Billboard

Listen to this article
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

A billboard mural (saying "Before the law, all people are equal") being fixed into place by a cooperative of artists along the approach road to Aden Adde International Airport

A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertisements to passing pedestrians and drivers. Typically brands use billboards to build their brands or to push for their new products.

The largest ordinary-sized billboards are located primarily on major highways, expressways, or principal arterials, and command high-density consumer exposure (mostly to vehicular traffic). These afford the greatest visibility due not only to their size, but because they allow creative "customizing" through extensions and embellishments.

Posters are the other common form of billboard advertising, located mostly along primary and secondary arterial roads. Posters are in a smaller format and are viewed principally by residents and commuter traffic, with some pedestrian exposure.

Advertising style

Billboard advertisements are designed to catch a person's attention and create a memorable impression very quickly, leaving the reader thinking about the advertisement after they have driven past it. They have to be readable in a very short time because they are usually read while being passed at high speeds. Thus there are usually only a few words, in large print, and a humorous or arresting image in brilliant color.

Some billboard designs spill outside the actual space given to them by the billboard, with parts of figures hanging off the billboard edges or jutting out of the billboard in three dimensions. An example in the United States around the turn of the 21st century was the

fast food chain
), which had three-dimensional cow figures in the act of painting the billboards with misspelled anti-beef slogans such as "friends don't let friends eat beef."

The first "scented billboard", an outdoor sign emitting the odors of

NC 150 near Mooresville, North Carolina by the Bloom grocery chain. The sign depicted a giant cube of beef being pierced by a large fork that extended to the ground. The scents were emitted between 7–10 am and 4–7  pm from 28 May 2010 through 18 June 2010.[1]

Types

Painted

Almost all these billboards were painted in large studios. The image was projected on the series of paper panels that made up the billboard. Line drawings were done, then traced with a pounce wheel that created perforated lines. The patterns were then "pounced" onto the board with a chalk-filled pounce bag, marking the outlines of the figures or objects. Using oil paints, artists would use large brushes to paint the image. Once the panels were installed using hydraulic cranes, artists would go up on the installed billboard and touch up the edges between panels. These large, painted billboards were especially popular in Los Angeles where historic firms such as Foster & Kleiser and Pacific Outdoor Advertising dominated the industry. Eventually, these painted billboards gave way to graphic reproduction, but hand-painted billboards are still in use in some areas where only a single board or two is required. The "Sunset Strip" in Los Angeles is one area where hand-painted billboards can still be found, usually to advertise upcoming films or albums.[2]

A technical invention called "trivision" allowed three different images to be rotated for presentation.[3]

Digital

Digital billboards abound in Times Square, Manhattan.

A digital billboard shows varying imagery and text created with computer programs and software. Digital billboards can be designed to display running text, have several different displays from the same company, or provide several companies with a certain time slot during the day. Flexible and real-time scheduling can decrease traditional upkeep and maintenance costs, and some billboards may measure audiences or serve dynamic content. Using digital billboards dynamically has come to be known as programmatic out-of-home advertising.[4] Billboard posters can play audio using conductive ink; when touched, the posters begin to play sounds.[5][6]

Mobile

Mobile billboard in East Coast Park, Singapore

Outdoor advertising, such as a mobile billboard, is effective because it is difficult to ignore. According to a UK national survey, it is also memorable. Capitol Communications Group found that 81.7% of those polled recalled images they saw on a moving multi-image sign.[citation needed] This is compared to a 19% retention rate for static signs.

Unlike a typical billboard, mobile billboards are able to go directly to their target audience. They can be placed wherever there is heavy foot traffic due to an event – including convention centers, train stations, airports, and sports arenas. They can repeat routes, ensuring that an advertiser's message is not only noticed but that information is retained through repetition.

Multi-purpose

Billboards may be multi-purpose. An advertising sign can integrate its main purpose with a telecommunications antenna or public lighting support. Usually, the structure has a steel pole with a coupling flange on the above-fitted advertising billboard structure that can contain telecommunications antennas. The lighting, wiring, and antennas are placed inside the structure.

Other

Three-sided

Common along highways are free-standing two-sided as well as three-sided billboards. Other types of billboards include the

Mechanical billboards display three different messages, with three advertisements attached to a conveyor inside the billboard. There are also three-dimensional billboards, such as the ones at Piccadilly Circus, London. Traditional billboards consist of a large format advertisement printed on a resistant material such as vinyl; this is placed on a large metal structure, which makes it one of the media with the most visibility and high impact within the advertising field. [7]

Placement

A billboard for attachable paper ads near the market square in Seinäjoki, Finland

Some of the most prominent billboards are alongside highways; since passing drivers typically have little to occupy their attention, the impact of the billboard is greater. Billboards are often drivers' primary method of finding lodging, food, and fuel on unfamiliar highways. There were approximately 450,000 billboards on US highways in 1991.[citation needed] Somewhere between 5,000 and 15,000 are erected each year. Current numbers are put at 368,263, according to the OAAA (Outdoor Advertising Association of America).[citation needed] In Europe billboards are a major component and source of income in urban street furniture concepts.[citation needed]

An interesting use of billboards unique to highways was the Burma-Shave advertisements between 1925 and 1963, which had 4- or 5-part messages on multiple signs, keeping the reader hooked by the promise of a punchline at the end. This example is in the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution:

Shaving brushes
You'll soon see 'em
On a shelf
In some museum
Burma-Shave

These sorts of multi-sign advertisements are no longer common, though they are not extinct. One example, advertising for the NCAA, depicts a basketball player aiming a shot on one billboard; on the next one, 90 yards (82 meters) away, is the basket. Another example is the numerous billboards advertising the roadside attraction South of the Border near Dillon, SC, along I-95 in many states.

Many cities have high densities of billboards, especially where there is dense pedestrian traffic—Times Square in New York City is a good example. Because of the lack of space in cities, these billboards are placed on the sides of buildings and sometimes are free-standing billboards hanging above buildings. Billboards on the sides of buildings create different stylistic opportunities, with artwork that incorporates features of the building into the design, such as using windows as eyes, or for gigantic frescoes that adorn the entire building.

Visual and environmental concerns

Many groups such as Scenic America have complained that billboards on highways cause excessive clearing of trees and intrude on the surrounding landscape, with billboards' bright colors, lights, and large fonts making it difficult to focus on anything else, making them a form of visual pollution - a state of affairs evoked pithily in Ogden Nash's parody of Joyce Kilmer's oft-quoted poem Trees:

I think that I shall never see
A billboard lovely as a tree
Indeed, unless the billboards fall
I'll never see a tree at all.[8]

Other groups believe that billboards and advertising contribute negatively to the mental climate of a culture by promoting products as providing feelings of completeness, wellness, and popularity to motivate purchase.

AdBusters, which will often showcase politically motivated billboard and other advertising vandalism, called culture jamming. Billboards have been criticized as an example of attention theft.[9]

This is one of three contested billboards in the coastal zone of Humboldt Bay that were cut down by an unknown vandal in 2013.

In 2000, rooftops in Athens had grown so thick with billboards that it was difficult to see its famous architecture. In preparation for the 2004 Summer Olympics, the city embarked on a successful four-year project demolishing the majority of rooftop billboards to beautify the city, overcoming resistance from advertisers and building owners. Most of these billboards were illegal but had been ignored until then.[10]

In 2007, São Paulo, Brazil instituted a billboard ban because there were no viable regulations of the billboard industry. Today, São Paulo is working with outdoor companies to rebuild the outdoor infrastructure in a way that will reflect the vibrant business climate of the city while adopting good regulations to control growth.

Road safety concerns

Panoramic view of Los Angeles looking north from the Pacific Electric Building, c. 1 January 1907

The most comprehensive review of the literature to date by the Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety-Queensland (CARRS-Q) (Australia) found that crash risk increases by approximately 25-29% in the presence of digital roadside advertising signs (digital billboard) compared to control areas. There is an emerging trend in the literature suggesting that roadside advertising signs can increase crash risk, particularly for those signs that have the capacity to frequently change (often referred to as digital billboards).[11]

In the US, many cities enacted laws banning billboards as early as 1909 (

California Supreme Court, Varney & Green vs. Williams) but the First Amendment has made this difficult. A San Diego law championed by Pete Wilson in 1971 cited traffic safety and driver distraction as the reason for the billboard ban but was narrowly overturned by the Supreme Court
in 1981, in part because it banned non-commercial as well as commercial billboards.

Legal restrictions

Billboards are largely absent in

bus wrap advertising and political campaign signs,[16][14][17] as well a failure to enforce existing laws.[15][16]

In 1964, the negative impact of the over-proliferation of signage was abundantly evident in Houston, Texas, US, and it motivated Lady Bird Johnson to ask her husband to create a law. At the same time, the outdoor advertising industry was becoming aware that excessive signs, some literally blocking another, were bad for business.

In 1965, the Highway Beautification Act was signed into law. The act applied only to "Federal Aid Primary" and "Defense" highways and limited billboards to commercial and industrial zones created by states and municipalities. It required each state to set standards based on "customary use" for the size, lighting, and spacing of billboards and prohibited city and state governments from removing billboards without paying compensation to the owner. The act requires states to maintain "effective control" of billboards or lose 10% of their federal highway dollars.

The act also required the screening of junk yards adjacent to regulated highways.

Around major holidays, volunteer groups erected highway signs offering free coffee at rest stops. These were specifically exempted in the act.

Currently, four states—Vermont, Alaska, Hawaii, and Maine—have prohibited billboards. Vermont's law went into effect in 1968,[18] Hawaii's law went into effect in 1927,[19] Maine's law went into effect in 1977,[20] and Alaska's law went into effect upon its achievement of statehood in 1959.

In the UK, billboards are controlled as

Primesight have numerous convictions for such crimes.[21][22]

In São Paulo, a city of twelve million in Brazil, Billboards and advertising on vehicles have been banned since January 2007. It also restricted the dimensions of advertising on shop fronts.[23]

In British Columbia, a province of Canada, billboards are restricted to 300m away from roadways, the government also retains the right to remove any billboard it deems an unsafe distraction.[24]

In Toronto, a city of over 2 and a half million in Canada, a municipal tax on billboards was implemented in April 2010. A portion of the tax will help fund arts programs in the city.[25]

In Sweden, there is a general ban against billboards within the road area (typically the road plus ditch), except for standardized signs such as gas stations, restaurants, or hotels. But there is no ban against them outside the road if the landowner approves. Many farmers along major routes earn some money from such signs.

Usages

Highway

A billboard frame in Swindon, England

Many signs advertise local restaurants and shops in the coming miles and are crucial to drawing business in small towns. One example is Wall Drug, which in 1936 erected billboards advertising "free ice water". The town of Wall, South Dakota, was essentially built around the many thousands of customers per day those billboards brought in (20,000 in 1981). Some signs were placed at great distances, with slogans such as "Only 827 miles to Wall Drug, with FREE ice water." In some areas the signs were so dense that one almost immediately followed the last. This situation changed after the Highway Beautification Act was passed; the proliferation of Wall Drug billboards is sometimes cited as one of the reasons the bill was passed. After the passage of the act, other states (such as Oregon[26]) embarked on highway beautification efforts.

ATB Financial ad, Edmonton

Railway

Billboard advertising in underground stations, especially, is perhaps a place where they find a greater degree of acceptability and may assist in maintaining a neat, vibrant, and safe atmosphere if not too distracting. Museum Station, Sydney has mounted restored 1940s billboard panels along the platforms that are in keeping with its heritage listing.

Big name advertisers

Billboards are also used to advertise national or global brands, particularly in more densely populated urban areas. According to the

Outdoor Advertising Association of America, the top billboard advertisers in the United States in 2017 were McDonald's, Apple and GEICO.[27] A large number of wireless phone
companies, movie companies, car manufacturers and banks are high on the list as well.

Tobacco advertising

Mail Pouch Barn advertisement: a bit of Americana in southern Ohio
. Mail Pouch painted the barns for free.

Prior to 1999, billboards were a major venue of

cigarette advertising; 10% of Michigan billboards advertise alcohol and tobacco, according to the Detroit Free Press.[28] This is particularly true in countries where tobacco advertisements are not allowed in other media. For example, in the US, tobacco advertising was banned on radio and television in 1971, leaving billboards and magazines as some of the last places tobacco could be advertised. Billboards made the news in America when, in the tobacco settlement of 1999, all cigarette billboards were replaced with anti-smoking messages.[citation needed] In a parody of the Marlboro Man
, some billboards depicted cowboys riding on ranches with slogans like "Bob, I miss my lung."

Likely the best-known of the tobacco advertising boards were those for "Mail Pouch" chewing tobacco in the United States during the first half of the 20th century (pictured at left). The company agreed to paint two or three sides of a farmer's barn any color he chose in exchange for painting their advertisement on one or two sides of the structure facing the road. The company has long since abandoned this form of advertising, and none of these advertisements have been painted in many years, but some remain visible on rural highways.

Non-commercial use

Non-commercial advertisement is used around the world by governments and non-profit organisations to obtain donations, volunteer support or change consumer behavior.[29] North Dakota, May 2004.

Not all billboards are used for advertising products and services—

government agencies
use them to communicate with the public. In 1999 an anonymous person created the God Speaks billboard campaign in Florida "to get people thinking about God", with witty statements signed by God. "Don't make me come down there", "We need to talk" and "Tell the children that I love them" were parts of the campaign, which was picked up by the Outdoor Advertising Association of America and continues today on billboards across the country.

South of

college
, was photographed, made into a postcard and is sold in the College Bookstore.

Governance

The Traffic Audit Bureau for Media Measurement Inc. (TAB) was established in 1933 as a non-profit organization whose historical mission has been to audit the circulation of out-of-home media in the United States. TAB's role has expanded to lead and support other major out-of-home industry research initiatives. Governed by a tripartite board composed of advertisers, agencies, and media companies, the TAB acts as an independent auditor for traffic circulation in accordance with guidelines established by its board of directors.

Similarly, in Canada, the Canadian Outdoor Measurement Bureau (COMB) was formed in 1965 as a non-profit organization independently operated by representatives composed of advertisers, advertising agencies, and members of the Canadian out-of-home advertising industry. COMB is charged with the verification of traffic circulation for the benefit of the industry and its users.

History

Salt Lake City, Utah

Early billboards basically displayed groups of large

posters on the sides of buildings, with limited but still appreciable commercial value. As eyeballs, roads and highways multiplied, the billboard business
thrived.

  • Late 15th century – Flyposting was practiced in Europe.[31]
  • 1796 – Alois Senefelder, working in Bavaria, introduced lithography,[32] which allowed the mass production of posters.
  • 1835 – Jared Bell was making 9 × 6[clarification needed] posters for the circus in the U.S.
  • 1862 – Formation of the United Kingdom Billposting Association.[33]
  • 1867 – Earliest known billboard rentals[34]
  • 1871 – Fredrick Walker designed one of the first art posters.
  • 1872 – International Bill Posters Association of North America (now known as the Outdoor Advertising Association of America) established as a billboard-lobbying group.
  • 1889 – The world's first 24-sheet billboard was displayed at the Paris
    circuses
    , traveling shows, and movies.
  • Early 1900s – Poster-art schools were established in England, Austria, and Germany.[35]
  • 1908 – The
    Model T
    automobile was introduced in the U.S., increasing the number of people using highways and therefore the reach of roadside billboards.
  • 1919 – Japanese candy company
    Glico Man
    .
  • 1925 – Burma-Shave made billboards lining the highways.
  • 1936 – The Wall Drug billboards started to go up nationwide.
  • 1960 – The mechanized
    Dotonbori
    , Osaka.
Hertz Rent A Car sign with digital time and temperature display on top of the Texas School Book Depository in 1969, Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas, facing Stemmons Freeway
Stemmons Freeway
  • 1965 – The Highway Beautification Act was passed after much campaigning by Lady Bird Johnson.
  • 1969 – The Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act banned cigarette ads in television and radio, moving that business into billboards.[36]
  • 1981 – The United States Supreme Court overturned a San Diego billboard ban, but left room open for other cities to ban commercial billboards.[37]
  • 1986 – Non-television advertising became restricted – non-television adverts could not show people smoking. This meant that Benson & Hedges and Silk Cut, amongst other brands, advertised their cigarettes through increasingly indirect and obscure campaigns to a point where they became recognizable.
  • 1998 – The four major U.S. tobacco companies signed the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement, which eliminated billboard advertising of cigarettes in 52 states.[38]
  • 2007 – The industry adopted one-sheet plastic poster replacement for paper poster billboards and began the phase-out of PVC flexible vinyl, replacing it with eco-plastics such as polyethylene.
  • 2010 – The first "scented billboard", emitting odors similar to charcoal and black pepper to suggest a steak grilling, was erected in Mooresville, North Carolina by the Bloom grocery chain to promote the sale of beef.[39]
  • 2010 – Augmented billboards were introduced in the Transmediale Festival 2010 in Berlin using Artvertiser.

Notable examples

See also

Listen to this article (18 minutes)
Spoken Wikipedia icon
Audio help · More spoken articles
)

References

  1. ^ Aronoff, Jen (3 June 2010). "Eau de marketing, with hint of pepper". The Charlotte Observer. Archived from the original on 5 June 2010. Retrieved 8 June 2010.
  2. ^ Hand-Painted Billboards in the Age of Digital Ads | The New York Times, Accessed 13 Nov. 2022
  3. .
  4. ^ "Getting The Most Out Of Programmatic Digital Out-Of-Home". B&T. 22 March 2021. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  5. ^ West, Gillian. "Beck's creates 'playable-poster' for the musical campaign supporting New Zealand Music Month". The Drum.
  6. ^ "Beer brand launches hi-tech playable posters for NZ Music Month". The National Business Review. May 2014. Archived from the original on 29 July 2020. Retrieved 30 May 2014.
  7. ^ "Billboard Advertising | Costs & Rental | BM Outdoor Media". bmoutdoor.com. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  8. ^ Nash, Ogden. "Song of the Open Road" was first published in Argosy. Vol. 12 No. 8. (July 1951), 63.
  9. ^ McFedries, Paul (22 May 2014). "Stop, Attention Thief!". IEEE Spectrum. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  10. ^ "Subtracting Ads". Greece Now. Archived from the original on 17 October 2003.
  11. .
  12. ^ Fettes, James (19 June 2017). "Why doesn't Canberra have billboard advertising?". Curious Canberra. ABC Canberra. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  13. ^ Burgess, Katie (25 January 2017). "ACT may relax its ban on billboards". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  14. ^ a b Standing Committee on Planning and Urban Renewal (October 2017). "Inquiry Into Billboards, report 2" (PDF). Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly.
  15. ^ a b Burgess, Katie (22 February 2018). "Government flags further review of billboard laws as Greens call for crackdown on illegal advertising". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  16. ^ a b McAuley, Ian. "Awfulising Canberra". Archived from the original on 28 June 2017. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  17. ^ Baker, Emily (18 February 2018). "Canberra billboard ban: New polling shows disapproval for relaxing of laws". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  18. Vermont Public Radio
    . Colchester, VT. Retrieved 8 June 2010.
  19. ^ "Group Wants Wienermobile Banned From Hawaii". WPTZ Plattsburgh. Honolulu. 24 July 2009. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 8 June 2010.
  20. ^ "Billboard ban a law". Portland Press Herald. 29 July 2007. Archived from the original on 18 April 2009.
  21. ^ "Advertising giant given record fine" (PDF). BrightSide. No. 114. Wandsworth. October 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 March 2009. Retrieved 1 July 2008.
  22. ^ "Writing is on the wall for billboards". Homes and Property. 19 September 2007. Archived from the original on 27 August 2008.
  23. ^ Rohter, Larry (12 December 2006). "Billboard ban in São Paulo angers advertisers". New York Times. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
  24. ^ "Unauthorized Use or Occupation - Billboards". Ministry of Transportation - Province of British Columbia. Archived from the original on 2 September 2014. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
  25. ^ "Toronto billboard tax approved". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 7 December 2009. Archived from the original on 13 June 2019. Retrieved 8 June 2010.
  26. ^ Trevision, Catherine; Wozniacka, Gosia (12 August 2007). "Billboards pit beauty vs. business". The Oregonian. Archived from the original on 31 October 2007. Retrieved 26 December 2007.
  27. ^ Outdoor Advertising Association of America, Inc. "Top OOH Advertisers". oaaa.org. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
  28. ^ "ACS :: December Mixed Month for Tobacco Opponents". Archived from the original on 13 April 2005. Retrieved 8 June 2004.
  29. .
  30. ^ Judd, Ron (2 April 2003). "Freeway billboard barbs a sign of what free speech really means". The Seattle Times. Chehalis. Archived from the original on 7 December 2010. Retrieved 8 June 2010.
  31. ^ Mitterfellner, Olga (14 November 2019). Fashion Marketing and Communication: Theory and Practice Across the Fashion Industry. Mastering Fashion Management. Taylor & Francis. . Retrieved 21 May 2023. [...] Flyposting from 15th century in Europe [...]
  32. ^ . Retrieved 21 May 2023. When Alöys Senefelder (1771-1834) invented lithography in Bavaria in 1796, he intended it primarily for commercial usage [...].
  33. ^ Nelson, Richard; Sykes, Anthony (2 May 2013) [1953]. Outdoor Advertising. Routledge Library Editions: Advertising (reprint ed.). Abingdon: Routledge. . Retrieved 21 May 2023. In 1862 the United Kingdom Billposting Association was formed with a membership of a hundred [...].
  34. ^ source: OAAA
  35. .
  36. .
  37. . Retrieved 10 November 2023.
  38. ^ "The Master Settlement Agreement and Attorneys General". National Association of Attorneys General. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
  39. ^ Miranda, Kristen (3 June 2010). "Scented billboard greets commuters in Mooresville". www.wbtv.com. Retrieved 10 November 2023.