The Most Memorable Means of Mass Advertising
Most businesses realize the importance of advertising and make it a significant part of their budget. Some opt for word-of-mouth ads and this certainly builds a solid base of clients who are happy with a product or service. But it is also a slow way to get a new business off the ground.
Alternative advertising methods include high cost radio or television ads, that might be targeted at a local community. However, too often people channel surf during the commercials and never even hear what is offered. Printed matter can be effective to reach a community but what percent ends up as wrapping for fish? Internet advertising is growing but may reach for a local business a much larger market than is useful.
One novel plan to quickly and effectively inform a local population of a product or service is aerial advertising. A firm is hired to make a large banner with a concise message and then to trail this message behind an airplane flown over a beach, sporting event, concert, parade or any open sky gathering. The people hear the drone of the plane, look up, read the ad, and the message is delivered. Does this sound expensive? It is actually more cost effective than most of the methods of advertising mentioned above.
Aerial advertisers claim that their method reaches more people in a more effective way for much less cost than other traditional advertising methods. For example, a few years ago a particular Miami beach was targeted for an aerial ad and then 2000 of the people were surveyed thirty minutes later. The result was that 88% of the people were aware an ad flew by, 79% could recall the product or service, and 67% could recall at least half of the exact message. Could the printed media or radio and TV ads match this effectiveness at a reasonable five dollars per thousand people targeted? While some spend as much as 20% of their budget on advertising, aerial advertising can reach as many people for only a comparable 8% of the same budget.
It works like this. The drone of the plane in the sky causes people to look up. There, behind the plane, is an airplane banner flapping in the wind and displaying a large, readable message, product, logo, or website. Curiosity sets in. “Who hired this plane to tote their message?” “Who is going to pay so much to get their message to the public?” or some wonder simply, “What does it say?” For up to seventeen seconds the people watching can repeatedly read the ad. The message has been delivered.
Environmentalists might balk at the air pollution caused by the plane as it delivers the message. Yet, consider the amount of landfill that results from discarded printed matter, or visual pollution from the plethora of billboards blocking the landscape!
Companies interested in reaching a large number of people in a short period of time with their product or service should consider looking into aerial advertising as a means to this end.
