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Billboard Messaging 101: Keep it Simple

by Ryan Shell on April 8, 2009

Over the past few days I’ve seen several ads worth talking about, some were good and some were bad. I mentioned the new Burger King ad yesterday, and today I’d like to talk about a billboard for a community bank in my hometown of Greensboro, NC.

I was headed home from the movies Friday night and noticed a billboard with a big fish on it. It also had a bit of text, but as I drove by at 35 mph I couldn’t for the life of me determine who the board was for or what the message was.

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I’m an avid road cyclist and as I was riding my bike home on Sunday I passed this same billboard, this time going around 20 mph. As I approached the board I still wasn’t 100% sure what the bank was trying to get across so I stopped to take a closer look.

The board basically had one extremely large fish on it with some text that said, “You at our bank.” There was also a very small fish in the lower left corner with the text that said, “You at your bank.” Ok, now I get it. They are trying to point out that folks that use “big banks” are a small fish in a large pond. The board is a hot mess and does a terrible job at getting the message across. I truly wish I had a photo for you to see.

I can’t stress enough the importance of simplicity when it comes to billboards. Simple graphics, if any at all, and short copy works best. If you create a board with multiple graphical elements that move the reader’s eye around and then throw in text in a couple different places, you are setting yourself up for failure.

For this particular example, the company could have nixed the huge graphical element (probably costly since it extended passed the boards edges) and simply used their logo and some text. Apple always does a great job keeping things simple.

Disclaimer: I work for a credit union, but in no way does that alter my judgment on this topic.

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About the Author

Marketing & PR pro. Social media user, cyclist, inline speed skater, volunteer, blogger, public speaker. Founded Fashables. Work at Ketchum. And I’m goofy.

Tagged as: billboard marketing

  • http://www.we101.com Roch101

    You mean you take that curve and the railroad tracks at 35 MPH?

    The fish caught my eye and I got the message the first time I saw it.

    In fairness to your critique though, I was in the lane closest to the billboard and with the road four lanes wide, the curve, the railroad tracks, a convenience store driveway and people jockeying to make it into the right turn lane, there may be some disadvantages to any billboard advertising there.

    The fish caught my eye and I got the message. The real test though is, do I know who the bank is? That I am not confident is not a good sign. I think it was a bank called Community Bank.

    (The apple billboard works because, after years and millions, they have an identifiable logo. A local bank does not have the same advantage and would be foolish to mimic that approach.)

  • Ryan Shell

    I’ve noticed lots of boards in that location… A good location at that.

    Maybe I was going 30 mph, close enough. I drive a Mini so the car can handle a turn.

    Apple was simply an example for keeping it simple. I’m keeping this short bc I’m sending this from my phone.

    Thanks for reading Roch.

  • http://www.cugrow.com James Robert Lay

    There is a bank bill board like that here in Houston that I tweeted about. Real busy and hard to read the brand and message got lost going by at 80 on the freeway.

    There was also a credit union bill board that kept things simple. Logo along with the text “Auto loan rates as low as 3.99%”. Nice…

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