OOH..!
Yes, OOH or Out-of-home advertising is a booming industry segment, with the key driver being billboards or hoardings. Though hoardings are the most traditional and commonly used medium of OOH communication, yet it's unbelievable to see so many guys go wrong with them.
In my opinion, we should strictly adhere to the following principles for a billboard to serve its purpose better, keeping in mind the placement of a billboard usually a prominent traffic signal or on a highway:
1) It should convey just THE key message, only and only one in number!
2) It should not be cluttered, be it with text or graphics.
3) It should have only the headline and the sub-head; no body copy pls, considering it would be mounted up at a considerable height.
4) It should be catchy enough to draw the attention of the commuters through the route, assuming of-couse that most of them are a prospect for us!
5) And of-course, the only determining factor for selection of the billboard site should be the foot falls of target audience, and not the absolute cost, size, etc.
One of the finest examples of billboards I have seen recently, is a hoarding for Indigo airlines. With a background in indigo, also the corporate color for the airline, the billboard has only three elements, a headline, a sub-headline and a logo - all in color white on a plain, single colored indigo background.
Sleep with your wife
Same day departures from all metros
[Indigo airlines Logo]
No graphic, no design and not even a tint, but never-the-less, extremely catchy and I can also bet, one of the most effective billboards ever. I can't but applaud the genius who created this hoarding, which conveys the key message so ingeniously. With a headline which grabs attention at once, and gels well with the key message or the sub-head, the communication is most catchy, clear and crisp. A 'no-graphic' approach draws attention to the brand logo, which further reinforces the brand recall. Kudos guys for the play of words! Put-up at a prominent traffic signal at Golf Course Road inGurgaon, near the hub of MNCs, it also gets the right eye-balls.
Facts about OOH: According to the FICCI PwC report, OOH is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13% from Rs 11 bn in 2006 to Rs 17.5 bn in 2010. This growth is further propelled by infrastructure development in the form of highways, expressways, airports, increase in commuting time, with the only threats being either the economic downturn or the pace of development.
- Namrta R
