The Absolute Waste of Outdoor Advertising

Now before you accuse me of being a "head in the sand" digital addict that hates all forms of traditional media, let me state my case.

Used well, I believe outdoor ads can be one of the most effective traditional mediums.

With commuting times double what they were a generation ago and consumers' ability to filter nearly every other medium, outdoor has some unique built-in advantages - locally contextual-relevance, captive audience, ability to create beyond the medium itself (through digital display and 3D buildouts).

So I really want to be a fan Clear Channel, CBS, Pattison and Astral, you have a good thing going. I love your canvas, it's what gets painted on them that makes my eyes roll with the wasted marketing dollars at play. 

- Is there not a school for good outdoor creative that you can send clients to?

- Is there not some price incentive that you can give discounts for really great creative?

- Can you not help these marketers invent or reinvent the medium?

- Will you please not build a blog to profile the best of the best, as opposed to letting us rely on the good work from adrants, Beyond Madison Avenue and others that profile where the best is happening in New York, Amsterdam or somewhere else but here.

Case in point, I was driving to my parents for Father's Day across two of our fair city's major arteries. Here's my summary of outdoor creative:

18 of the ads were decent - they created awareness for something new or interesting - whether it was the Tim Horton's $2.99 special or Bud Light's new Lime launch - not breakthrough but enough to wend their way into my sub-consciousness - most I would pass over but post enough of them and the message might sink in.

33 of the ads were a complete waste of money - they were an annoyance on the landscape - BMO in particular was bad, they asked questions that left people wondering, where the heck are the answers and does BMO even have them?

5 of the ads were downright incomprehensible transgressing the rules of nearly every good outdoor execution. Thankfully, most of the offenders were the small, one-off executions.

Just 3 of the ads were interesting, I repeat 3 out of 59. That is a bad batting average in any field of play, never mind advertising. These were the few that caused me to act, to at least take the extra step of going online to hear what the story was all about.

Casinoramavotes.com was the most interesting, with a series of ads asking people to vote "yes" or "no" to excitement. Although the web destination, was a big marketing disappointment, at least the outdoor execution caused me to act along with about 2,000 others according to the microsite's stats.

For God's sakes marketers, be interesting, will you. Let me provide some inspiration.

- Claritin used to have a pollen count meter board on the Gardiner that would tell people how allergic they might be that day - imagine that, outdoor that actually helps and perhaps sells more product

- James Ready  asked people to get involved with their campaign, encouraging people to make an offer

- What can you not say about Ikea helping reinvent the medium and getting people's head's to turn and chins to wag

- BBC has helped reinvent the canvas that gets used, increasing its noticability and likely helping the outdoor guys make more money

- Mini - the best practitioners of hero outdoor - 90% of their outdoor's benefit is the PR it generates

- Lego - brilliant - that's all I have to say

- The Economist - guess what people, outdoor can interact and likely for no more than a couple of extra grand

- 3M - the torture test

- Fido - outdoor that entertains and truly understands the nature of its locations

- The Weather Network used to have such smart ads that played with your mind, invest in outdoor again, please!

- BC Hydro - outdoor that practices what it preaches

And this is only a small sampling:

Note to Rogers - if you're going to brag about Canada's best coverage - show me how many bars you're getting at your outdoor locale vs. your competitors

Note to Telus -  love the animals campaign - but it's like wallpaper - can they not do something, interact with me, let me find 101 hidden meerkats around the city

I honestly was going to write more notes to advertisers for improving their stuff, but I couldn't remember any of the others.  Please marketers, if you're going to waste money so lazily and carelessly, send it to me and I guarantee I'll put your budget largesse to much hungrier and better use.