Billboards have been used for advertising for many years and are most effective when using simple messages that can be understood quickly. An example Coca-Cola billboard from the past uses bright colors and little text to suggest one must drink Coca-Cola to fully enjoy Christmas. Effective billboard design draws attention through eye-catching colors and images rather than long text, as drivers viewing billboards only have a few seconds to process the information. A billboard for Toy Story 3 uses contrasting black and bright colors along with the recognizable image of Buzz Lightyear to advertise the movie release date without needing extensive text. In summary, for maximum effectiveness billboards must convey their message through short, simple text and images that can be

1. Research into Billboard Advertising

2. Billboards are in no way a new invention, they’ve been around for ages… You can see Coca-Cola’s infamous and hugely effective Santa Claus advertising campaign in billboard format above. The message is simple. But has worked for decades- one must have Coca-Cola in order to fully enjoy Christmas.

3. Bright colour scheme if orange and red. Very eye catching. There is very little text on the billboard, and what little there is, is in bold and both quick and easy to read. Possibly the most efficient technique to utilise when including text in a billboard. The images used probably draw the most attention. They should appear very appetising to the majority of people that view the billboard. The font is also very easy to read, and quite welcoming. The majority of billboards will be found at the side of roads. This would suggest drivers as the target audience. Consequently, these drivers will have a few seconds at most to process the information on the billboard. Because of this, the information must be delivered quickly, with small amounts of text. The colour should also be bright and attractive, so the driver glances at it, instead of the bland billboard next to it.

4. Instantly recognisable image of ‘Buzz Lightyear’. The consumer already knows from the image what product is being advertised. Black background is a total contrast to the brightness of both Buzz’s suit and the yellow number three. This places less emphasis on it, and more on them. The only text featured. But in this case the pictures do the talking. The release date is all the consumer needs to know This billboard is a classic example of ‘simple but effective’. It features one word, three number and one image. But the genius of it is that with these three combined, the consumer knows what the product is, and when they can access it. However, this would not work for all products. The designers of this advertisement are banking on ‘Toy Story’ as a global brand, and allowing that worldwide popularity to do a lot of the work for them.

5. Overall… From the examples that I have looked at, it is clear that the technique of ‘short and snappy’ is essential for a successful billboard. If text is used, there must not be a lot of it. It must be easy and quick to read and it helps if accompanied by an image. As mentioned before, the audiences of billboards have margins of a few seconds to receive the billboard’s message, so it must be designed accordingly.