Billboard Analysis

What is a billboard? 


A billboard or a hoarding is a large outdoor advertising structure. They often are found in high traffic areas such as a motorway or highly populated cities or towns. Billboards are in place to present large advertisements to passing pedestrian’s or drivers. There will often be large and witty slogans with distinctive visuals. Billboards will be highly visible in the top designated market areas. Bulletins are the most impactful form of advertising, they easily visible due to the size.

Posters are another common form of billboard advertising. Posters can be described as a smaller format than bulletins and are seen mainly by residents and small amounts of commuter traffic; also with some pedestrian exposure. 

What is the AIDA Principle?

The AIDA principle can be broken down into 4 sections to make it easier to understand.

Attention: A billboard needs to draw the potential customers; it should grab its audience’s attention.

Interest: It then needs to be interesting to the audience.

Desire: The audience should then have a desire to want the product or service.

Action: What action is being taken by the company to give the product or service to its audience?

AIDA Principle in terms of my product?

My billboard will firstly grab its audience’s attention due to the bright colours that I have used. The vibrant colours stand out and will hopefully draw in people that are passing by. I then had to make my product interesting. I have done this by having a background to my picture. At first look it may just look like bright colourful trees and bushes in m y billboard; but when you look deeper you can see the hidden castle amongst the trees.

Desire; I need to make people want my product; I have done this by my authoritative slogan.  ‘Look deeper and find the hidden beauty of Surrey!’ Its telling my audience to do something, it also links to the picture due to the fact that it you are looking deep into the picture you can see much more than just the beautiful colourful trees and bushes.

The final stage of the principle that I had to follow was by grasping my audience’s attention. I have done this by putting an image of my magazine front cover in the bottom right hand corner. By doing this it means my target audience know exactly what they are looking for when they enter a store in search of “SURREY LIVING’.  

For my ancillary project I will be creating a billboard. A billboard is a form of advertisement. Billboards are displayed in highly populated areas. I will be looking at billboards and analysing them so I can use the similar codes and conventions. 

How has AIDA been applied to the NIKE billboard? 

This image is interesting and can grab the attention of its audience by the dark background that has been used with a silver image and white writing that will stand out. This makes it an interesting image as not many billboards use such a basic background.

NIKES slogan on all of their products is ‘JUST DO IT”.  On this billboard they have written ‘JUST OPEN IN’, this interesting and will draw in the attention, and gains the desire of people who want to know more. Due to desire people will then take action! 

The image will be large, often covering all or the majority of the billboard and it is enough to catch the eye of a passer by in the few seconds enough so, so that they can remember it enough to promote it.

The company that is advertised will also have their logo so that someone in a short space of time easily identifies it as that company.

As you can see, Pepsi have positioned their logo cleverly so that people can quickly recognize it. This recognition is vital; by people seeing Pepsi’s logo over and over means that they are then able to quickly identify it in different situations and scenarios.

How has AIDA been applied to the PEPSI billboard? 

Even though this advert only uses 3 colours it is very bright and grabs the attention of an audience. The lips with a blue bottom lip make it very interesting to its audience. The ice cold drink gives a desire to make people want the drink. It has the PEPSI symbol on the billboard that makes the audience know exactly what it is so action can be taken. 

Sometimes the whole product will be used to create the billboard. The post that this billboard has been positioned on has been used to create the image. As you can see the pole has been used as the  bottom line of the periscope. The image is very simple but affective, it has an easy and clear message to understand; and this message will be portrayed in the few seconds of someone passing by. 

Can you spot how AIDA has been applied to the NAVAL MUSEUM OF ALBERTA billboard? 

Here is an image of time square in the evening. America is massive on advertisement and gain a large amount of custom through doing so.