Advertising on Billboards: Does It Work Today?

In 2024, we have digital billboard technology that offers crisp, compelling, moving images and video. A far advancement from static billboards, which have been a staple outdoor format for decades. According to the Out-of-Home Advertising Association of America, the first digital billboards were installed in 2005.

Even in today’s digitised world, static billboards are widely used in Out-of-Home to reach wide audiences. 

Let’s take a closer look at what billboards offer within the broader OOH landscape.

Maximise Reach 

Advertising on billboards enables you to reach a large audience, broadcasting your brand message to consumers from all walks of life. Some products and services are more niche and will only appeal to certain segments of the population, but some have a wider more universal appeal, in which case billboards in areas with high footfall/traffic can work well to boost consumer awareness around your brand.

On-vehicle ads have a similar advantage of generating wide reach across bustling modern cities, but at Drovo – with our combination offering of both static and digital on-vehicle formats – we can also provide more sophisticated elements including dynamic creative and geotargeting.

Boost Brand Awareness 

Another benefit of advertising on billboards is that it generates top of funnel awareness, increasing brand familiarity which can put you top of mind with consumers.

OOH advertising, in general, is considered an awareness-driving channel, reaching consumers in a non-intrusive yet unavoidable way.

Similar to billboards, taxi media generates mass awareness, and research also shows that eye-level OOH formats – such as moving media – generate maximum audience engagement.

Considering trying street-level, moving media?  Contact Drovo today. Between our large fleet of black taxis and our on-vehicle digital advertising screens in London, we have a solution that will drive results for your business.

Drive Interaction

The last few years have seen an increase in QR code usage. The large format nature of billboards lends itself well to QR codes, encouraging consumer interaction and driving audiences to take action such as downloading an app, visiting a web page or watching a brand video. 

Did you know that Drovo’s black taxis also provide an opportunity to engage with consumers in more of a 1-to-1 environment? Each of Drovo’s taxi campaigns includes branded interior tip seats, an ideal place to include special promo offers to drive more mid-to-low funnel activity.

The Shortfalls of Billboard Advertising

Every Out-of-Home format has its place and its own unique strengths and advantages. Similarly, there can be drawbacks to each, and here we review some of the shortfalls of billboard advertising.

Inability to Target

As we have reviewed, if you are looking to reach the masses with a single brand message, billboards can be an effective solution. But what if you want to deliver a more specific message to carefully targeted audiences?

With Drovo’s new on-vehicle screens, you can target only the areas that are of the highest interest, eliminating media waste and making your media plans more efficient. You can also change messaging based on location, ensuring that the ad’s call to action is relevant to the place where the ad is being served.

Furthermore, our retargeting solution via shadowfencing technology reinforces your OOH messaging by engaging audiences exposed to your OOH ads on their mobile devices. With these capabilities, Drovo is truly bridging the gap between online and offline advertising.

Static in Nature

Billboards are unable to move with your target audience. A huge benefit to taxi and on-vehicle advertising is the ability to reach consumers throughout their daily journeys, in the most highly-traffic areas of the city and also in areas that are impossible to reach with other forms of OOH advertising.

Moving media is a great complement to traditional static OOH as it provides a connecting point between those formats, and builds increased frequency throughout the duration of a campaign.

Drovo also offers transparency into your campaign with a proprietary live vehicle tracking dashboard. The live dashboard can break down hourly and daily data on the number of impressions delivered across specific areas of cities.

High Production Costs & Lengthy Activation

The printing & production process for billboards can be quite lengthy and expensive, eating into the total budget for your campaign.

Drovo offers key solutions in the form of digital moving media which has no production cost and a nearly immediate turnaround time. For taxi options, it’s worth noting Drovo’s ability to offer the highest quality installation for both supersides and full wraps in a timely, cost-effective manner.

In summary, billboards are still a staple format in the outdoor ecosystem today, although as a standalone activation, they may lack important aspects of a well-rounded OOH media plan. 

Moving media formats like taxis will greatly strengthen the impact of a billboard campaign by adding frequency and the ability to reach audiences throughout their daily journeys. Also, with technologically advanced formats like Drovo’s on-vehicle screens, you can further enhance your campaign with granular targeting and contextually relevant messaging.

Learn more about how your brand can leverage our unique fleet of moving media formats.