Billboard Rules of Thumb

I was driving to the airport Saturday morning enjoying the traffic-less ride and I couldn't help but look at the billboards. I have a Journalism degree with an emphasis in Strategic Communications (advertising). I had to learn how to design print and radio ads, create a comprehensive campaign and include a call to action with nearly everything.

The billboards I was seeing on the side of the road were terrible. Not only did they not follow convention,

Billboard: bad example

you couldn't read them. It wasn't just one billboard, it was on one particular stretch of I-435 outside of Kansas City. Sometimes designers and ad agencies can get creative and throw all caution to the wind, but no matter whether you're going to follow proper convention or not, you must have these things in ANY billboard ad you design:

• Make sure text is readable - I use the "eight words or less" rule, but if you're not going to follow the rules, people have to be able to read your text at a quick glance.
• Brand or call to action - if your goal is to brand, make sure your logo is prominent and viewers would have no trouble identifying it was from you. If your goal is to call people to action, make sure they could act within the confines of their car going at 65+ MPH.

Billboards can help achieve multiple goals in your marketing mix, but if people can see something at a quick glance, it won't help achieve anything.