Archive for digital billboards

Team Move Spurs Billboard Ads

The owner of the San Diego Chargers has moved the team more than two hours north and fans are not happy.  Many say they are also angry with the National Football League and feel like the team has abandoned them. One life long Chargers fan took to the internet to express his anger and raise funds for a billboard campaign.

Joseph MacRae started a Go Fund Me page and raised over $10,000 that has gone to fund several ads on a digital billboard near the team’s temporary home, StubHub Center, in Carson, California.

MacRae said on his Go Fund Me page, “Have you been an NFL fan your whole life only to have your team suddenly taken away from your city?  You may have been the most loyal and dedicated supporter, but it didn’t matter in the end.  Have you ever wanted to tell the NFL how you actually feel?  This is your chance.”

One of the messages featured in the campaign is pictured above…a photo of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell with the words, “No Freaking Loyalty.”  Other ads take aim at the team’s owner, Dean Spanos.  Spanos moved the team in the off season from San Diego to Los Angeles.  The team now shares the StubHub Center with the Los Angeles Rams, while the Chargers wait for their new facility to be built in Inglewood, California.  The digital billboard running the campaign is located near StubHub Center.

 

 

Billboards Help with Recovery Efforts

The out of home (OOH) advertising industry has used its muscle in recent weeks to help with hurricane recovery.  After Hurricane Harvey devastated parts of Texas, the OOH industry responded by donating space to help disperse recovery information.

Digital billboards all around the affected areas displayed information to help victims get in touch with federal aid.  The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) encouraged people in the hurricane ravaged areas to contact them at 1-800-621-3362 or visit their website at disasterassistance.gov.

In other areas of the U.S., the outdoor industry donated billboard space to the Red Cross to encourage those not directly affected to donate to help the recovery efforts.  Billboards like that could be seen as far away as Times Square.  Other campaigns around the country displayed slogans like, “Texas Strong.”

Emoji Billboards Change with Surroundings

 

Emojis are everywhere these days and digital billboards are no exception!  With the release of the Emoji movie over the weekend, the little characters went from our smart phones to the big screen. Even if you didn’t want to see the movie, with the heavy marketing campaign for it, you no doubt knew it was coming out.

Part of that marketing campaign put the little guys on digital billboards.  But the cool part about that was that the billboards were able to interact with their surroundings.  The campaign used the latest technology to display an Emoji that best represented the emotion of the people within view of the billboard.  For example, the technology was able to determine if traffic was backed up near the digital billboard or if it was raining.  If those unfavorable conditions were present, the Emoji reflected that, with the billboard showing either the devil, “meh” emoji, or even the “poop.”

On the flip side, if the traffic was flowing or the sun shining, a high five Emoji or a smiling face Emoji would come up on the display.  The billboard campaign ran in major cities all over the U.S., including here in Atlanta, as well as in Chicago, Orlando, Seattle, Dallas, Phoenix, and Boston.

Although the movie did well in its opening weekend, the reviews were less than stellar.  Many critics agreed that it was a waste of spectacular voice talents, that included Sophia Vergara, Stephen Wright, Patrick Stewart, Sean Hayes, Maya Rudolph, and Christina Aguilera.

Billboards Show Support for Police

Law enforcement billboards

Digital billboards around the state have been showing a message of support for law enforcement for nearly a month now.  The Outdoor Advertising Association of Georgia (OAAG) is behind the campaign…President and CEO Connor Poe says the OAAG board has been considering doing a campaign like this for several years, but a public service campaign isn’t something companies normally do on their own.

Poe says, “The board of the OAAG is always looking for ways to use our medium to show appreciation for those in our state who we partner with to make the state a safer place, i.e. GEMA, GBI, FBI and local law enforcement.”  Often times, digital billboards are used to get the word out about missing persons or wanted fugitives.

Law enforcement seems to appreciate the message.  Lt. Allan Rollins with the Richmond County  Sheriff’s Office says, “It’s nice to know we have support from the community and that people are willing to spend time and money to show it.”

Other ways they’ve felt the appreciation over the last several weeks is in the form of prayers, balloons, baked goods or just pats on the back.

The billboard campaign started at the beginning of August and the message has been seen on hundreds of billboards throughout the state.

Ford Lets Consumers Design Billboards

Ford Consumer Designed Billboards

 

If you’ve always wanted to see your artwork on a billboard, Ford may just give you that chance.  Ford just ended their “By Design” campaign that allowed consumers to design digital billboards featuring their vehicles.  The designs were posted on digital billboards in cities across the U.S., including Washington DC, Times Square, Bay Bridge, Miami, Chicago and Los Angeles.  Designs were posted on the digital billboards for 8 seconds, and a photo of the billboard was taken and sent to the designer.  Although the campaign has ended for now, a spokeswoman for Ford says it may come back later this year.  She said the technology is still in place and they would like to delve deeper into the meaning of the campaign and will do so in the first quarter of this year.  Although Atlanta billboards were not on the initial list of cities featuring the digital billboards, hopefully Atlanta billboards will make the cut in the second round of the campaign.

Digital Billboard to Out Prostitute’s Customers

prostitution billboards

Officials in one West Virginia town are taking a hard stand against anyone coming to their area to solicit a prostitute.  Huntington police chief Joe Ciccarelli says people come from neighboring states to pick up prostitutes and it’s fueling the drug culture there by “paying herion addicted prostitutes.”  A digital billboard on one of the town’s busiest streets will soon bear the faces of those caught picking up a prostitute.  Chief Ciccarelli says, “they are coming here so they don’t have to face scrutiny in their own neighborhoods, but we don’t want them here.”  Opponents say this is the wrong way to go about curbing the problem, but Huntington’s Mayor, Steve Williams, supports the idea.  Williams says, “sometimes it takes a little public shaming to catch somebody’s attention and we’ll start putting faces up there.”  Williams says the campaign sends a clear message, “don’t come to Huntington to solicit prostitution. Period.”  The digital billboard is being paid for with funds from drug seizures.  The photo above is what’s currently on the billboard, but officials say there will be faces on the board in as little as two weeks.

Billboard Campaign Honors Law Enforcement

blue lives matter Atlanta Billboards

A message from a Memphis based advertising agency wanting to honor local police officers has gone viral. Digital billboards around the U.S. are honoring police with the message, “Blue Lives Matter.”  The campaign started as a way to honor local blue, but spread when Lamar Advertising liked the idea and donated space on over 150 digital billboards nationwide.  The message will be seen in several states, including Michigan, Oregon, Ohio, Massachusetts and right here in Georgia.  A Lamar spokesman says they are proud to support law enforcement.  He says they are “using digital billboards to voice respect for officers across the country who put their lives ar risk every day to keep the public safe.  This is our way of saying thank you.”  Police say they support the message, but they want to stress that ALL lives matter.  The message can be seen on billboards through the end of the month.

Billboards Show Photos of Missing Children

missing billboards atlanta billboards

It is a campaign starting in Washington D.C., but scheduled to spread to other parts of the nation…putting the photos of missing children on bus stop billboards, with the hope of bringing them home.  Dozens of digital billboards throughout the D.C. Metro area are displaying images and information on missing children from the area as well as those from Maryland and Northern Virginia.  The campaign is being called the “Summer of Hope” and ran for about a month, ending just as school was beginning.  Baltimore was also a part of the campaign, and it is expected to continue in Chicago, Minneapolis and Los Angeles in the coming weeks.  The billboards are the result of a partnership between the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and Clear Channel Outdoor Americas.

New Study Says Digital Billboards are Highly Effective

March Madness billboardsNew Nielson study says digital billboards are the most memorable form of advertising among consumers.  Nielson conducted an online survey of more than 1200 people in 5 major metro areas, including Atlanta, Cincinnati, Minneapolis, Phoenix and Tampa.  The majority of their respondents felt that the digital ads “stood out more” compared to other ad media.  More than half of the travelers who noticed a digital billboard in the past month were highly engaged, recalling the message every time they passed the billboard.   In addition, the study found that travelers appreciated the immediacy and timeliness in which digital billboards could relay messages.  “Digital Out of Home is part of advertising’s future, and digital billboards offer brands a quick and flexible solution to target today’s consumer,” says Outdoor Advertising Association of America CMO Stephen Freitas.  He goes on to say, “Communities are impressed by the medium’s ability  to drive awareness and business.”  The top performing brand categories on digital billboards were entertainment, gaming, quick service restaurants, recreation and sporting events.  There are approximately 6,100 digital billboards nationwide.

Digital Billboards Fill Information Gaps

severe weather Atlanta billboard

Although digital billboards only account for about 5,500 of the nearly 400,000 billboards nationwide, the ability to change the message on them instantly is increasing their importance.  The benefits of digital billboard technology have already been realized and put to use here in Georgia. Last year, digital billboards were used to alert motorists to the ice storms that were about to hit around Atlanta.   Now, several other states are starting to take advantage of the immediate messaging that digital billboards can provide.  Officials in Florida and Oklahoma are also using the digital billboards there for the same purposes.

The director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, Brian Koon, says the billboards fit right into the department’s plan of action. “One of the big things we do in emergency management is to try to get life saving information to people as quickly as possible so that they can take appropriate action.”  He goes on to say, “If people on the interstate are driving 70 miles an hour, they may not even know what city or county they are in, there’s an information gap.  The electronic billboards fill this gap.”  The Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA) wants to ensure that officials in the 46 states that have digital billboards put them to good use in emergency situations.