A Good Use of Billboards

In future postings, I will go through the different media and share my thoughts on the best (and worst) uses for each medium.

I'll start with Billboards.

Billboards can be effective if used in the correct way.  I recently saw a perfect use for a billboard so I had to pull over and snap a picture of it.

I know everything I need to know from looking at this billboard.  If I was going to turn into the shopping plaza on the right and go to West Coast Video, I would clearly see the crazy kid on the billboard pointing to the other side of the street.  Then, I could read the line "Now Across The Street" and could now make a left hand turn into the plaza across the street to find the new location of my video store.

Clear, simple, direct, great photo.  That's how to use a billboard.

I won't embarrass any businesses by showing a poor use of billboards, but let me just put it this way.  If you look at your billboard design on an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper and think that it looks great, try this exercise...

Have someone take the sheet of paper and walk about 5 or 6 feet away from you.  Have them hold the paper down facing away from you.  Then, when you say "Go," have them hold up the paper to face you and count to 3 before turning the paper over again.

How much of that design did you see before the paper was turned over?

Keep in mind someone driving in their car only has a few seconds to see and react to your billboard.  If it has too much text and that text is too small, it's just a waste of money.

Then, you have to consider placement.  If the billboard is a "left hand read,"  (a billboard on the left hand side of the road) a driver is even less likely to comprehend your message.  Keep in mind, they have oncoming traffic to deal with and your billboard is on the other side of the road.

Keep it simple when it comes to billboards.  Directions are a perfect use for billboards ... "TURN LEFT AT NEXT LIGHT."  Brilliant.

Just don't let a design team come up with something that looks great when you're looking at it on paper just a few inches away from your eyes, that will just get lost in the crowd out on the road.