As an advertiser and consumer, I am struggled with 95% of the South African outdoor advertising out there. Don’t get me wrong, I am not a “Billboard Basher” with a stout view that outdoor advertising is spoiling our beautiful country. No, I simply believe that if a brand decides to use this medium, use it properly.
As we know, “outdoor” comes in all shapes and sizes. From the traditional 4m x 1m billboards to street pole advertising, to extravagant building wraps, outdoor advertising certainly has expanded over the past few years and does not show any sign of slowing down. Quite the contrary, every month, new products and offerings are being dreamed up by media agencies and media owners and sold onto the advertising agencies and clients. Digital, projections, interactivity, are the new buzz words in the outdoor world. If you have not seen the digital billboard attached to the Radisson Blue Hotel outside the Sandton Gautrain Station, watch that space.
However, for the purpose of this piece, let’s not get caught up in the future of outdoor advertising inspired by images of Tom Cruise being greeted personally by holographic billboards in the film Minority Report (“John Anderton, you could use a Guinness right about now!”). Let’s go back to basics and consider the traditional 4mx1m roadside billboard, which dominate our cities’ roads, especially on route to airports (international billboard Mecca’s).
We first have to understand the advantages of using this mass reaching medium. Every medium at an agency’s disposal has pro’s and con’s. Impact and Awareness are the top two sited attributes when it comes to billboards. They are big, in your face and a great medium to get a single message to consumers as they speed around our cities’ roads every day. Large numbers of your consumers could be regularly exposed to your marketing message and the sheer scale of using this medium lets consumers know that this brand is big and here to stay. The big cons are Expense and Clutter. High production costs and steep monthly media rentals, makes this medium unattractive to many marketers. Also, “the best” billboard sites are hard to come by as many brands employ long term lease agreements on key sites, causing more billboards to be built at a rapid pace and ultimately resulting in media clutter for the consumer.
Secondly, we need to understand the required brand message. What is the purpose of this communication? What do we want consumers to do, think and how do we want them to respond? What is the brand campaign’s big idea? Many brands treat outdoor advertising as a mere part of a larger 360 degree advertising campaign – simple extensions of a TV commercial or even a resized (albeit large) format version of a print ad. What many marketers and advertisers fail to understand is that a big idea should be able to live comfortably regardless of the medium, and expressed differently depending on the medium’s roll in the campaign.
Additionally, many brands use a simple formula: billboard = headline + product packshot + brand logo, also known as a Pack ‘n Brag. I am not suggesting the Pack ‘n Brags don’t serve a purpose, but rather believe that there are good Pack ‘n Brags and bad Pack ‘n Brags, which I will clarify shortly.
Thirdly and lastly, we should look to understand the headspace the consumer is when engaging and consuming outdoor advertising. Let’s put our consumer hats on. You are in your car on route to or from work, preparing for the day ahead or reflecting on the day past, listening to DJ Fresh or the latest Lady Gaga single. As you wiz down the roads and highways you pass a multitude of billboards shouting messages at you. Which ones to you notice, which ones do you ignore? Give it a try on your way home today and see which billboards stand out causing you to take notice and engage their messages. What makes them different?
My view on what makes good billboard advertising is quite obvious: Simplicity. Let me expand:
Simplicity is key. In South Korea they take this to the extreme and many of the billboard advertising is simply the brand logo.
A typical billboard spotted in Seoul, South Korea
That’s it. No message, nothing. I am not qualified to recommend a David Oglivy-esk type view that “every billboard headline should have no more than eight words in it”. However, the principle of simplicity should be followed by considering a number of factors. The message unequivocally has to be single minded and crystal clear. The first take out a consumer must have when viewing your billboard is a clear idea of which brand is doing the advertising. This shows the importance of being brand relevant and distinctive, which is often resolved by brand corporate identity (CI), colour palette, tone and manor, use of familiar visuals, graphics, fonts and logos. But beware of arty or frilly design (even if this is part of your brand or campaign look and feel), as most consumers may appreciate the beauty of the billboard but miss the important message and brand. Bottom line – it can’t be cryptic for the consumer to work out which brand is doing the talking.
It is also vital that the billboard incorporates only the essential information – nothing more and nothing less. Outdoor communication should not take the belief that viewers are stuck in traffic and have time to analyse your message. Can consumers view and understand your message in 1 or 2 seconds? I have poor eyesight, which further compounds and exaggerates this issue. Today, I see too many seeing billboards with a smorgasbord of information, 90% if which the consumer never sees. Do you really think a consumer travelling at 120km p/h will read and remember your website or telephone number? Or get a chance to delve into your bodycopy? The answer is simple, no.
In contrast to my pessimistic opinion of most of today’s billboard advertising in South Africa, there are a few examples of great work. Any South African catching a flight from Cape Town International Airport would have been treated to a number of fantastic Allan Gray billboards talking the brand’s “patience reaps rewards” positioning. These stood in isolation of what their TV or print ads were saying at the time, however, the brand’s core message remained consistent. A personal favourite, is not an obvious one. A simple dare on the N1 leaving Cape Town city centre from Spur Steak Ranches featuring a visual of a massive T-bone steak, the Spur logo and the words: “Come hungry”. I am positive that the Mexico Spur in Canal Walk Shopping Centre down the road received many customers on their way home from work, after viewing that billboard and accepting Spur’s challenge. Then there is the clever Eskom billboard showcasing the brand practicing what it preaches. And who can forget the Cannes Grand Prix winning Billboard for Nedbank, which through solar and wind power generators attached to the billboard itself, provided free electricity to a crèche responsible for feeding hundreds of underprivileged kids each day.
In conclusion, research shows us that consumers subconsciously filter the messages we see every minute of every day. So how do we as brands, marketers and advertisers make sure outdoor advertising works for us? Firstly, we need to realise that the brand or campaign big idea is the most important thing, and we need to work out what is the best way that outdoor advertising can tell the idea’s story. It is not as simply as resizing a print ad or using a framegrab from your new expensive TV commercial. The billboard layout needs to be brand relevant and clutter-free, housing only the necessary information, with a crystal clear and single-minded message.
I am sure there are many schools of thought by many industry experts on this topic, much more informed and entitled to make such matter-of-fact statements than me. However, these are the modest views of a farsighted consumer, travelling at 120km p/h.
Andrew Watson
