Comments on: Houston, We Have A Cryptic Billboard

By: Jason Sokol

Jason Sokol — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 20:05:04 +0000

Great post and questions. I think a billboard’s effectiveness is dependent upon what your goals are. If you are shooting for impressions and building top of mind awareness among consumers, then the study is somewhat interesting (depending upon their research methods). But what about actual purchase rates?

I have seen several similar studies from local newspaper agencies suggesting that readership is doing quite well (upwards of 60%). I’d be skeptical of any of these studies.

Like David (post above) said, there is a place for outdoor advertising. It all comes down to what your goals are and which customers you are chasing.

By: Ryan Walden

Ryan Walden — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 14:44:10 +0000

I don’t know, maybe it proves the process of “osmosis”- you know where I used to sit on a text book (or sleep with it on my face) and absorb that info from the text book. Mayeb it’s the same with this…the info on this billboard is absorb by osmosis by passer-bys. Yeah…that’s the ticket!

By: Maile

Maile — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:24:16 +0000

At a minimum we now know what the &*%$ the billboard means, and that is worth something…

By: Abbie

Abbie — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:52:17 +0000

I would have to say inconclusive too but man, I sucked at statistics so I have no idea. :)

By: Heidi

Heidi — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:29:43 +0000

I’ve seen those billboards and been extremely curious to know why they were there, but never remembered to look up the Web site. I think it’s a reasonable test — not brilliant, exactly, but more than anything else it says that our society does better with tiny bits of information spoonfed to us in our cars, which is unfortunate. Perhaps this is the new wave of advertising for politicians — just a billboard with “Honest — That’s what So and So is.”

By: Adam

Adam — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:20:14 +0000

I agree with Rick. What if people were supposed to remember a 3 digit number vs. one word? would the response increase?
And how about the emotional tie that one phrase has, compared to a product placement, for example ‘hot pockets’?

By: David S

David S — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 18:19:24 +0000

Outdoor advertising will always have its place. Although many variables exist, the statistics do provide at least some insight.

By: Rick

Rick — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 18:07:50 +0000

Not sure that the test says anything. Too many other variables that are not considered. I say inconclusive because of poor testing. Just my 2 cents :)