An effective means of promoting goods and services, as well as companies in general, is advertising. To attract the attention of a wide audience, outdoor advertising is used. A billboard is an excellent tool for placing it.
What it is?
The design name “billboard” came from the USA. There, companies hung up posters with advertisements (“bills”, announcements) on wooden billboards, boards (“boards”). The purpose of this design is to inform the participants of the movement and consolidate in their memory advertising information about the types of services provided, the company's products.
So what about billboards? What it is? These are billboard constructions of outdoor advertising. They are frames fixed on a support, sheathed with plywood or sheets of galvanized steel, coated with weather-resistant compounds.
The important role of location
Billboards are installed along roads and streets, on roads and highways with saturated traffic, dividing strips, on the roofs, ends and facades of buildings. Placement of outdoor advertising in places of maximum traffic to people and vehicles is the most effective in an advertising campaign, because every day such billboards (billboards) come to the attention of representatives of all social groups .
The most advantageous arrangement of billboards with outdoor advertising in the zone of reducing the speed of a moving stream in front of traffic lights and turns, pedestrian crossings and other restrictive signs, in places of constant traffic jams. Often they are placed near the place of sale of the advertised product. To attract the attention of pedestrians, it is recommended to install advertising structures along the sidewalks. An effective shield is installed on the dividing strip and covering the opposite traffic flows.
Billboard Advertising
Billboards should not be covered by objects that interfere with visual perception: buildings, trees, heavy vehicles. Convenient and affordable viewing of information on the billboards will have a positive result.
Such designs attract the attention of passengers when driving in traffic due to the size of the screen and bright design. These criteria affect the visual storage of the image. Billboards should be attractive, but not overloaded with information.
Scientists have proven: the perception and deposition in the memory of a picture is much faster than reading a text. The driver has little time to get acquainted with the information in order not to be distracted from driving the vehicle. Therefore, advertising on billboards should be thought out to the smallest detail.
Little tricks
Not too much text, focus on the graphic part. The advertising slogan should convey the essence of the proposal. To do this, it is better to use a large and clear font. At a distance of more than 50 steps, light text will not be visible, and too bold will merge into a continuous strip. Simple lettering with contrasting tones is a great option.
Placing a large amount of textual information on billboards is possible near pedestrian crossings. This is due to the low speed of movement of people. The amount of information on the billboards should be such that a person during the movement has time to get acquainted with the text from beginning to end. Bright illumination of billboards at night enhances the effect of exposure, and also forms a positive image of the company.
Individually designed advertising structures emphasize the specificity of certain buildings, combining optimally with street architecture from an aesthetic point of view. The size of the billboard should be in harmony with the surrounding objects. So the advertising structure will not cover the decorative elements of buildings.
Structural Classification
1. By the number of parties on which information is posted. Depending on this, they distinguish:
- unilateral;
- bilateral. That is, side “A” is directed towards the main movement of the flow, side “B” is opposite to it;
- trilateral billboards. What does this mean? This view provides for the combination of three planes in a structure for installation, for example, at an intersection;
- quadrilateral (less common).
2. In shape:
- flat;
- V-shaped;
- triangular.
3. The size of the advertising field. The standard billboard size is 6x3 m. Often used and popular billboard sizes are 6x3 and 12x3 m. There are large-format billboards 18.1 x 6.1 m. One of the advantages of such structures is the manufacture of structures of any size at the request of the customer.
4. According to the type of design, billboards are collapsible (transformers) and non-collapsible.
Types of advertising facilities
1. Static are standard stand-alone structures.
2. Dynamic installations are most effective. The manufacturing technology and design features provide for the successive appearance of several images. These include prismboards (prismatrons) - these are 3x6 m boards. The information field of this design consists of triangular equilateral prisms. When they are rotated 120 °, images are changed, and with a 360 ° cycle, the picture changes three times.
Digital billboards show videos. There are models that use visual special effects, interactive and holographic images.
Today, in addition to traditional stationary billboards, mobile billboards are also popular. What are these designs? They are also called auto posters, auto shields, brand cars. Placed advertising on moving vehicles is very noticeable. A parked car easily turns a mobile mobile billboard into a stationary one. Such advertising is best used as an addition to promotions held in various places.
Installation and assembly of structures
Before installing billboards, you need to select a specific site and analyze its patency. This determines the future location of the shield. For first-time constructions, it is necessary to obtain permission for their placement and coordination with the relevant services: city authorities, advertising and architecture departments. Typically, these organizational issues are engaged in advertising agencies. Nevertheless, the format of the shield is regulated by the city architecture departments.
Usually profitable places are already taken, so it is much easier to purchase or rent an installed structure from advertising agencies and conclude an appropriate contract with them. Set the billboard support on a block foundation or a monolithic slab with reinforcement.
Billboards are exposed to wind and snow, so they pay special attention to installation. The installed design must be strong and reliable.
Installation Considerations
- Against the background of other competitive advertising media, it is your billboards that should stand out. Photo, drawing, background, number of characters, distance between letters and words, color and font of the text - all this is important!
- The angle between the plane of the billboard to the direction of the moving stream.
- Visibility billboard. The advertising field should not be covered by trees, buildings, poles, road signs. At night, it is recommended to use backlight for lighting.
- Requirements of the transport inspection - compliance with the permissible distances from the carriageway to the switchboard during installation.
Manufacturing Features
Terms of placing billboards - high-quality manufacturing of billboards. To do this, the base is coated with galvanized steel or plywood. The surface is treated with a special protective compound (for example, drying oil) or sheet metal. This prevents the destruction from adverse weather conditions.
Poster Printing
Posters for billboards are made in the printing house. With non-standard solutions, they are combined with special highlighting, 3D elements, inserts, fragments that extend beyond the border of the advertising field. Printing is performed:
- on thick paper. It does not tolerate the influence of weather, so the life of such posters is short. Recommended for one-time advertising.
- on the fabric from which the banner is made. A billboard with such a fabric will look good and interesting.
What methods can I use to apply the image?
- painting;
- graphics;
- self-adhesive film;
- large format full color printing.
For small runs of posters (up to 5 pieces), it is recommended to use a self-adhesive film, which is unpretentious to weather conditions and is represented by a large palette of shades. The most time-consuming is painting, because it has limitations on the quality of the paint and the duration of production. Used for exclusive advertising with a unique concept.
Popular methods
A popular and simple way that billboards are placed is printing, which involves digital or offset printing. The first method is used for printing posters only of thick paper and small print runs (minimum of 10 posters).
Offset printing information on a special banner (vinyl) fabric of different densities. With proper installation, the life of the poster is up to 3 months. Over time, it will need to be replaced (due to weather conditions, rapid burnout of a dark color). Prepress preparation and making a poster from banner fabric takes a lot of time.
To produce a single advertising photo in one day, you can use large format printing. Special color printers print both on thick paper and on vinyl. The electrostatic method is gaining popularity among the methods of applying images.
Benefits of Billboards
- affect a wide target audience, effectively affect participants in transport and pedestrian traffic;
- cover a large area when conducting advertising campaigns;
- display a colorful picture and text of good quality of any complexity and size;
- designs have sufficient strength and reliability;
- additionally illuminate areas located next to the shield at night.
Conclusion
So, billboards - what is it? This is a type of outdoor advertising, effectively acting on all social sectors of the population. Panel designs are widespread in modern society and are the most popular in advertising.