New York is America’s largest city to this day. With over eight million residents and thousands of visitors every day, it has become quite the hub for business and advertisement.
Because of New York’s population, business’ desire for advertisement in the city is great to say the least. People want to get their companies in front of as many people as possible, and they know that New York is one of the best places to do just that.
While New York is great for billboard advertisement with its vast population, it can also be difficult for your ad to be noticed. There are thousands of billboards all across the city, causing most of them to just fade into the background of people’s busy lives. Seen, but never really noticed.
The real trick to getting your New York billboards to be noticed is by making them stand out among all the others. They have to be interesting, captivating, and/or motivating.
“Woman” Billboard by BBDO for BBC
This billboard grew to vast popularity by striking a motivating and creative nerve among a sea of billboard ads that weren’t making any statements at the time. While most billboard ads exist within a typical flat, rectangular shape. This particular ad utilized a complete ninety degree turn in the middle of the ad. Splitting the image in half and effectively causing the viewer to have to stand directly in front of it’s corner to get the full image.
This utilization of space peaks the viewer’s curiosity by making them wonder what might be on the other side. Especially when noting that there was a singular phrase written across the whole thing. This aspect answers the “interesting” and “captivating” requirements, but what about the motivating?
Well that one is quite simple. It’s all in the message. The billboard references a current event of its time and asks the viewer to pay careful attention to both sides of the story. Implying that you should do the research and learn everything about the situation because you can’t trust what you hear from anywhere. With all three of the factors that get a billboard to stand out, it is no wonder why this particular ad was so infamous.
“Taste It” by Ogilvy and Mather for Coca Cola
This particular ad is for Coca Cola’s specific “zero sugar” product. The designers take a complex, yet elegant approach to this ad by using the main slogan as their focal point. “Taste It” is Coca Cola’s slogan for this campaign. With the simple slogan comes a need to grab attention. The designers use three dimensional elements to really make this ad come to life.
On the left is a large scale, half full bottle of coke zero. From the bottle comes a straw that trails to the right, twisting and turning to make the words “Taste It”. The straw eventually trails off to the right into a machine that actually dispenses the coke so people can sample it. You read it right! The viewer can actually walk up and see the coke run through the words and into their cup.
This billboard ad uses an innovative “wow factor” while effectively giving samples to the masses, making it both interesting and very captivating.
The Story of the Open” by DDB for the U.S. Open
While many billboards start off already completed, the U.S Open decided to go a different route. Throughout the entirety of the U.S. Open, they used social media to determine memorable moments and then captured them on this billboard. This means that every day, a painter would get up there and add the biggest highlight from the previous day’s events. This was both interesting and captivating, causing people to constantly be on the lookout for the newest addition.
Conclusion
Billboard advertising can be fairly difficult in New York. While you are sure that thousands of people will see your billboard ad, there’s no telling how many people will pay attention to it and remember it. The ads listed above did a phenomenal job of using other dimensions, plains, and elements that got them to stand out among a very large crowd. That is why it is so important to brainstorm an ad that is interesting, captivating, and/or motivating. Making sure your billboard can be defined by one, or all three of those words is a great step towards a successful ad campaign.
