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.