Billboard and Outdoor Advertising

Buzzer Hut | Promote Your Blog

Thanks for the link!

The Las Vegas Monorail, a fairly new method of transportation in Sin City, is privately financed. Therefore, the LVM must create a profit without government funds. A single-ride ticket costs $5, but that’s not where they money is made. The money is made via advertisements

In New York City, for example, a subway car is filled with small banner ads that people can choose to read. But, in Las Vegas, everything is bigger and glitzier. Companies can theme entire trains to create not just a ride, but an experience. Above, you can see the Star Trek Experience (at the Las Vegas Hilton) train, which has no shortage of Star Trek theming. Other companies with themed trains include Monster (energy drink), Sprint, and vegas.com.

The Las Vegas Monorail is a unique guerilla marketing tactic that pays off with the gambling capital crowd. People who ride the monorail will be unable to avoid the message as it surrounds them. Plus, people on the street get a thrill when they see a vibrantly designed train pass by. The only problem I see is that once they’re off the train, they don’t have anything physically tangible to remind them of their experience and the brand. Perhaps, if these companies included free giveaways on the train like promotional keychains or promotional lanyards, people would be more likely to remember the message as they bring an item around with them.

Rock climbing walls can occasionally be my kryptonite. Usually at some point on the wall, you run out of hand pegs and you have to pull yourself up with your fingertips. That’s when I wuss out, release my promotional carabiner and drop to solid ground.

So maybe rock climbing isn’t my thing, but it might be yours. That’s why I’m writing about this clever billboard for Woodland shoes. They take the idea of rock climbing to the billboard world. The shoelace coming down is tied in knots, representing a steep climb up the sheer side of a mountain. And, apparently, these shoes give you an extra boost. I wonder what size custom shoe horn you’d need to fit in those boots?

Europe is known for its crazy soccer fans, and this advertisement probably got them even more riled up. This expansive billboard was placed on a highway in Germany as an overall reminder (as of they need one) about watching futbol. I can’t tell what promotional uniform he’s wearing, but it’s eye-catching. And after that backbreaking grab, he probably needs a drink from a promotional water bottle

Kidding aside, the effort put into this ad is staggering. It probably took a lot of convincing and lobbying to get such a huge billboard splayed on top of a federal highway. It’s extravagant, yet simple in its message. It ranks as the top promotional sports outdoor advertisement that I’ve seen.

I’m not sure if the thought of eating rope makes me hungry, but this advertisement is very clever. The only criticism I have is the lack of a call to action. There’s no address or phone number listed. I’ve never heard of Mondo Pasta, so maybe it’s a popular restaurant near the water and they don’t necessarily have to list their information. But, unless you’re Pepsi or Ford, you need a call to action.

The creativeness of the ad sort of outweighs the negative. My thought is: how could you increase the overall value of this ad campaign? You could probably combine it with personalized kitchen products or custom home items. Any ideas on how?

This billboard reminds me of the post from a couple weeks ago regarding space on billboards. I think the message here is brilliant. Not only is the ad eye-catching, but it practices what it preaches. Only one of the four lights on the billboard is being used, which actually does save electricity.

I wonder how Eskom could continue the theme of this advertisement. I envision eco-friendly light-up products as a supplemental campaign, with logo light-up pens for instance. Or, perhaps color-changing or light-up mugs.

Well, turn about is fair play. BMW caught Audi offguard by outpowering their small billboard with a massive advertisement 3 times the size. For those interested, Audi was promoting its brand new A4 model in a comparative ad. If you can’t see what the smaller ad says, it reads “Your Move, BMW.” Apparently, someone working for BMW in the Santa Monica area saw that and capitalized. BMW’s more popular 3-series outshines the Audi in these ads and in most small luxury car comparison tests. That’s a double loss for German rival Audi. However, it’s still a great guerilla marketing technique on BMW’s part.

Nevada, tell me how you really feel about littering? Need some promo stress balls to alleviate the environmental tension?

Back in April, Ashton Kutcher had a war with CNN over who could get 1,000,000 Twitter followers. Kutcher won in a close race, the but the real winner was Twitter, which got loads of press and buzz. Kutcher helped his cause by buying billboards, like the one above, to encourage people to follow him. By the way, Kutcher’s wife Demi Moore also tweets frequently.

I know I just posted about McDonald’s last week, but their creativity is worth revisiting. This billboard acts like a sundial. At 6 a.m., the giant golden arches point toward coffee. And, at noon it points toward a Big Mac. I guess they don’t want you coming in after noon, but it’s still a pretty cool guerilla marketing promotional campaign.