Billboard and Outdoor Advertising

(From Star Geek)

Interactive billboards seem to be gaining more steam. While the MINI billboard I featured earlier just produces information about passing vehicles, this Fiesta Ford billboard in Belgium allows those passing by to directly engage themselves in the information provided. Using any cellular phone, you send an SMS code displayed on the board after which the billboard will tell the sender to “continue” and send a question back. If the question is answered correctly, the billboard automatically enters the sender into a drawing for a new Ford Fiesta. This billboard is a somewhat crazy, but fun way to encourage people to take notice of your advertisement and connect themselves with your product! In addition to the grand prize car, Ford Fiesta might want to add other promotional giveaways as prizes for the SMS billboard game to encourage more people to “play.”

When you hear the words “innovation,” and “creativity,” which companies come to mind? For me, it’s definitely Google, and this awesome YouTube billboard is just another example of their think-outside-the-box strategies. Instead of posting a static billboard to advertise YouTube, Google decided to create something that was as interactive as the streaming-video web site itself. They posted up several of these billboards, which are essentially empty frames made to look like the YouTube media player screen. At the top of the screen in the content search box, there are terms which are related to whatever scene the billboard focuses on. For example, at one billboard set up at an intersection, the search box reads “people crossing the street.” Anyone who looks at the billboard has the impression they are watching a YouTube video. Talk about awesomely creative!