Engaging Billboards

The sheer size of outdoor advertising has tremendous potential to grab people’s attention. And these BBC billboards featured on the Pronet blog are great examples of a powerful concept made even more effective by size, location (Times Square), and the fact that they have combined a traditional media component with an interactive element (the tally).

I have seen these boards show up in different articles, blogs and other industry news stories over the last several months, and each time it is interesting to see how the vote has changed. You’ll notice beneath each of the tally boxes there is information on how to cast a vote from your cell phone.

These are by no means the first boards to use an interactive element, but these provocative BBC boards certainly use this technique effectively. Here are some other ways advertisers are combining outdoor advertising with interactive technology:

Upload your photos to a billboard.

Design your own custom Nike shoe and see it unfold on a 23-story billboard.

Interactive Billboards Show Personal Ads to Mini Drivers

Adobe’s interactive personal billboard for Photoshop CS3

Nokia in Mumbai

All are great examples of engaging your market.