I believe I have the answer for you Suzanne

They DO work, and the way they work is 'subliminally'

How do I know this?

Famous illusionist Derren Brown did a 'trick'.
He got some advertising guys to write an advert for a specified product. These guys WROTE the exact advert including graphics that PAUL had written himself earlier.

How did this happen??

On the advertisers journey to the studio, Derren had set up various bill boards and other visiual stimuli that went to work subliminally on these guys. Had you asked them to recall the signs, they possibly would not be able to, but the information was well and truley embedded in their subconscious.

Every single thing we see and hear is stored in our deepest memory. If we do like superman and flick though a book, as long as we 'look' at the page and take in every word, it will be stored in our memory. It may not be recalled easily but will manifest itself in other ways. In our imaginations, creativity and decision making.

Do bill boards work? Indupitably!

Wow....great responses on why and when billboards work.

thank you.

Marcia--that billboard rings a familiar bell, although I avoid rush hour like the plague and I avoid highways when I can. Is that 93? I'm mostly on the Turnpike or 128.

Leah--you may have offered the strongest case of all. interesting!

And Stephen...I just wrote that to see if I'd get a reaction...I'm more of a 70 mph person

One of the most affective (at least to me anyway) billboards I've seen is one I drive by which reads:

"Argosy.....Fun.....Close"


What else is there to say.

I think billboards can certainly work for some, but would say that most messages are wasted with the crappy "image" advertising they try to do.

A billboard for McD's or Wendy's that says "Exit Here" when you're hungry and driving on the interstate is a great message to market match. Contrast that to one I've seen for a new local bank/cafe that simply said the name of the cafe and "Put your mouth where your money is" - all with no address, phone number or website or any indication that the cafe could be reached off the next exit! Ha - I'm sure the creative dept won an award for their catchy tagline, but I don't think bank made a dollar from that billboard.

We've got a new digital billboard in town on the highway and that's interesting to watch - each ad lasts about 10 seconds and then it's on to the next in the rotation. I'm sure Clear Channel's raking in the dough with that one!

Steve

You bet they work. But not for every product or message.

Top of mind awareness, punctuating an image campaign, turn here, location specific ads and ones relevant to the landscape come to mind. They are great for ad campaigns with legs. And if you can translate your message from print, to radio/TV to billboards, you have nailed a winning strategy. The challenge is to get it to work across all media. Think Nike.

Billboard headlines must be short. In other words, long sales letter headlines won't work because you are usually driving by. Unless of course it's an area of major traffic jams. But the rule of thumb has always been less than 13 words and the shorter the better. There are exceptions but that was the agency guideline from most creative directors. Short and pithy work well. Headlines you would not dream of using for a print ad because it's too hokey can be a huge winner on a billboard.

It can drive people to a website if it's a memorable url. It can get people to call if it's translated to letters, call 1-800-see-well for lasik vision correction.
example:



See Vonage Volkswagen today for a test drive.

The word frequency I think is still being used in advertising.
Billboards also have reach.
When we had to come up with an idea for any new concept it had to be extendable at least over 4 media. We started with the concept for TV and radio, then print. And that TV concept had to be extendable over 3 different tv 30 sec spots.
When we got to Billboards, rule of thumb was 6 to 7 words.

I really am showing my age here but when I was a kid my favorite was "Burma Shave"

Ogilvy's "Confessions of an Advertising Man" has some interesting remarks about billboards. He hates 'em.