Do billboards work? And if so, what is the psychology behind them?

To drive you to a yellow pages ad or website?

I mean, who remembers, or even sees the telephone number doing 85 mph????


I'm guessing they work because they've long been part of the landscape. But I don't see how they work...

I don't think they work well to drive people to a website or a phone number.

Probably the best use of billboards is to get people to exit the freeway
and drive into your store immediately.

(McDonalds: This Exit!)

That said, billboards worked well for Burma-Shave.

But we're going way back with that one...

Krusty Burger 20 miles!
Krusty Burger 10 miles!
Krusty Burger 5 miles!

"Dad can we go to Krusty Burger?"
"Hmmm... no"

Next Krusty Burger 376 miles!

One of my clients owns a gym and successfully uses a billboard to get traffic to his door.

The board is located at a set of traffic lights (near a huge shopping centre/mall), so we have a bit more info than when they're next to the freeway with a constant flow of traffic... while drivers sit stopped at the red light, it's something for them to look at. And as most locals would use the intersection almost daily, he's not worried about those who only see it once or twice: only the local traffic.

He only uses it for about 2-3 months per year (January for "new year resolution" membership campaign and April for "open day" campaign).

The offer is still the key to it working for him -- he'll run "30 days FREE" or "6 extra months FREE" on the board.

The road he is on is just 800m away, so we use that, the phone and www for directions, but mostly he gets people simply to drop-in (staff are very good at finding out sources of leads).

So that's a practical example, but there are very few (if any) other locations my client would consider based on his location/needs -- so it's quite specific in this case.

Personally, I think most billboards are wasted, too "fluffy" and even as a passenger in a car with an interest in billboards, some of them are really bad at getting across any message or even a logo. Often, there's way too much wording.

On a lot of them, the company branding almost seems an afterthought, tucked away in some stupid corner at a size way too small to notice because the designer didn't want that to get in the way of their nice picture or catchy slogan that's forgotten anyway 30 seconds later.

Must make the ad companies feel good though to have their award-winning design on display (and pocket all that extra revenue), even if it is ineffective at getting sales -- just buried in an "we'll use outdoor for branding" strategy that makes the client feel good when she or he's driving around town.

The most memorable billboard I've ever seen in my whole life is in Boston, next to the highway at a spot that has traffic jams every rush hour, in front of an apartment house. It says:

Ask anyone who's driven in Boston and my bet is that they noticed and remembered that billboard.

Marcia Yudkin

Well, if you live in San Diego and drive through the mountain area, you'll see billboards for casinos.

Now, I don't know for sure, but I assume these things work really well.

if you drive through North Carolina on I-85 going toward South Carolina, there are numerous billboards along the way for a particular outlet: Prime Outlets, I think. I'm guessing they work great with the tourist crowd, but there are so many of them that I'm always glad to finally get past them by the time I drive by the exit.

Two words:

Wall Drug

A couple of years ago a new City of Houston ordinance was passed to slowly phase out all billboards from Houston's highways and byways, but I recently heard a news report that our savvy Houston Mayor and its "easy-to-buy" city council will now be making a major change.

I can believe this is even legal...

Only one company will be able to use billboards past the deadline.

Can you guess who this mega-media conglomerate is?

... Clear Channel Communications

I've actually been thinking of writing up an article and sending it out to all the local newspapers about this... got any ideas for a good headline? let me know.

BTW Suzanne, if you would obey the darn speed limit a little more, perhaps you would be able to read some of those billboards.

Haha, good one Kyle.

Who else better to sell mum and dad than a whining couple of hungry kids in the back seat?

The only thing that might help in this billboard would be "Cleanest Restrooms In Town"