Outdoor advertising – an oft-forgotten medium

The use of outdoor advertising is escalating as more people realise the benefits of the method. The beauty of outdoor advertising lies in it being there constantly, without the ability to switch off or turn over. An outdoor advertising campaign is vital to any advertising programme and has been proven to be a very successful way of getting a message across.

Where to advertise

The traditional billboard style of outdoor advertising is still prevalent in the industry and has the added value of major and instant impact. The beauty of the billboard is that it is, when well placed, visible to a whole range of consumers on a daily basis; the roadside billboard is a prime advertising space and will be viewed by thousands of people daily in even the smallest of towns.

In addition the use of bus shelters is becoming more prominent; these see crowds of people waiting for set periods on a regular basis, and are very lucrative and successful in terms of pushing a product to a particular audience.

In a similar way railway stations make very visible outdoor advertising points, as do airports, concert halls and shopping centres – anywhere, in fact, where large groups of people gather on a regular basis.

A more individual and personal form of outdoor advertising is that used by restaurants and bars, in the form of the standing billboard advertising the premises products outside the door.

Outdoor advertising takes many forms, and basically encompasses anything that can be written on that is in an outdoor space.

How to advertise

The point of many outdoor advertising campaigns is to get a message across quickly and in a direct manner; nobody driving a car has the ability to read small lettering on a billboard by the roadside, but they will take in a message written in large letters and take note of the picture that accompanies it.

This is the basic premise of outdoor advertising – the very prominent, very large message that simply gets the point across.

An arresting image, one that will stick in the mind, is important in making the message relevant, and any good outdoor advertising campaign will draw in more in terms of returns on investment than a similarly costed traditional magazine advert, thanks in large to its presence and impact.

Moving images

In terms of outdoor advertising the most impressive version has to be that that is prominent on the side of a moving vehicle. Buses are popular methods of utilising this manner of advertising, and they carry the major advantage of being in several different places during their journey, thus carrying the ad to the people rather than waiting for them to come to it.

The bus companies have accepted this manner of advertising, while many have questioned why trains do not utilise the same method; the answer is that a train is not seen by many people on its journey, other than those who are travelling by rail, as railways do not run through towns as a general rule.

Outdoor advertising is a very lucrative method of getting a simple message across and will continue to exert a strong draw on the advertising world.