Billboard Can Target Drivers With Tailored Ads

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Posted: Jan 31, 2007
The funny thing is, they can't sell you anything when you're dead.

Billboard advertisers are constantly finding new and more elaborate ways to attract and distract motorists. From impossibly bright LED displays to adverts that actually call you by name, roadside billboards are getting more and more attention _ whether we like it or not.

Until recently, the most common argument against billboards has been unsightliness. It is no coincidence that the four states with billboard bans, Vermont, Maine, Hawaii, and Alaska, are generally very green and pretty. Likewise, it is rumored that there are federal laws requiring billboards throughout New Jersey (many of which say only "Hey! Look over here!").

And though they're ugly, it's hard to believe that a billboard could be life-threatening. Only the most distractible drivers are endangered by the promise of a Double Cheeseburger 15 Miles Ahead. But in an effort to attract those who are completely jaded to the billboard experience, or perhaps those who are more intent on watching the cars in front of them, billboards have become much more distracting.

Gaining in popularity, the digital or LED billboard is like a giant stadium Jumbo-Tron, projecting an advertisement that is visible not only across four lanes of traffic, but from space. The billboards blast light from thousands of diodes across the night sky and into the skulls of unsuspecting motorists. And as if that weren't enough, the picture also changes every eight seconds or so.

The LED billboard may or may not improve advertising impact, but one thing is for certain _ they are impossible to ignore. Traditional billboards depend on brief, catchy slogans and visual humor to keep you thinking down the road. LED billboards, on the other hand, are simply burned into the retinas and can be seen every time the motorist blinks for the next half hour.

In a few select cities, meanwhile, Mini Cooper has rolled out a new billboard that calls out consumers by name. A Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chip in the Mini's keychain announces to the billboard that a Mini driver is approaching. The billboard, in turn, announces to drivers nearby that a Mini owner is in their presence, with a personalized digital message. That message may or may not instruct drivers of massive SUVs to "watch out for Dave over there."

In a world where consumers actively go out of their way to avoid advertisement, marketers want ads that cannot be TiVoed. While commercial radio has long been the medium of choice to reach a captive car-bound audience, the constantly-changing, illuminated billboard is music to marketing ears. It should come as no surprise, then, that the mega-media corporation Clear Channel owns a number of these roadside High Def distractions.

Though it somehow works for tobacco, killing off your customers is not the best marketing ploy. So let's leave the seizure-inducing flash and fireworks to computer pop-up ads. Because it's hard enough to eat breakfast, pound a latte, and host a conference call at 65 miles per hour when we don't have any distractions.