Alternative outdoor advertising
The consequences of COVID-19 for the advertising industry
As the drastic economic impact of coronavirus continues to spill, brands and agencies are forced to re-evaluate the current advertising methods they are using. Recently, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) surveyed nearly 400 media buyers and brands. The results were surprising: 74% think the coronavirus pandemic will have a larger impact on their advertising spend than the 2008 financial crisis. According to the President of Interactive Advertising Bureau, David Cohen, “Typically marketers will press pause for a moment, take a breath, assess the situation, replay and reevaluate.”
Are your Ads still from the Stone Age?
The traditional out-of-home advertising is expected to be largely impacted. The estimated ad spend declined 51% in March and April and another decline of 41% is expected in June 2020. Fewer people are outside reducing the appeal and effectiveness of billboards and DOOH. Advertising in malls, at bus stops, and bus shelter advertising are fast becoming replaced by in-home advertising. The impact of COVID-19 has kept the consumers inside their homes. Hence, the best ways to reach the audience will be to take your advertising message to them indoors.
Adzze has been re-evaluating the current tactics and adapting to a more sensitive message. The operations team has working on extending its reach to offer advertising methods that can reach the consumers at their safest place: at home. One of these tactics uses pizza boxes as advertising space. Think of this as small moving billboard that consumers receive in their homes and place on their dinner tables. Ad data demonstrated that this type of ads can lead to an 80% recall rate (8 out of 10 individuals recall seeing an ad on the pizza box) with an average ROI of 150%. This means, for every 1 dollar the advertiser invested in a pizza box advertising campaign, they received at least additional 2.5 dollars of sales. For more details, see the article Estimating the ROI of Pizza Box Marketing.
The year 2020 will be great for the advertising industry especially in the US because of Presidential elections. Naturally, the expected uptick in ad spend will favor the most convenient and efficient advertising medium of the day. Given the growth of digital platforms in as far as advertising is concerned, alternative outdoor advertising will carry the day.
What is alternative outdoor advertising?
Outdoor advertising remains the most prominent medium of marketing. This is because advertisers can reach many people with just one medium. Indeed, billboards and other forms of traditional media have taken the largest market share of outdoor advertising for decades. One of the reasons for this fact could be the strategic nature of billboards. Particularly, billboards stand at the sides of highways and other major roads. As such, many people get to see the messages plastered on the billboards. However, the problem of inattention and blatant avoidance of billboards has undermined their effectiveness.
Billboard rental remains widespread
Many businesses may still be relying on billboard rental but the trend is declining. This is because of issues like inability to target the exact audience. A beautifully designed billboard may be attractive but it does not guarantee that viewers will read the message. Usually, viewers concentrate on the aesthetics and leave out the substance.
Is billboard advertising cost justifiable?
Billboard advertising costs are unforgiving to small businesses. Given their young state, small businesses can barely raise $30,000 a month to pay for billboard rental. Besides, the billboards do not guarantee high conversion rates because issues like inability to attract the right viewers. Many people might see the billboard but just a few actually relate to the advertisement.
Therefore, it follows that advertisers are out looking for alternative outdoor advertising to bolster brand visibility and to boost sales. Fortuitously, many alternatives to traditional outdoor advertising mediums exist. These alternatives, in particular, are the mediums that offer better results and with a smaller budget. One of them is in-the-hand marketing. In-the-hand marketing is a simple yet ingenious advertising medium that puts your brand straight inside the target audience’s palms.
There is an unproven assumption that billboards are effective. In fact, several publications demonstrated the lack of targeting and tracking, low engagement with the target audience, high costs, low ROI and in many cases the issue of visual pollution and low brand recall. The targeting issues very often are addressed with alternative approaches as mobile billboards, digital OOH, ads on trucks and ads in places people don’t expect as flags, backpacks, inflatable objects, gas pump and balloons.
Stay-at-Home Ads will replace outdoor advertising
The use of OOH and billboards will most likely experience more decline in the coming weeks, given the growing number of cases of infection in the United States. Businesses that dearly need to get the word out about their enterprise will have to embrace new-age advertising to stay in business. This means more customers will abandon billboard advertising to adopt indoor ads; a strategy which brands trying to avoid the cut-throat cost of sign advertising have happily been using to market themselves in recent times.
The New York Times aptly described the effect of the pandemic on outdoor advertising as a ‘seismic shock’. Even Coca-Cola is among the companies that have limited their ad campaigns during the coronavirus crisis, the New York Times report says. Long story cut short; a lot of companies are hitting the brakes on billboard ads and other forms of OOH advertising and are also pulling back until the coast clears.
Pizza box marketing is an ideal alternative
In-the-hand marketing tactics like pizza box marketing are cheap yet effective alternatives to billboard advertising. This tactic is unconventional, which makes it unique and hard to ignore. A sum like the $30,000 required to rent a billboard for three months can produce thousands of customized pizza boxes.
All you need to do is to design the ad beautifully and plaster it on the top side of the pizza box. Then, you can deliver the boxes at certain locations. The pizza boxes enable you to reach the exact target audience through selecting an ideal location. Therefore, you will not only save on advertising costs but also selling your brand as creatively driven. Customers like businesses that go out of their way to impress.
