Transcript Issues in a Changing Marketplace

Out-of-Home
Advertising Strategy: Chapter 10
(Alstiel and Grow)
Why Out-of-Home?
• Flexible: The location, timing, structure,
and dimension of the concept give you
a lot of options.
• High-impact medium: Nothing gives
you a bigger campus
• Exclusive: You can select a specific
location
• Economical: Low cost per impression
Why Out-of-Home?
• Ideal for establishing brand image and
building rapid awareness
• Ideal for promoting packaged goods
• Effective for reinforcing existing brands
• Message is always on display
• Combines selling with entertainment.
• Quickly conveys a concept, look good
in portfolio
Why not Out-of-Home?
• Usually cant change creative quickly
• Cant provide details, in most cases
• Have to tell whole story in about 5
seconds or less for billboards
• May be on display 24/7, but paying for
off-peak times too
• Limited to certain urban areas/ roads
Posters and Bulletins
• Outdoor posters: Use sheets of
preprinted paper glued to backboards
• Painted bulletins: Traditionally have used
hand-painted images.
• Have given way to Superflex vinyl-coated
fabric, gives them mag. like quality.
• 36-sheet poster: 48 ft. wide by 14 ft. high
• A4 size: 10 inch wide, 4.5 inch high
Different formats
• Standard static boards: Basic poster or
bulletin that fits within limits of the
sign’s borders
• Extensions: Part of your image violates
the boundaries of the board
• Motion boards: Can be motorized
images on a static board with sliding
panels that reveal totally different
message, usually another advertiser
Different formats
• Illuminated boards: Can be lighted for
night viewing or, more dramatically, to
include neon, moving lights, and
selective spot lighting
• Three-dimensional boards: Can add
dimensional objects to and around the
board, such as a car crashing through
the middle, people sitting on the top
edge, or parts of the poster removed to
reveal the backing framework
Transit
• Transit advertising also has its own
special terminology. To make it simple,
think of transit as advertising that goes
on the outside or inside of things that
move and at the places where you wait
for things that move.
Transit advertising examples
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Inside and outside bus cards
Outside bus murals
Bus shelters and benches
Kiosks
Train, bus, and subway stations
Airports
Mobile billboards: car, truck, trailer ads
Inside bus cards
• Often treated like mini-billboards, but here
you have a captive audience
• Bored bus riders have lot more than 5
seconds to get the message
• Copy can be a little longer, images more
complex than on billboards
• Typical sizes of inside transit cards are
11x28 inches and 11x14 inches
Transit shelters
• These glass-and-metal cubes lend
themselves to some very creative
treatments aimed less at the people
who wait there than at the people who
pass by
Bus panels and murals
• We’ve come a long way from just
slapping a flat sign on the side of a bus,
even though that’s still common
• However, some of the most striking
transit advertising results from full-wrap
murals, which envelop the bus totally
• Side and back panels can be creative
too. Brief, striking, entertaining,
especially to drivers stuck behind or
next to a bus in heavy traffic
Wall murals/ wallscapes
• If you want a more permanent location
without the dimensional restrictions of a
billboard, consider this.
• Good locations are limited. Need a tall,
but not too tall building next to an open
space so people can see the mural
• Usually its an older building, so may not
be in most prestigious part of town
Posters
• Can be a creative person’s best bed to
pad a portfolio and win awards.
• Technically all you have to do is print
one, post it somewhere, and voila,
you’ve produced a real-world
advertisement
Out-of-Home and Campaigns
• Out-of-home advertising is usually used
a secondary medium. Billboards and
posters are great reminders of a
slogan, logo, package, or other aspect
of a total campaign.
• Can you extend the message by using
out-of-home and can you repeat the
theme created for out-of-home?
Tips and Techniques
• Be telegraphic: 6-9 words. Someone
driving by has about 5 seconds to get it
• Think big: You’ve got an ad that can be
seen from 500 feet away. Images and
type should be huge
• Go for a strong visual/verbal connection:
Think metaphors and visual puzzles.
May times you don’t even need copy
• Stick with one main idea: Keep it simple
Tips and Techniques
• Take advantage of location: A sign on
the side or back of a bus can be different
from a static billboard because its
constantly in motion. Message on a
billboard can be very local
• Use all caps for short headlines and
uppercase/lowercase for longer heads:
Using all caps makes long copy harder
to read
Tips and Techniques
• Use short words when possible: They’re
easier to read and you can get more on
a billboard
• Use bold colors, not pastels: You’re
trying to attract attention. That’s why you
see so many yellows and reds
• Use few elements: Easier to read and
you can get more on a billboard
• Use product package instead of words:
Show Coke can, not words Coca-Cola