Go BIG For Valentine's Day!

The first batch of personal ads to be displayed via the new CreateYourBillboard.com website will be this Sunday for Valentine's Day. We are taking orders now, and there is a limited amount of space on each of the boards. Just go to the website, select the board that is on your loved one's commute, and type in your message. Spots start at just $50 and you can pay online with any major credit card!

Introducing: CreateYourBillboard.com

Back in August, we started broadcasting a live Twitter feed to our digital billboard network to demonstrate the flexibility of our brand new medium. The campaign generated a lot of attention from the community and from the media. The idea was to generate interest so that people would buy ad space on the billboards.

After a while, I started receiving calls from people who wanted to pay me to post specific tweets. A marketing assistant from a charitable organization requested that I post about their upcoming food drive. The owner of a small gift shop asked that I tweet her contact information. One woman even asked if I would congratulate her son on his college graduation.

All of this got me thinking... What if we could dip into a previously untapped market to generate revenue from unsold digital space? I quickly started drawing out the beginnings of a website where visitors could post a simple, text-based message on the digital billboard of their choice. We created a price point that would be appealing to most anyone, between $50 and $200, and put together a simple billboard template that features the only message and the headline "CreateYourBillboard.com," so the board is it's own call-to-action.

We are dipping into a whole new category of business, and why not? After all, we have one of the most flexible and effective advertising mediums in the world. Our competition? Classified ads, stick signs, greeting card companies and those people who dance with signs on the side of the road. Why would you want this when you can have this? Slots are available now. Buy one to tell your loved one how you feel on a 672 square foot canvas this Valentines Day!

The Captive Audience: Myth or Reality?

Paul Flanigan shared some interesting thoughts this week, over on his excellent "Experiate" blog. Paul makes the bold assessment that "There is no such thing as a captive audience." As I read that sentence, my mind immediately shifted into gear, sifting through dozens of media examples that prove his theory wrong. After all, I've written posts about the power of billboards to do exactly that.

But the more I read, the more I agreed with Paul's statement.

"Under no circumstances are viewers forced to watch the screen. The industry has come to understand that viewer engagement is the objective in compelling messaging," The difference being that viewer engagement is based on choice, not "captivity". He goes on to say, "It is extremely important to build a strategy that serves the ultimate purpose of your digital signage: to engage your viewer."

Paul is right. We can't force people to pay attention to advertisements. And even if we could, I'm not sure that we would. After all, true brand loyalty can only exist if the consumer has the option to choose what they consume. We have to make them want to look . Viewer engagement can be achieved three ways: entertainment, relevance and usefulness.

• Most ads attempt to engage viewers by being entertaining. Just watch the commercials during the Super Bowl.
  
• Relevance is more about where, when and to whom the advertisement is delivered. A billboard in an upscale neighborhood that advertises an upcoming event at a local opera house does not have to be funny to capture the attention of it's target audience. It is simply relevant to the consumer who will see it.
  
• Useful ads dedicate a portion of the ad space to providing topical information. "Your daily traffic report, brought to you by State Farm...." "You have 10 days until April 15th; Do your taxes at H & R Block...." And of course, money saving coupons.

These are all things that should be considered when designing ads for any medium. Our digital billboards have the ability to stand out by offering each of these features in exciting new ways. Dynamic content, new daily copy or countdowns (like the one pictured above that is currently running on the digital billboards in Tampa) are all ways that a standard billboard can be transformed into a highly engaging, effective ad.

An Education in Digital

In November, I was invited to speak at Seminole Vocational Education Center by commercial arts director Chris Juul. Throughout the semester, his students work on creating a marketing campaign to promote SVEC, including a digital billboard which we offered to display on one of our signs for a few weeks in December. Chris brought myself and our Senior Graphic Designer Richard Homer to speak to the students about what works and what doesn't when it comes to outdoor advertising.

I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to share my experience with the class, and was intrigued by their level of exposure to and interest in digital outdoor advertising. When I asked the class to raise their hands if they had ever noticed a digital billboard, nearly everyone's hand shot up. It was eye-opening to see such a response. A year ago, only about 20% of the room would have responded in the affirmative to the same inquiry. It made me sad in a way, knowing that my presentations will no longer be an introduction to a whole new advertising era, now that the majority of people are familiar with digital outdoor. On the other hand, during that day at SVEC, I got to spark the imagination of the classroom on how to use the power of this new medium.

The design that was chosen was created by third-level designer Chandler Burke (pictured), who used the tagline "Build Your Future" to drive traffic to the school's website. Thank you to Chris and his class for being such a welcoming and engaging audience. I look forward to coming back to share again next year.

You can read MSN's article on SVEC's billboard project here.

Embracing Change

When comparing outdoor advertising to other mediums, we often mention the simplicity of our medium. Billboards are advertising in it's purest form. We have no content to deliver. We don't have to worry about editorializing, on-air personalities, delivering an agenda, adjusting our content to reach a wider demographic or retaining talent. And best of all, our ratings come to us. Nothing we do will hurt or improve our viewership.

We've always looked at this simplicity as a benefit, because let's face it, we really had no other choice. But with the advent of digital billboards, we do have a choice. We could utilize unsold space to turn our screens into a dynamic channel of content. This would give us the power to improve the amount of attention paid to our signs, by offering information that is relevant to consumers. But do we really want to subject ourselves to the perils and pitfalls that other mediums must face as a result of taking control of content?

To be honest, we have everything to gain, and nothing to lose. The fragmentation of TV, radio and print is a result of the consumer's ability to choose their channel, which is not a concern with outdoor advertising. We represent an unusually dominant medium, which maintains its presence day in and day out. You can't change the channel, turn the page or turn us off.

Digital billboard operators should be thinking like program managers. We should continually be asking ourselves how we can transform each billboard into a more engaging, dynamic canvas. What kind of useful information can we deliver to our uniquely captive audience? How can we showcase the power of the digital technology? Can we add something to the cultural landscape? We have the ability to update the boards in minutes, so we have the power to create a dialogue with consumers. We can actually take part in (and eventually become) the water cooler conversation.

Embracing this mentality is the only way we can change the perception that a digital sign is "just a billboard that does tricks." The ad industry is starting to understand that we are witnessing the birth of a powerful new medium. One that offers a very different set of benefits from traditional outdoor.

Context is Key

It's one of the most successful and often imitated advertisements of the late 20th century. With two simple words, the copy line invades our space and makes us stop in our tracks and think... Have I "Got Milk?"

Why does the "Got Milk?" campaign work so well? In his book Rhetoric: A User's Guide, John D. Ramage explains that the consumer's response to a particular ad partially depends on the relationship between the time and place of the consumer, and the time and place in which the ad was created. It's all about context. If a tagline or slogan is able to position itself as being relevant by showing that it lives in a world similar to ours, we're much more likely to respond.

From the middle of October, until the first week of January, our minds and checkbooks are fixated on the holiday season. Pumpkins and turkeys give way to stockings and presents, and before we know it we're ringing in the new year. Middleton Pest Control has been using outdoor advertising for a long time, but their new digital outdoor campaign is setting itself apart by taking context into consideration. Their original "Trick or Treatment" design was replaced on November 1st with a design featuring a roach-infested Thanksgiving feast.

The flexibility of the medium allows Middleton to easily swap out one message for another, continually mirroring the buzz that surrounds each passing holiday. The timeliness of the campaign maximizes its effectiveness, and keeps the message top-of-mind in an especially oversaturated season for advertising.

Injured? Why Wait?

It's never a "good" time to get hurt, but we can tell you when it's a good time to visit the hospital.

Last May, I wrote a post outlining some creative ways for hospitals to utilize digital billboards. One of the options I mentioned was to use a live feed to broadcast the current wait time in the emergency room. Brandon Regional Hospital has been broadcasting ER wait times on their website for some time, but now they are using Clear Channel's digital billboards to broadcast the info to thousands of commuters every day. The campaign showcases one of outdoor advertising's greatest strengths: the ability reach a convenient, susceptible consumer.

HCA, the parent company of Brandon Regional Hospital, is pairing the billboard campaign, with a text message service that will deliver the info directly to your cellphone. Simply text "ER" to 23000 to receive the current wait times for the 3 nearest hospitals. HCA spokesperson Ed Fishbough said the company has been "very pleased" with the results of the ad campaign.

Today's consumer wants access to information on-demand. Blackberrys and iPhones are making that kind of information increasingly obtainable, but as we all know, texting while driving is not recommended. Marketers are discovering that digital outdoor advertising can deliver the same kind of relevant content while people are away from home and active in the marketplace.