Facebook, Spotify and Google going the billboard way

Billboards advertising a viable option for Facebook


Billboard advertising hasn’t been put out to pasture yet in fact it’s experiencing a revival in the digital world.

Facebook recently promoted itself on billboards on what Bloomberg has coined the social media operator’s ‘new approach to user safety and privacy’.

Spotify recently turned to subway advertising on miniature billboards in order to entice customers to download a free version of the music streaming company’s app, a promotion tied to the David Bowie museum exhibit in New York city.

According to the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA) out of home advertising relies heavily on digital players for its current success.

In 2017, the top 10 spenders on out-of-home advertising  were McDonald’s, Apple, GEICO, American Express, Google, Amazon, Coca-Cola, HBO, Verizon and Chevrolet.

McDonald’s and Apple also held the top two spots in 2016. Not far behind the top 10, Netflix ranks as one of the top 15 spenders. One quarter of advertising came from the technology sector.

Overall, out-of-home advertising increased 1.2 percent year over year in 2017 when measured by revenue, reaching $7.7 billion.
In 2018, Google and Facebook will take in nearly 28 percent of digital ad spend.

Where before billboards used to be hand-painted, these days digital displays rotate every 10 seconds with experimental forms combining ridesharing with advertising covering the exterior of a car for example.

Outdoor advertising campaigns that are creative get the most mileage like the recent Spotify ad based on the David Bowie exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum.

Spotify’s global executive creative director Alex Bodman told Bloomberg that any outdoor campaign done in a unique and creative way will make people connected on their mobile phones want to share it on social media.
The appeal of billboard and outdoor advertising boils down to human nature responding to the tangible. It is something one can see directly and the brain is wired to respond to it.
Outdoor signage is one of the oldest forms of marketing and is the only traditional marketing channel expected to grow this year especially with tech companies like Facebook Inc and Google pouring marketing dollars into it.
According to the OOOA last year alone, Apple Inc, Google and Amazon.com Inc ranked among the top six spenders on out of home advertising. Netflix Inc made it to the top 15.
These included  traditional roadside billboards, plus digital signs at bus-stops and train stations, as well as signs mounted in stadiums and arenas.
The ads have come a long way since the hand-painted billboards of the 1900s.

Today, digital displays can rotate images every 10 seconds or so, providing wider exposure to a broader range of products. What’s more, they’re still one of the most cost-effective ways to reach consumers, said James Goss, an analyst at Barrington Research Associates Inc.
“A billboard is a display that is difficult to ignore,” he said.

Earlier it was easier to collect and analyze data for online advertisements.

But now companies like Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings Inc which has more than 1200 digital roadside billboards across 28 US markets said it is using mobile data from a third party provider to detect which phones pass in front of its billboards. That is helping to make the physical ads in public spaces work.


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