Outdoor is Bigger Than Ever

The Facts

This old-school ad format is currently booming precisely because digital ads are so commonplace. Amid all the digital noise, it’s a guaranteed way to reach a broad swath of people. It’s getting so hard and expensive to reach a mass audience today because it’s unclear who is watching other more classic media channels like TV or who is clicking on Internet ads. And then there’s the issue of if it’s even a real human being doing the clicking.

Spiker Insights

We have long loved designing billboards at Spiker Communications. Next to logos, they are the most difficult media channel to design. Which is why so many billboards out there are simply terrible, boring and unreadable. Inexperienced designers spend their day looking at a computer screen for their work, and a lot of them can’t imagine the final design will be 14 feet by 26 feet. I once took a field trip with our designers and drove out to one of our billboard locations. As we approached, I heard the designer who designed the board we were now going to see gasp and say “Oh my God” as she saw her work out in the public. Best little field trip we ever planned.

Yes, digital is still the future of the business. But outdoor is growing because we are all looking to find customers outside of Internet silos. Billboards are also becoming more digital. Outdoor screens can broadcast a variety of advertising on the side of a single bus stop, meaning advertisers can try multiple campaigns or tailor their ads to specific events and time of day.