Billboard secrets your competitors don’t want you to know.

​

A Direct-response Copywriter Hall of Fame member shares his knowledge.

​

On the way to work this morning, I saw a new billboard. It was magnificent. It followed all the rules for an effective board. As the light turned red, I stopped my car and examined the board more closely. I wondered how many motorists, who read this board daily, knew how very much psychology went into planning, creating and producing it.

​

The innocent, clean font had a simple and short message. For west-bound traffic, it was a left-hand read which meant it had excellent placement. The product was the dominant graphic. A hot orange-red background stood out against the morning sky. Only four words were written across the face of the board: "It’s time for breakfast." At first glance the letters appeared to be printed in a bold yellow. In the lower left corner was the company’s logo. No words, just the company’s logo. That was it. Nuff said. Simplicity achieved. Communication is complete.

​

Could it really be so easy?

As you may have guessed, McDonald’s, the billboard’s sponsor, has spent about a gazillion dollars over their lifetime in order to communicate so purely with us—their customers. What can we learn from McDonald's research that we can use to make our outdoor signage more effective?

​

He was a print genius. 

My late father-in-law worked at the first ad agency in the United States, Lord and Thomas, which later became Foote, Cone, and Belding. He was a print genius and is listed in the Direct-Response Copywriter Hall of Fame. He explained that there is a two-color combination that causes humans to want to take action more than any other combination. He was very specific about the actual intensity of the colors. They are Persian Orange (In an RGB color space, Persian Orange is composed of 85.1% red, 56.5% green and 34.5% blue) and Canary Yellow (In an RGB color space, Canary Yellow is composed of 100% red, 93.7% green and 0% blue.) Many product companies use a variation of this color combination to get us to pick their bottle or box or bag above their competitors. The next time you’re in a grocery store, stand at the end of an aisle and look at the shelves on both sides. Count how many “red-yellow” combinations appear on labels.

​

When creating outdoor signage always consider the environment in which your sign will live its life. Who will need to read it? Who do you want to read it? Will they be driving at 65 mph? Will the sun be in the reader’s eyes at any time? How long will the sign be in its location?

​

For example, a white or very light-colored background on a billboard will often get lost in the colors of the environment surrounding it. Mother Nature knows many, many shades of green.

​

What information will the reader need at the moment they see your sign? Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious and leaving the meaningful. One rule for an effective billboard creation is to use seven elements or less. The graphic is considered one element. Your logo is an element.