We’ve taken a look at quite a few different billboards in our Notable Billboard series. Whether they were advertising milk or bug spray, we’ve seen a large amount of creativity put into a wide variety of ‘boards. Today, we’re going to take a look at three more outdoor ads we love.

1. The Ballyhoo

This time it isn’t a specific ad we love, but the way in which the ad is served. According to their website, The Ballyhoo is a custom built, 58 ft vessel equipped with back-to-back, 46 ft, state-of-art, high definition screens. Essentially, it’s a double-sided digital billboard attached to a boat. It travels the coast of Miami Beach, turning the heads of beachgoers in high traffic areas.

Land and sky advertising are nothing new, but the market for on-water advertising is largely untapped. It’s nice to see a company taking an inventive approach to boat-side advertising. Check out the video below to see The Ballyhoo in action.

2. Lost Cobra

‘Lost Cobra’ #billboards drum up footfall to retail store https://t.co/pvUnfb9UAN via @Adweek #OOH #Reach #Action #Resultssssssss pic.twitter.com/5xo6dSJZ3N

— Outsmart (@OutsmartOOH) July 19, 2017

The above is a billboard for Betabrand, a retail clothing store in San Francisco. What we love about this ad is the way it unabashedly calls for attention. Few things will make people double take as much as seeing “LOST COBRA” in all caps, fifty feet in the air. It’s definitely a risk for a clothing company to advertise on a billboard without featuring any merchandise, but hey, whatever gets people into the store.

3. All You Can Eat

…another terrific outdoor ad for an all-you-can-eat restaurant. https://t.co/EMy6ntfVvE #OOH #billboards #creativeadvertising pic.twitter.com/DAmaL4MB3E

— Whimsy Outdoor (@whimsy_outdoor) June 13, 2017

This ad is for Oldtimer, a chain of Austrian rest stops and hotels. The billboard is built around a tunnel opening, so it appears as if the motorists are entering the woman’s mouth. While the design is funny enough on its own, this billboard is really clever in the way that it forces people to interact with it without requiring any additional effort from them. Anyone driving through the tunnel becomes part of the ad, creating an experience they won’t soon forget

Today’s Pro Tip is on creating and using custom KML layers. KML stands for Keyhole Markup Language. It is a fancy way of saying “data formatted to be visualized on a map.” KML has its roots in some of the most interesting and ambitious engineering of the Cold War era. But, today it is on of the most popular ways to overlay data on maps.

Mapping is one of the most popular features of both our Demand-Side Platform (DSP) for agencies and our Supply-Side Platform (SSP) for media sellers. DOmedia makes it easy to create interactive maps packed with data. But, what if you are looking for something a little more custom? That’s where custom KML layers come into play. This post will teach you:

1. How to add custom KML layers to maps in DOmedia
2. Where to find KML Layers on the web
3. How to create your own custom KML layers

Adding Custom KML layers to maps in DOmedia

The intrepid support team at DOmedia has written a step by step guide to adding custom KML layers on our support website. You can find it here. If it seems a little intimidating to jump right into our training documents, don’t worry! You can always contact our support team for help at OOHsupport@DOmedia.com (for media sellers) or AgencySupport@DOmedia.com (for media buyers).

Where to find KML Layers on the web

It seems like everything, no matter how arcane, has a following in the age of the internet. Interesting KML layers are no different. Here are a few websites where nerds like us are uploading and sharing their own KML layers.

• Google Earth lets you visualize many types of data and then download that data as a KML file
• Data.gov, a database of public data sets from all levels of government, can be filtered to show only KML files.
• State departments of transportaiton often offer free access to traffic data and much more in KML format. The Ohio Department of Transportation, for instance, recently overhauled its Transportation Information Mapping System (TIMS). It allows you to visualized dozens of datasets and then download the results as KML files.
• The DOmedia mapping tools also include a selection of popular KML data including demographics from the U.S. Census, ZIP codes and more.

How to create your own custom KML layers

While large datasets, such as traffic and demographics, can help hone strategies and deliver better results in OOH advertising, agencies and vendors often want specific KML Layers for campaigns. For instance, agencies may want to visualize a parade route or a special event. Google My Maps offers a free and easy solution for drawing on maps, highlighting roadways and much more. When you use My Maps, you are actually creating a KML layer in real time! Then, Google will let you download the KML file for free. What a time to be alive! 

Interested in learning more about creating maps with DOmedia to maximize performance in out-of-home advertising? Want to make sure you are getting the most out of your DOmedia account? Contact us, and we’ll be happy to show you more!

While it could be argued that the earliest billboards were cave paintings or even Egyptian obelisks, the genesis of the billboards we know today probably started with the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in the 1440s. His invention gave rise to handbills, which are small paper advertisements that were often posted in public places. The first billboards! Yes, the advent of the printing press gave birth to the Renaissance, mass communication, and billboard advertising.

The next major technological advancement came in 1796, when Alois Senefelder invented the lithographic printing process. Lithography is a type of printing that allowed artists to make copies of their work without having to carve them out into plates as they had to with the printing press. Instead, they created their artwork on a plate using grease-based materials. Once the artwork was finished, it could easily be reproduced. This allowed illustrated posters to be mass produced in color for the first time.

The first modern billboard is often attributed to Jared Bell. In 1835 he created a fifty square foot color poster advertisement for The Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus. This wouldn’t have been possible without lithography.

The circus posters gained popularity and billboard advertising evolved and became big business. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, billboard associations (including the OAAA) were created and best practices were established in the United States. The construction of the Interstate Highway System in the 1950s created the perfect space for billboards to flourish. In fact, billboards were so plentiful on the interstate that in 1965 President Johnson signed the Highway Beautification Act. The act put certain restrictions on the sizing and spacing of billboards on the interstate. Many of these standards and regulations were the foundation for the billboard industry we know today.

Much has changed in the way billboards are created. Nowadays, billboards are generally printed on vinyl material using computers. There are also digital and interactive billboards. Billboards that are connected to the internet. We have certainly come a long way since Gutenberg.

This is the third post in our series on bus advertisements. In our first post we took a deeper look at side panel bus advertisements. Our second post was on front and back end bus advertisements. In this post we’ll be taking a look at full and half wrap options and benefits.

Full wraps are a premium bus advertisement option. Like all bus ads, they expertly target commuters, motorists, and pedestrians. Since buses travel all over cities, it’s easy to hit your intended demographic.

While they tend to be the most expensive bus ad option, they are still relatively affordable and can be made to fit most marketing budgets. The higher price is due to the fact that they yield the highest rates of retention and impact. Offering the most space over any other bus advertisement option, full wraps also have the most creative space to work with. This allows you the opportunity to create not just a moving billboard, but an out-of-home spectacle people are more likely to discuss, snap pictures of, and share on social media. Let’s take a look at the difference between full and half wraps.

FULL WRAP ADVERTISING

Just as the name implies, the bus will be fully wrapped in your advertisement. This includes front, back, and sides. Your moving two-sided billboard can’t help but turn heads and demand attention. If you’re looking for the best results bus advertisements can offer and are willing to pay for it, full wraps are the way to go.

HALF WRAP ADVERTISING

With a half wrap, one half of the bus is wrapped in your advertisement. This generally includes one full side, and half of the front and back of the bus. A half wrap is understandably less expensive than a full wrap. This allows you to save some of your marketing budget or increase exposure by purchasing additional half wraps.

Why buy billboard ads? In a world of smartphones and constant mobile connectedness, traditional billboards almost seem archaic, don’t they? They’re static! They’re silent! They’re vinyl, for pete’s sake! It’s easy to write off billboards as the advertising king of the decades long past. Being wrong is always easy.

According to the OAAA, there are currently over 158,000 traditional billboards in the United States today. Advertisers are still using billboards, but how many consumers are actually seeing them? Let’s take a look at this Arbitron Out-of-Home Advertising Report.

Arbitron Out-of-Home Advertising Report

A very high percentage of people are in fact seeing billboards. Seeing doesn’t necessarily mean engaging with. Of the people who notice billboards, how many are paying attention to them?

Arbitron Out-of-Home Advertising Report

It’s pretty clear that lots of people are seeing and engaging with billboards. This is all relevant because the same report found that almost one-third of travelers are making purchasing decisions while they are in their car and that two-thirds are making purchasing decisions while they are outside their home.

Arbitron Out-of-Home Advertising Report

The above numbers should make it obvious that billboards are invaluable to marketing campaigns. Advertisers are still buying billboards because they’re still very effective marketing tools. Instead of competing, newer technology is actually helping billboards be even more effective by utilizing location data that lets you target your demographic with billboards like never before.

Not only does technology make for more effective and targeted billboards, but research confirms that that adding billboards and other out-of-home media to your digital or mobile marketing campaign increases your reach and response rate. Too many people ask themselves if they should go with out-of-home, digital, or mobile advertising, instead of understanding how a solid campaign should effectively incorporate all three.

Why buy billboard ads? You should buy billboard ads because they’re effective marketing tools. Location data has made them even more effective. Adding them to your digital and mobile campaigns makes them most effective. The data suggests that the real question is: why wouldn’t you buy billboard ads?