…Confession time…
Since moving to the DFW area, I have become more and more fascinated with the digital billboards. They are very popular here. Not so much in the Houston area, at least not to this extent.
I would say that my first eye catching moment for a digital billboard was the large one on I-30 as you come off the bridge crossing Lake Ray Hubbard into Rockwall, Texas. That was where we originally planned on relocating to. I do not remember the ads that were on that billboard, but I do remember thinking, “wow that is a really nice billboard.” The thing that really caught my attention was that it was a prominent part of the surrounding “landscape.” It did not stick out like a sore thumb.
Of course, we moved to the other side of the DFW Metroplex and I do not get to see that appealing billboard too often. That is okay though, HWY 380 does not disappoint. I was reminded on my early drive this morning at how attractive these digital billboards are. There are multiple billboards along the stretch of HWY 380 that surrounds our neighborhood in either direction here in Little Elm, Texas. Not all of these billboards are digital but there is more than one that is. I must say that all of these billboards are the big, in-your-face, on the big pole, traditional billboards so there is nothing to make them appealing.
The only thing going for these billboards are the quality of the advertisements that rotate on them. I am just in awe. They demand a higher quality advertisement than your traditional billboard in my opinion. You get well less than 10 seconds to woo the viewer as they drive by. You have to get that message across as clearly as possible in as little time as possible. I like it.
This morning on my early morning drive, the thought popped into my head:
“I would love to design an ad for one of those.”
I was driving by one of those particular billboards on HWY 380 at 6:30AM. Sometimes I have crazy thoughts that early in the morning. Is it all that crazy though?
I will be honest with you, these simple ads intrigue me. They are more my style. More my taste. They make more sense in my opinion. They make the most sense along a highway especially when drivers are zipping by at 60-80MPH. Okay, let us be honest here, what speeds are drivers really going? Your message had better be as precise as possible as their speed just cut down your “readability” a lot if it is not.
Out of curiosity, I went and looked to see what the specs were on these digital billboards. I was surprised at what I found. They are not as scary and intimidating as I thought that they would be. Here is a little of what I found:
- Each billboard has multiple ads in rotation.
- The time each ad is up during a rotation is very short – only 6-8 seconds. (Note: I was not very far off with my less than 10 seconds guess.)
- You can change your message often.
- You can incorporate live and changing data – countdowns, weather information, etc.
- Stream data from your website – customer comments, etc.
- Ads are ready to display within minutes of placing an order.
There are a lot of upsides to digital billboards if you ask me from that list. The design specs alone were enough to get me even more excited about “wanting to do this one day.”
Here is a link to a recent study (albeit I am not sure the most recent) about digital billboards: http://www.lamar.com/howtoadvertise/Research/~/media/F7CBA6203040440FBB86A708AE982515.ashx
With all the positive impact that digital billboards can have, who else is getting excited? Who has wanted to take their advertising to the next level but was not sure how to do that?
Who wants to see their ad on one of those really big signs on the side of the highway somewhere just so I can design them an ad for said ego stroking activity? Hey, there is nothing wrong with ego stroking or fulfilling one’s dream. Two people can dream and help each other out here.
I want to design a digital billboard ad. I need someone that needs a digital billboard ad.
