This is the second entry in our series of blog posts on bus advertisements. In our first post we took a deeper look at side panel bus advertisements. In this post we’ll be taking a look at bus end advertisements.

Bus end advertisements can go on the front or back of the bus. Like with all bus advertisements, it’s easy to target your demographic with bus ends as they are seen repeatedly by motorists, commuters, and pedestrians. Who hasn’t been stuck in traffic behind a bus, left to ponder the ad for a few minutes?

Bus end advertisements come in a variety of shapes and sizes. They are also cost effective, allowing you to get the most out of your marketing budget. Most bus end options are going to be cheaper than the bus side options and definitely cheaper than the full wrap options. Let’s take a look at some examples and benefits of the most common bus end options.

TAILLIGHT
Taillight bus ads go on the back of the bus, generally below the window. The low price and high impact of this ad makes it one of the most popular bus advertisements.

MINI TAIL
Mini tail bus advertisements go on the back of the bus and are smaller than the taillight option. This is perfect if you’re running on a tight budget or just want to have a larger reach with a higher number of bus ads.

FULL  BACK
Full back bus ads cover the entire back end of the bus. This is the top-tier bus end option, giving you the most creative space and offering the biggest impact.

HEADLIGHT
Headlight bus advertisements go on the front of the bus under the windshield. This is another low cost, high impact option that mainly targets pedestrians and motorists.

Facebook recently announced that they would begin rolling out ads in their popular Messenger app. This means that their 1.2 billion users will soon start seeing ads appearing in their Messenger home screens. What are the potential implications for out-of-home advertising and location-based mobile advertising?

Location-based mobile advertising has the opportunity to target people like never before. Imagine lingering in a store deciding if you can really afford those new shoes. You start to put them back when your phone dings and offers up a 10% off coupon. When you know someone’s location habits and brand preferences it’s easier to figure out what they’re looking for and how to get them to buy more of it. Ads can now be extremely specialized, targeted, and timed.

Another benefit to location-based mobile advertising is that it can make data easier to collect. If you’ve been sent a coupon to use in a physical store while you’re in or near that physical store, it shouldn’t be hard for that store to determine if that coupon was used or not. With other forms of advertising the exact impact of an ad can be a lot harder to measure.

Location data can also be used for more traditional out-of-home advertisements. It’s now possible to determine location-based demographics for those seeing billboards or bus ads and what their effectiveness was. For example, you see a billboard for your favorite fast food restaurant. An hour later, you’re at said fast food restaurant. Your phone knows. 

Coordinating mobile and traditional OOH is becoming increasingly essential in creating successful marketing campaigns. A recent study by the OAAA found that out of all media, OOH was the most likely to influence mobile response in consumers. Adding Facebook Messenger ads into the mix creates a whole new level of opportunity. Not only does your phone know which ads you’ve likely seen and which stores you frequent, but now it knows when and how you talk about products. Messenger already suggests specific emojis to use as a response in your chat context. Why couldn’t it offer up specific products or services in a similar context?

Currently, Messenger ads only appear in the inbox (not inside conversations) and ads use typical Facebook targeting (not written message content). However, as the relationship between traditional OOH and mobile response becomes better utilized, there should be no question that Messenger ads will eventually be made more targeted and specialized by both location and contextual data. Consumers will get more relevant ads and advertisers will get more successful ad campaigns. Everybody wins!

Bus advertising is a great way to reach your audience at a relatively low cost. Your billboard-on-wheels will catch the attention of motorists, pedestrians, and commuters. Buses travel all over cities, making it easy to target your demographic. In this series of blog posts we will take a deeper look at the various options and formats of bus advertisements.

In this inaugural post in our series on bus advertisements, we’ll be looking at side panel advertisements. Side panel bus advertisements are a great way to turn heads without breaking the bank, especially when compared to a full wrap. They can be made to fit virtually any marketing budget. Let’s take a look at some examples and benefits of the most common bus side options.

KING
King bus advertisements go on one side of the bus. Put simply, the king option will give you the biggest bang for your buck. The low cost means that your eye-catching ad can be put on more buses.

QUEEN
Queen bus side advertisements go on one side of the bus. The queen option is smaller than the king, letting you save money or buy even more bus ads.

KONG
Kong bus advertisements go from wheel well to wheel well under the windows on one side of the bus. They are larger than the king and queen options. This gives you more creative space with your ad while not stretching your budget too thin.

ULTRA SUPER KING
Ultra super king bus advertisements go from wheel well to wheel well under the headliner on one side of the bus. It offers more space than the kong, which means more creative options.

HALF SIDE
Half side bus advertisements cover half of one side of the bus. This is a great option for when you want to make a huge impact, but maybe it’s not the right time for a full side.

FULL SIDE
Full side bus advertisements cover one whole side of the bus. This is the premium of the bus side options and also the one that yields the most impact. It’s a literal moving billboard!

For part five of our Notable Billboards series, we have creative campaigns from Orphea, Penline, and the Colorado State Patrol.

1- Colorado State Patrol: Billboard Collision

This public service announcement earns attention with its unusual formatting. The billboard aims to warn against tailgating, especially behind large trucks. The crumpling of the billboard at the point of impact mimics the damage to the car that rear ended the truck and draws attention.

2- Penline: Strong Tape

Penline found a creative way to emphasize the strength of their tape. By making it appear that their duct tape is holding up the billboard, the brand testifies to its own quality. The simplicity catches the eye and the creativity conveys the message.

3- Orphea: Bug Spray

The brand Orphea installed a billboard in Milan that creatively advertised their outdoor bug spray. By covering part of the board with a sticky jet spray, the ad collected thousands of bugs over a few days. Gross, but excellent advertising as it turned heads and effectively promoted the product. See the board in action below, and check out our past Notable Billboards here.

Today through Wednesday, OAAA and Geopath will be hosting their National Convention and Expo. This year the theme is LookOut and is being held in New Orleans. In addition to an agenda of workshops and networking opportunities, the 75th annual OBIE awards will be held as part of the conference.

Attendees will have the opportunity to learn how creativity and data combine to make OOH campaigns relevant, how innovative technology is improving connectivity, and how Geopath is working to improve measurement to provide better insights. Speakers include Nancy Fletcher and Kym Frank, Presidents and CEOs of OAAA and Geopath respectively, Rob Dembitz, Global Head of Innovation at Cannes Lions, Joel Sartore a photographer for National Geographic, and Dawn Hudson, CMO of the NFL.

Day two includes breakfast lunch and a dinner at the OBIE awards. The OBIEs and its after party wrap up day two of the conference.

Both the OAAA and Geopath work to help advertisers achieve success. The OAAA helps promote the interests of the OOH industry as well as ensuring that the material being produced by advertisers meets the standards and quality expected within the industry. Geopath works to help the industry gather metrics and insights through data. By continuously refining the processes and standards for audience measurement, Geopath is helping fill an important gap in the OOH industry.

DOmedia is a sponsor of this year’s convention. At last year’s OAAA/Geopath convention, DOmedia launched their cutting edge SSP for OOH media. This year attendees can expect more big product announcements. You can find DOmedia in the exhibit hall.