a King. The King then trek’s across the lands to take it to Miller Lite. Miller Lite’s response was their “Snow” machine ad, where the actors are again placed in the same Game of Throne’s setting, but reveals a behind the scenes glance of actors passing up Bud Light for Miller Lite. Brand wars in marketing declared this battle the #corntroversy of 2019. Cheers!

3. Coca-Cola vs. PepsiCo

There has never been a more polarizing battle between beverages than that of Coke and PepsiCo. In fact, the famous rivalry between these two soda companies is referred to in marketing history as the Cola Wars. In order to understand how the ferocious rivalry came about, it’s important to understand the history of both mega brands.

Coca-Cola was started in 1886, while PepsiCo laid its foundations in 1893.
PepsiCo fired the first shot against Coke in 1975, by introducing a marketing campaign called the “Pepsi Challenge.” The Pepsi Challenge involved a blind taste test between people, who then favored the PepsiCo soda more.
It looked like PepsiCo had Coke beat for at least a decade, particularly after Coke changed their formula and launched “New Coke” in 1985 to terrible reception.

However, the tides began to turn when PepsiCo’s biggest stars began having headline troubles. Michael Jackson’s hair caught fire while filming a Pepsi commercial. David Bowie had a sexual assault scandal while he was under PepsiCo’s contract. Furthermore, Pepsi used “Like a Prayer” in a commercial at the time it was being received as blasphemous. Finally, in 93, consumers of the blue can began finding syringes in their cans in at least 20 states.

The official end to the Cola Wars is widely thought to be 2011. This year was when Diet Coke bumped Pepsi out of the second most popular soft drink spot in the world. The first, of course, was Coke.

4. Burger King vs. McDonald’s

The burger behemoths have had a long-standing rivalry, similar to the soda giants above. In fact, the fight has been kept pretty clean for decades, with only a few jabs thrown directly here and there. For the most part, Burger King and McDonald’s are content to offer almost the exact same thing on their menus.

One notable departure was the disastrous “Whopper Virgins” ad campaign in 2009. This ad campaign appeared to steal a page from PepsiCo’s book, displaying blind taste test ads between the Big Mac and the Whopper. Nobody appeared to win that advertisement war, as the public found the ad campaign racist and exploitative.

5. Microsoft vs. Apple

When most people think of brand wars, this popular tech one comes to mind. Apple founder Steve Jobs was famously no fan of Bill Gates. In fact, Apple has been taking aim at Microsoft for the four decades since it’s inception. You may recall the “Hi I’m a Mac, and Hi I’m a PC” commercials.

In fact, Apple’s first advertisement hammered Microsoft- literally. The famous 1984 commercial featured a hammer-thrower running through the ranks of blank-faced grey followers staring at a propaganda screen and destroying the film with a hammer. The overlay text read, “On January 24th, Apple Computer will release the Macintosh. And you’ll see why 1984 won’t be like ‘1984.’” The advertisement referenced Microsoft as a dull conformist overlord, and Apple as the bright new disruptor. While we can’t say that Microsoft is dull and conformist, it is certainly true that Apple was a disruptor in the computer market.

6. BMW vs. Audi

One of the more famous brand wars in marketing played out between BMW and Audi. Like other major brands on this list, BMW and Audi have been sniping at each other for decades. However, one billboard erected in Santa Monica fired off a savage shot heard around the world.

Here’s a breakdown of the famous billboard feud:

Audi erects a billboard on Santa Monica Blvd boasting a new A4 with the message, “Your move, BMW.”
Santa Monica BMW buys a billboard opposite to Audi with an M3 Coupe and the message, “Checkmate.”
Audi invites fans to photoshop responses onto their next billboard on their Facebook page.
Audi places a billboard on the same side as BMWs with an R8. The message read, “your pawn is no match for our king.”
BMW then tethered a blimp to the billboard featuring the F1 car and the message “Game Over.”

The feud didn’t end there but continued in print. It even garnered ads from Subaru and Bentley in response.

Puerto Rico Traffic

Posted on February 24, 2020 by admin

Puerto Rico has a population of just under 3.2-million people. For every 1,000 people, out of that population of 3.2-million, 614 own automobiles. The citizens of Puerto Rico rely heavily on automobiles, and this leads to traffic conditions that are not unfamiliar nor unique. Commutes during rush hour can cause frequent delays, which can be irritating for most. For business, however, high traffic conditions can mean excellent returns if you’ve invested in billboard advertising. bMedia will explain more below.

Being aware of Puerto Rico traffic conditions, and how they affect the day-to-day life of a regular Puerto Rican citizen, makes it easier to understand the power of an excellent billboard, and how to properly harness this platform for advertising. When done strategically, well-thought-out and well-placed billboard media can take advantage of extremely trafficked areas in Puerto Rico.

What To Expect When Driving In Puerto Rico?

Puerto Rico’s road laws are quite similar to those found in the United States. For example, everyone in Puerto Rico drives on the right side of the road, and wearing your seatbelt is mandatory. But, despite these similarities, there are a few things that differentiate American drivers, and Puerto Rican drivers. These are quirks of the road that you’re likely to encounter on a regular basis.

If you look at the United States’ road laws, and Puerto Rico’s road laws, you’ll find that they’re quite similar. People drive on the right side of the road, you must wear a seatbelt, child seats must be used if your child is under four; those are just some examples of the road laws that Puerto Rico and the United States share.

Unlike the United States, however, traffic signs are in Spanish, rather than English. Each traffic sign is a universal traffic sign, but every word on the sign is in Spanish. Along with that, speed limits are written in Miles-Per-Hour, but distances are written in kilometers, rather than miles.

While the laws are similar to the United States, the ways in which drivers act tends to be a little different. It’s not uncommon for drivers to change lanes without using their turn signals, for example, and drivers often speed past red and yellow-lights. Along with that, speed limits are often thought of as “suggestions” rather than rules.

Despite those quirks, driving in Puerto Rico is, overall, a fairly safe and painless experience. Some drivers don’t always obey the rules of the road, but most of them do. But, with that being said, it’s important to be flexible.

Most of Puerto Rico’s road laws are exactly the same as those found in the United States
Traffic signs are universal, but the words on the signs are in Spanish, rather than English
Driving in Puerto Rico has many quirks, such as turn signals being used infrequently and speed limits and red lights being more of a “suggestion” than a rule

What Are Some Of The Heaviest Traffic Congestion Points In Puerto Rico?

In Puerto Rico, the heaviest traffic congestion points are in San Juan. San Juan is the capital of Puerto Rico, and as such, it has the largest population out of any other place in Puerto Rico. Most of the Puerto Rico traffic comes from the highways and freeways that lead to and from San Juan, although there is plenty of traffic congestion to be found within the San Juan Metropolitan Area.

San Juan is the capital of Puerto Rico, and it’s the most populated city in Puerto Rico. In fact, the San Juan Metropolitan Area has a population of around 2.6-million, which is a significant percentage of Puerto Rico’s population of 3.2-million.

In San Juan, the heaviest traffic congestion is found on the freeways and highways. Many of these freeways and highways begin in other parts of the country and lead directly to San Juan. Since many people work in San Juan, even if they live somewhere else in the country, the freeways and highways are almost always busy.

San Juan’s most congested freeway is the PR-18. The PR-18 sees an average of 286,800 drivers, every single day. It isn’t a particularly long freeway – less than four-miles – but it connects San Juan and Rio Piedras – a municipality of San Juan – and makes it easier for drivers to move from one part of San Juan to another.

The PR-52 is another very busy freeway that is often congested. Beginning in Ponce, which is located in the southern part of Puerto Rico, and ending in San Juan, which is in the northern part of Puerto Rico, the PR-52 connects one end of the country with the other and serves as one of Puerto Rico’s most traveled freeways. As such, it is also one of the heaviest traffic congestion points in Puerto Rico.

There are other freeways and highways that serve as heavy traffic congestion points. But, the PR-18 and PR-52 are some of Puerto Rico’s most congested roads, due to the amount of traffic that they see on a daily basis.

To deal with traffic congestion, it’s important to leave early, especially if you know it will take some time for you to get to where you need to be. Along with that, it’s important to remember that if you’re going towards San Juan, no matter what freeway you’re taking, rush hour is from 6 AM to 9 AM. But, if you’re leaving San Juan, rush hour is from 4 PM to 7 PM.

San Juan has the heaviest traffic congestion points in Puerto Rico, due to the prevalence of cars
The PR-18 and PR-52 are some of the most congested freeways, and they see large volumes of Puerto Rico traffic every single day, due to their connection to San Juan
Leaving early, to avoid rush hour, will make your commute a lot easier
Rush hour is 6 AM to 9 PM if you’re going towards San Juan
If you’re going away from San Juan, rush hour is 4 PM to 7 PM

Why Traffic Congestion Is Great For Billboards:

Traffic congestion may not be pleasant to deal with, but when it comes to billboard advertising, traffic congestion is exceptionally valuable. Where there’s traffic, there are drivers, and where there are drivers, there are people who will see your billboard and engage with what you are offering.

In Puerto Rico, the worst traffic spots – along the PR-18, for example – are the best billboard advertising locations. With so many people driving through, every single day, your billboard will be seen. And, due to the traffic congestion in those areas, drivers are forced to stop and wait, and this means they’ll see your billboard and know what it is that you are offering.

Getting people to see and engage with your billboard is often one of the biggest challenges of billboard advertising. Placing your billboard in a traffic congestion spot eliminates that challenge, as it ensures your billboard is seen by a variety of drivers and engaged with.

Traffic congestion is exceptionally valuable when it comes to billboard advertisers
Traffic congestion points are full of drivers, which ensures that your billboard is seen
When there’s traffic congestion, drivers are forced to stop and wait and this ensures that they see your billboard and have time to engage with it

Contact bMedia for effective outdoor media advertising in Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico Billboards

Posted on January 22, 2020 by admin

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Billboard advertising can be a great way to gain awareness for your business and drive traffic to your doors. In fact, 24% of people reported that they were motivated to visit a store that day because of an outdoor media advertisement! While this is obviously a great conversion ratio for an ad investment it will not matter if there is no billboard traffic where your new billboard ad is located. As you hear in home buying “location, location, location” is most important when determining where to purchase your billboard space. The location and visibility of your billboard marketing will be the key determining factor in the success of your billboard ad. Because 24% of nothing, well, is nothing… Continue reading “Puerto Rico Billboards”

Measuring Billboard Effectiveness

Posted on January 21, 2020 by admin

Depending on whom you ask, billboards conjure different images. Let’s agree for the purpose of this article that, when we talk about billboards, we are referring to those large outdoor structures we normally see along the interstate.

Of course, this definition is a little simplistic. Billboards come in all shapes and sizes. They are not just along well-traveled roadsides. We see them in city downtown areas. You will find billboards anywhere billboard manufacturers expect them to earn money for the advertiser and hence the creator.

The term billboard comes from the “billing board”. This term refers to the outdoor advertising space of gigantic proportions. Billboards are huge because their aim is to catch the eye of passing walkers, cyclists, and vehicle drivers. They are intended to be read in their entirety in the time it takes a pedestrian, biker, or driver to pass by the sign.

Measuring Billboard Effectiveness

According to writer, Apryl Duncan, Americans are deluged with visual stimulation. She estimates that, on average, Americans are bombarded with between four thousand and ten thousand ads every day.

To be effective, billboards need to stand out from their competitors. While billboards have a captive audience as people walk, run, bike, or drive by, they must be large, striking, and easy to read. Otherwise, their potential audience will simply ignore them. Measuring billboard effectiveness is important to every outdoor media campaign. Billboard companies should provide statistics and specific data as it applies to:

Location

Outdoor media is unique in that it is one of few advertising mediums that is not as dynamic. Where internet ads can change frequently and within a short time span, billboard generally change less often, but are sometimes more effective. How is this? Measuring billboard effectiveness always begins with evaluating location of potential billboard placement. This is usually done by considering factors such as:

Number of people or vehicles that pass a billboard per day
Number of people or vehicles that could see your billboard per day
People or vehicles who actually saw/interacted with your billboard

Measuring Traffic for Billboard Effectiveness

It’s crucial to know the traffic surrounding the location of a billboard in order to better measure traffic for billboard effectiveness. For one, you should try to find an ideal location that gets a lot of traffic, although these areas can usually be priced much higher than other lower trafficked areas. Measuring traffic is usually done through a variety of methods including government data, census, road traffic counts, and even manually logging travel data day-to-day. These numbers will help you determine if a location is an ideal placement for your business, brand, or service.

Analytics

If there’s a brand name, slogan, or catchphrase — that is used unique to your business — you could use analytics data scraping methods to analyze how often those terms, phrases, or words are typed into search engines. Similar to how businesses would execute keyword research, the same method could be applied in measuring billboard effectiveness. The more search hits a phrase gets could provide insight into how often people are viewing and taking action with an outdoor ad.

Hashtags

Hashtags are more widely used these days and provide ample opportunity to getting potential customers on board with a message displayed on outdoor media. Utilizing hashtags can help companies better evaluate the effectiveness of the billboard advertisement.

Sales Analytics

There’s usually a direct correlation between sales and outdoor ads. It’s important you notate benchmarks in reports for sales, or general profits and determine if a new billboard ad is bringing in more customers or not.

Billboard Audience Impact

Billboards aren’t technically outstanding. Some have moving parts. Most appeal only to your vision. However, billboards have a captive audience. Think of those hours you spend in your car, bus, GO train. or other commuter vehicles.

The daily commute is literally the longest idle time in the busy schedule of North Americans. No matter how you get to and from work, while you make that trek, you are a captive audience. Companies aiming at getting their brand known and advertising agencies intend upon helping clients achieve their goals recognize the power of billboards as a vehicle. They take good advantage of the opportunity to bombard foot and vehicle traffic with powerful visual images strategically located.

Billboard advertising is effective in our busy world. It’s a way to get the highest number of views and lasting brand impressions of any advertising medium.

Billboard Advertising Goals

Billboards aren’t like other types of ads. Researchers have discovered that the average viewing time is four seconds.

So, billboards are aimed at building brand recognition or reinforcing a brand recall. Billboards aren’t there to inform, educate, or persuade. Basically, they are saying, “See me!” or “Remember me!”

How is Billboard Effectiveness Measured?

When it comes to measuring billboard effectiveness, there are several considerations.

First, let’s consider the return on your investment. How much does the billboard cost? How much revenue does it bring in? When we consider ROI, billboards have a proven record of being worth the time and investment.

Billboards are part of the landscape. They are practically everywhere you go whether you’re traveling on foot, on a bike, in a car, on a bus, or in a train. It’s little wonder that advertisers continue to pump money into this form of advertising.

Static advertising forms like magazines, flyers, direct mailing, email ads, and newspapers can be discarded with hardly a glance. But, billboards are in your face.

Thanks to modern technology, any professional outdoor advertising agency can provide its clients with hard data to show that their billboards are paying off. They can measure the foot and vehicular traffic at any time of the day, day of the week or month of the year.

Professional outdoor advertising companies can predict the demographic most likely to view and respond to your billboard. The effectiveness of billboards is measured in Daily Effective Circulations or DEC. This refers to the number of vehicles and pedestrians passing your billboard each day.

What Makes a Billboard Ad Stand Out?

Despite their size, billboards need to stand out from the visuals that surround them. That’s a tall order. Outdoor advertising companies use creative designs, eye-catching materials, catchy slogans, and special effects to make their billboards memorable.

How do they do this? To answer that question, let’s look at billboards that have stood out in advertising history. Remember, the ultimate goal of billboards is brand recognition and brand recall.

Consider these billboards that made their product a household name.

Coca Cola should get top marks for some of the world’s most effective billboards. “It’s the Real Thing”. Recently they have used the Coke white swoop on the traditional red background to encouraging recycling containers. Not a word is needed!
IBM has taken its city billboards to a whole new level. They have added a curve to their billboard to create a rain shelter and a ramped bench seating area. Their creation blends modern design and function.
“Kleenex” did such a good job of brand recognition that its name is synonymous with every other tissue brand. But, like Coke and IBM, Kleenex is not content to bask in its name recognition. The company’s latest billboards appeal to emotion. Their ads afford their customers opportunities to show caring.
Famous for its Golden Arches and yellow off-ramp billboards, Macdonald’s has always excelled at sending a message without using a word. Now, this fast-food giant is turning its billboards into homes for bees.
It would be impossible to ignore the “all you can eat and more” billboards erected by the motorist stop Oldtimer restaurant chain. The billboard surrounds a tunnel on the motorway with the tunnel acting as the customer’s mouth.

Are You in the Market for Effective Billboard Advertising?

Professional Outdoor Advertising Experts have the knowledge to create attention-getting billboards. They know where to place them to build brand recognition with your niche market.

These professionals also have the tools to measure viewer reactions and to help clients make adjustments for maximum return on investment.

Learn more about how we can help you get the most from your advertising dollar. Contact us to discuss billboard advertising in Puerto Rico.

Why Is Billboard Advertising Important

Posted on December 10, 2019 by admin

Today, digital advertising is dominating all other forms of advertising, and it looks like that trend is only going to continue. Traditional advertising continues to remain an important aspect of the advertising landscape, though, and that’s because traditional advertising is able to reach people in ways that digital advertisements can’t.

Traditional advertising is falling away and making room for digital advertising. Digital advertisements have become an increasingly popular form of advertising, because they are able to reach many people, in a shorter period of time.

While traditional advertising is falling away, that doesn’t mean that traditional advertising is dead. Far from it, in fact, since billboards not only remain popular, but advertisers are spending even more money on the medium then they were decades ago.

To understand the billboard industry it’s important to understand what makes billboards a unique and distinct advertising medium, as well as how the current advertising landscape has transformed billboards. bMedia is answering a question we often receive: why is billboard advertising important?

What Is Billboard Advertising?

Billboard advertisements are large advertisements that are found outdoors. In these advertisements, there tends to be a combination of words and images. Words and images are some of the most powerful tools in an advertiser’s arsenal, and when you combine the two, you are able to create advertisements that are engaging and compelling.

If you go back to the middle of the 19th-century, you’ll find billboards. There weren’t very many of them, but the medium did exist, and advertisers were experimenting with variations and its effectiveness. It wasn’t until the 20th-century that billboards became one of the most popular advertising mediums available.

In the 20th-century, the Ford Model T became available. Many people purchased their own Model T, and began driving it across the cities and around the country. As the number of automobiles on the road increased, highways were created.

When these highways were created, billboard advertising really took off. Nobody likes driving for hours and hours, with nothing to see or do. This being the case, and since there was just so much space that could be used to house billboard advertisements, billboard advertisements became a very common fixture of highway roads.

As the years passed, though, the regulations for billboards tightened, and fewer billboards could be placed along those roads and highways. However, these regulations didn’t lessen the presence of billboard advertisements, though, and the medium remained popular throughout the twentieth century and continues to remain popular

What made billboards unique, was their large size, and the way that they merged visuals and words. What made billboards important, was the fact that they engaged audiences. Visuals and words naturally lead to something that is distinct and unique.

When you combine those qualities with the fact that billboards are placed on highways and roads, and that the automobile continues to be the primary medium of transportation, you get an advertising medium that is able to reach large amounts of people with ease.

What Is Digital Advertising?

As the digital world continues to develop and expand, digital advertising has become omnipresent. Today, advertisers often invest a significant amount of money in digital advertising. Social media advertisements, to name just one example, are extremely popular and they tap into a vast set of people who are engaged in those social media applications. But, while these digital technologies are certainly useful, they aren’t always effective when it comes to advertising

We live in a digital age. Our lives have become increasingly dominated by digital technologies and digital media. As this transformation has occurred, advertisers have realized just how powerful and effective these digital technologies are, and the myriad of ways they can be turned into advertising tools.

If you go online and visit Google or Facebook – or any other digital application/website – you’ll be surrounded by advertisements. But, there’s a good chance that you won’t click on any of them, or even read what the advertisement has to offer. And that’s the problem.

While digital technology is certainly pervasive, advertising isn’t engaged with as much as it is within traditional mediums. Many people either ignore the advertisements, and focus on the content that they are looking for, or they simply install and ad blocker. If you look at another digital medium, such as television, you’ll see something similar: when there’s a commercial break, most people get up and do something else until their show comes back on.

As a result of how people engage with digital technologies, digital advertising isn’t always effective. But, it is very expensive, which leads to a lot of wasted funds.

Digital technologies are pervasive, and they serve as powerful tools for advertising
Most people engage with digital advertisements that are different from how they engage with traditional advertisements
As a result of this, digital advertising isn’t always effective, but it is very expensive

Why Is Billboard Advertising Important?

While many people consider traditional advertising to be antiquated, it is still exceptionally effective. Billboards are a large part of that traditional advertising market, and they continue to engage potential customers.

Today, billboard advertising is as important as it’s ever been. As a form of advertising, it remains very effective, and it continues to engage customers and spread awareness.

As an advertising medium, billboards are obviously quite expressive. They’re large, so a lot of people are able to see them, and they combine visuals and words in a manner that is engaging and fun.

Setting up a billboard isn’t always cheap, but they work; they engage audiences, and they spread awareness of what it is that you are offering. People will be driving and they’ll see your billboard, and they’ll take of note it and be enticed to check out what it is that you’re offering.

It is for those reasons, that billboard advertising remains not only relevant but an important and effective advertising medium. So, why is billboard advertising important? It still remains one of the most effective mediums and proven strategies to help businesses scale. Contact bMedia for billboard advertising in Puerto Rico.