The importance of Electronic billboards

CHAPTER ONE 

INTRODUCTION

Advertisement involves an essentially persuasive communication. Thus, the goals set foradvertising are communication tasks: to reach a defined audience, to a given extent, andduring a given time period. The public move from unawareness of a policy to awareness andthen to knowledge, liking, preference, conviction and then action. It is imperative that theproducts or services of any business receive the proper exposure, and the way to achieveexposure is through advertising. Whether it is on the national or local level, advertisingcampaigns are necessary to let people know about a business and its products. The goal ofmarketing is to target the segment of a population who has a special need for a particularproduct or service and finding ways to provide that product or service in the most effectivemeans   possible.   Advertisements   may   appear   in   many   forms,   including   newspaper   andmagazine ads, radio and television commercials, direct mail campaigns, and various otherforms. With the emergence of brand recognition as a key factor in marketing and advertising,companies have entered into multi-billion dollar contracts with advertising firms to promotetheir products and services. These efforts have led to products becoming integral aspects ofpopular   culture.   The   function   of   advertising   companies   is   to   professionally   promoteindividual   businesses   and   organizations.   Advertising   agencies   are   dedicated   to   thedevelopment of the most innovative and effective means of business promotion. This guideprovides information on offline and online advertising and marketing, modern advertisingmethods and effective advertising techniques and strategies.Outdoor advertising is an effective way of reaching people generally known with consistentmobility; on foot, by public transportation or personal vehicles. It offers the lowest cost perexposure of any major advertising medium, and it produces a major impact, because it is1

usually big, colourful, brief in content and hard to ignore. It primarily serves as a remindermedium. It comes in posters (billboards), painted bulletins, signs, handbills or even transitand shelter advertising. Outdoors today has the capabilities of reaching an audience on anational scale or on a market-by-market basis [Association of National Advertisers, 1952].Outdoor  advertising   has   evolved   to   the   extent   that  it   can  be   almost   as   useful   as   sometraditional forms of advertising like newspaper, radio and TV. Outdoor is strikingly differentfrom other media in one essential aspect– the medium does not circulate the message tomarket but the market circulates around the medium, “the medium delivers its message topeople on their way to work, play or shop. (Association of National Advertisers, 1952). For instance, an executive going to work to deal with a full day of computer related problems would probably “look out for” messages from Dell, Hewlett Packet or Epson. It may seem like a trivial distinction, but if one takes into account the psychological frame of mind ofpeople at the time the message is delivered, it is surely a powerful medium to access. One ofthe   biggest   advantages   of   outdoor   medium   vis-à-vis   other   mediums   like   television   ormagazines is that “your audience can’t zap, discard or even click away from it.” (BusinessWire, 2002