Banners and Billboards
4 Comments Published by Frank Lane June 5th, 2012 in Execution, UncategorizedLast night I drove down one section of freeway in Atlanta and counted 32 outdoor billboards. Of these, 28 had messages and/or layouts that could not be read in the time that one single car drives by. Whatever happened to the rules for “six words or less?” I was taught this principle in college advertising. Were you taught this?
I have also noticed the same problem with revolving banners and/or headlines on the Internet. They change to the next before I can read them. Who approves these kind of snafu’s? Just wondering.
We should heed David Ogilvy’s advice and do away with billboards all together – at least on highways.
Actually some of the revolving outdoor billboards revolve too fast for me to read also.
Justin, I had the pleasure of knowing David Olgilvy and I do not remember his comment on billboards.
I’m sure knowing him was quite a pleasure.
I remember reading this in his autobiography:
“I have a passion for landscape, and I have never seen one improved by a billboard. Where every prospect pleases, man is at his vilest when he erects a billboard. When I retire from Madison Avenue, I am going to start a secret society of masked vigilantes who will travel around the world on silent motor bikes, chopping down posters at the dark of the moon. How many juries will convict us when we are caught in these acts of beneficent citizenship?”
Thanks