- 30 Jan 2012
Salience, Simplicity & Consistency = Powerful Billboards
Before I start this post, I have a confession to make. I am a billboard junkie. It may be a professional deformation, but I constantly analyze billboards and sometimes I even pull my phone out and snap photos of good and not so good billboards.
Recently, I saw an incredibly powerful billboard. It was the Golds Gym No Contracts billboard. With only two words “No Contracts” the advertiser was able to tell a very powerful message. What also made it very strong was consistent branding and simplicity. There was no muscular guys pumping iron or pretty women smiling on a treadmill with a towel wrapped around their necks that one would expect from a gym ad. The beauty of this billboard is that it only has one colour yellow on a black background. The Golds logo is very visible and message is strong and consistent with their overall brand.
Than something awful happened. Our very simple and powerful billboard was turned into this.
I can only imagine what happened in Golds' marketing office and this is my imaginary version of the events. Someone told the Golds' marketer that the billboard needs more punch. The billboard was too simple and nobody had to think what it meant, they didn't even need to pull their car over to read it. The poor marketer was told that the billboard needed to achieve more than inform the public that you don't have to sign a contract at Golds. They were told that they have to add their hard earned awards to the billboard. They were told that Golds needed to show that they are a community minded organization, with strong ethical, moral and business values. Then someone printed two more logos gave them to the CBS guy who had to climb onto the billboard and paste the additional logos next to Golds logo.
Adding two more logos to the billboard, they lost all the impact the original board had. They turned a very powerful billboard into an average billboard. The only way this billboard could be worse is if they pasted a phone number and a starburst to it. The additional logos weaken the message because they are introducing two more brands, multiple colours and multiple messages to a very simple billboard. I wonder if the audience now thinks that the other two business don't require contracts as well.
I hope this real life case study will help Golds and all of us develop powerful advertising remembering the principles of a good ad: salience, simplicity and consistency.
