Billbored

(Don't worry I know how to spell.) The title is merely my take on what the advertising industry has chosen to do with one of the biggest mediums in terms of blank canvas size- billboards. Or as I like to call them, billboreds. I have seen awesome billboards both in person and online in my life. Still, more often than not billboards are looked at as a weaker form of advertising for multiple reasons, but I believe the real reason is because people aren't using the medium to its full potential.

This month billboards have been getting a lot of negative media coverage.

• Jan. 12- A billboard collapsed due to high winds in Brooklyn, NY.
• Jan. 13- An article ran in the North West Florida Daily News reporting 2,000 trees were illegally cut down in FL for billboard placement.
• Jan. 23- A feature article in the High Country News (Salt Lake City, UT) accused billboard companies of buying out court cases suing against billboards in residential areas.
• Jan. 25- NC approved new laws allowing trees to be cut down in order for billboards to be seen better.

I'm not for companies cutting down 100+ year old trees to make room for more, but I do enjoy billboard advertising.

The medium has been criticized for not being able to clearly calculate the number of impressions made and many drivers admit to not noticing billboards. Additionally there is the dilemma of how to convey a message in 8 words or less.

Four states (AK, HI, ME & VT) prohibit billboards due to high tourism for their scenic beauty. This leads me to believe that my positive opinion of billboards comes from having driven through the barren states of MT, ND, and SD where the sight of a billboard is a happy sign that civilization is finally near.

Billboards do have positive attributes as pointed out by zeromillion.com including:

"People can't 'switch it off' or 'throw it out.' People are exposed to it whether they like it or not. In this sense, outdoor advertising truly has a captured audience."

The audience is there, yet most people claim they don't notice billboards. The problem with billboards is the same as any other medium- capturing attention. The benefit is, if used to their full potential,  there are many different "out of the box" ways to capture that attention, and here are some of them.

 

Okay, so some of these may be a bit extreme, or out of some companies budgets, but it illustrates just how much can be done through the medium of billboards.

Like I said, I'm not for tearing down mother nature to make more room for billboards, but I think that the space available should be used to its best advantage, and that means taking the bored out of billboard.

Not thaaat kind of Legendary...

North Dakota is the least visited of the 50 states. Its number one attraction is hard to pinpoint, and not in a good way. This poses quite the challenge for advertisers trying to sell the “peace garden state” to tourists.

The latest of North Dakota Tourism’s “legendary” ads were released last week. One ad in particular has, as is the goal of advertising, received a lot of buzz- but it may not be the kind of attention the state wants.

Most of the $1.8 million campaign’s legends point to the outdoor adventures North Dakota offers much like the word "legendary" intends. The ad getting all of the attention appears to take what I call the “Barney Stinson approach” to the word legendary.

Image from ibtimes.com

The ad, shown left, captures the nightlife of Fargo with the text “Drinks, dinner, decisions. Arrive a guest. Leave a legend.” A day after being released, it was pulled from Facebook for lacking what people labeled “decency and class” and triggering derogatory comments towards both its concept and models pictured.

Created by Odney, a local agency, the ad was targeted towards Canadian tourists and largely to be placed within Canadian magazines according to an AP news article. Sarah Otte Coleman, the director of North Dakota’s tourism division, explained in an article for the Grand Forks Herald her first reaction to the negative response. “Wow! Some people have too much time on their hands and watch a little too much Jersey Shore,” said Coleman.

Jersey Shore viewers or not, the "legendary" ad has caught the attention of everyone from the Huffington Post and ABC news to small travel blogging sites. While many of these postings carry the same tone of shock and imply failure, it is still up for debate as to if it is a complete failure.

2010 Legendary Campaign takes a subtler approach to ND
nightlife. Image from Travel North Dakota Facebook page.

After living in North Dakota for over 3 years, I think that advertising anything that doesn’t show snow or flooding is a step in the right direction. So I’ll give one point to them there. Another point for getting North Dakota and tourism out there to a national audience in the same sentence.

That is about where my awarding of points ends, so only a 98% failure. Maybe the intentions were good, showcasing the vibrant nightlife of Fargo, ND (something many people still most likely believes does not exist even after this ad) but the truth is no matter what the intentions, the message that read to the majority of viewers was “come to Fargo and hook up.”

Coleman has since apologized to anyone who was offended for the ad and assures that the “Legendary” campaign has overall been successful. The Tourism board says that in 2010 a total of $176.9 million was earned through visitor spending.

The ad will remain in the printed copies of North Dakota's 2012 tourism guide, but has been pulled from electronic versions. There are plans of replacing the ad, which will most likely stir up another round of debates. Let’s hope it’s legen- wait for it –dary.