Do your viewers have billboard ad fatigue?
Have you ever said a word so many times that it starts to sound funny? Almost like you forget the meaning of the word. Our brains are incredibly complex and sometimes mysterious. Imagine seeing the same image over and over like an advertiser’s ad on a static or digital billboard. After seeing the same ad for more than 2 months, viewers get immune to it. They see it but have begun mentally ignoring it because it has become stale and repetitive. This is billboard ad fatigue or creative fatigue.
Billboard ad fatigue is a little harder to address on static billboards, as art and production costs need to be addressed with the client. It’s best to set a plan in the beginning stages of the agreement. However, with digital billboards and screens, this can quite easily be addressed. As most advertisers know they can easily change their creative and at little or no cost. Consider setting up a schedule with your advertiser so the account executive, designer, and advertiser are all on the same page.
How to combat billboard ad fatigue
• For digital billboard clients, send out monthly reminders for them to update their ads. See related article: Billboard Reminders = Client Renewals
• Give the advertiser ideas on what to change their creative to. See related article: 100 Billboard Ad Ideas
• A quick and easy way to change the appearance of an ad is to take the existing ad and change the colors, photos/graphics, fonts, etc. If there is a photo on the left, move it to the right. Just re-arranging an ad can give it a fresh new look.
• Move the advertiser’s billboard to a new location. This will get a fresh set of eyes on the billboard.
