I wonder if there is anyone out there who is brave enough to not use any billboards in marketing ...
Say you're marketing and you're a school of 10,000 or more students. We all know the research that billboards are just kind of background noise and build some awareness but don't get you really to do anything specific.
But for some reason, administrators/deans/higher ups love billboards. Why? Because everyone can see them. It's something easy to point to and say, "Hey, look! We're getting our message out!"
I once had someone come to me and want to do one billboard for one month for their college. I had to write a 5-page plan to convince them their $10,000 could be much better spent elsewhere.
But everyone just loves billboards because they are so visible. Is anyone out there brave enough to go against it?
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Random Marketing Thought: Billboards
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3 comments:
Billboards...ugh. Even as a professional school we have to keep explaining why this is bad. Are they really expecting an Ivy League undergrad with a 3.9 GPA and 168 LSAT to drive by and say, "What a GREAT billboard! I want to go to law school there, so much that I won't even ask for a scholarship!"
Amen to that.
Our Cleveland media buyers were in two days ago and shared a recent Arbitron study on digital billboards. Only 46 percent of commuters agreed or strongly agreed with the statement: "Digital billboards provide useful information."
And here's another stat: 19 percent of travelers recalled a specific digital billboard ad and talked about the advertising message with their family, friends or coworkers that day.
Pretty dismal stuff for out-of-home advertising.
Billboards work well enough for high visibility commodity "quick fix" brands like Coke, pepsi, Marlboro, Snickers, etc.
See the billboard, trigger the urge, pull up at a store and buy the product, continue with your day.
Nike, iPod, Blackberry, Delta Airlines and Mercedes Benz probably wouldn't get much ROI out of billboards.
They're a complete waste of marketing money for most companies, but as long as ad agencies work towards profits (as they should) they will continue to be included in media buying plans. As an AE at a firm or agency, it's your job to sell the value of billboards. As a brand manager on the client side, it's your job to consider whether billboards make sense or not.
In the real world, everything comes town to a) what you are trying to accomplish, and b) Return on Investment.
If all you are looking for is awareness, billboards might not be bad. If your goal is to convert eyeballs into actual sales, probably not.
Cheers.
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