Billboard Mistakes

I love billboards when they are used right.

But when they look like a dog's breakfast two questions come to mind.

Who is proofing these boards and who trained the sales rep selling?

Here are a few things to keep in mind if you are going to use billboards.

1.  Keep the message brief.
2.  Your billboard should be part of your overall campaign and not your campaign.
3.  And your boards have to be designed to be read from street level.

I took this picture from my car parked.  It's the top board.

What do you see?

So I parked a little closer.  And this is what you would see driving by.

This is a picture from the parking lot behind the business where the board is.

Its challenging to read even from here never mind travelling the speed limit from the opposite side of the street.

The expression , "showed up and threw up" comes to mind.

This is to busy and the colors make it difficult to focus on the 5 messages on the board.

I would have used a white background, the Lantern picture and website.

Here is another example of the above expression.

This isn't in my car but me standing on the sidewalk trying to make out the board on the left.

Me standing on the sidewalk but zooming in with my phone.

The headline is "Innovators never stop learning."

Underneath it says, "And they are enrolling in Canada's most innovative adult learning programs."

Register, website and something I can't read because of the fixture and then the University of Manitoba logo.

Oh and someone decided to put a picture of lady which I would likely guess is a stock photo they bought and means nothing to the ad.

Why not stack the message.

Headline.
Web address.
Logo.

Lots of white space and the billboard company expertise selects the font so it can be read from street level.

Billboards are a terrific medium used properly.

Remember very few words, one call to action and don't be afraid of white space.

Why Your Advertising Message May Fall On Deaf Ears

If you are in business there is a level of expectation.

So if you are in the restaurant business, I would expect your food to be “tasty and delicious”

If you are a garage, I expect that you have” licensed qualified mechanics”.

My personal favorite is “friendly and knowledgeable sales staff”.

Yet too often, businesses think these attributes must be in their advertising message.

Do you see why it’s easy to blame the media you are using for failure when really no one is buying the things that are a given.

Not to let the sales person off the hook.  You should not allowing these phrases in the message.

The art of schleping

Winners.ca is a fashion store known for carrying name brands at discount prices.

Their current radio ads are for Christmas shopping and use of the word, "schlep".

Now schlep is a Yiddish word and used as a noun means, awkward and stupid person. It can also mean simple, simpleton and a person lacking intelligence or common sense. For example, "My brother in law is such a schlep!"

Schlep can also mean a a tedious or difficult journey. "Driving from Winnipeg to Florida is such a schlep".

Schlep as a verb means to pull along heavily, like a heavy load against a resistance. For example, "Oh Vey the thought of schlepping your parents to Florida!

The word doesn't work in this ad nor did it make the ad funny.

As for the schlep who came up with the idea, it's a Christmas shopping ad!

Tony Mariani

The power of words

Tony Mariani

When should you advertise and what should you say

Two great articles.

Sean Taylor from the Wizard of Ads has written a great post. When you should advertise .

Trevor Finch from Corus Radio in Winnipeg, Canada on what your advertising message should focus on.

Tony Mariani

How satisfied are you

Any marketing that conducts a survey and asks you for a laundry list to choose from to answer their question is really not interested in your answer.

Will any of these answers give, say, your cell phone provider a clear cut vision?

1. Most likely
2. Moderately likely
3. Less moderately likely
4. Least moderately likely
5. Not likely

Not likely. These are called grey surveys and yes I just made that up. No possible strategy can come out of them. And while we are at it, asking me to rate a service on a scale of 1 to 10 with one least likely is no better.

Nothing beats a yes or no survey with the ability to state why you are less likely or most likely to recommend your cell phone provider.

Those answers fix your customer service issues and make for some great creative.

Tony Mariani

NEW Heineken Commercial

This is funny done very well where it doesn't matter what language its in.



Tony Mariani

How would you take this ad

Ads for alcohol seem to have a comedic slant to them.

But I am not sure about this one for Canadian Club.



I would assume that this guy almost got caught by the woman's husband.

Adventure?

Lived to re-tell it?

That is so far out there, the person who thought this up and better yet the person from Canadian Club who approved the ad, should be out on the ledge.

Tony Mariani

Billboard faux pas

The rule of thumb for billboard messages is clean and very few words.

You be the judge on this.

Don't buy the idea that next time you see the ad you will pay more attention. You would need superman vision to make out the text.

This board is just to busy. Billboards should be one thought, theme or call to action.



Tony Mariani

5 lines you should avoid using in your ads

5. Conveniently located
4. Lots of free parking
3. The sale has been held over
2. Friendly and knowledgeable staff
1. There has never been a better time to buy

All five are about you and not what you or your product can do for the customer.

Tony Mariani