Aerial Advertising - The Most Memorable Means of Mass Advertising
Advertising is usually a big budget item for many businesses. Most agree that word-of-mouth is the most effective method but it takes time to build up a good foundation of happy customers.
This is the reason why many target their local community with high cost radio and television ads. The price of the ad is determined through the use of polls which estimate the number of people watching. However, these numbers can often be inflated due to channel surfing during breaks in a program. If it’s actually read, printed advertisements put a coupon or offer right in the prospect’s hand. Also, internet advertising is growing in popularity but some find it difficult to target the audience they are aiming for.
One innovative idea which has soared in popularity in high density population areas is aerial advertising. Here’s how it works. A firm is hired to make a large banner displaying a product or service message. They then fly over the area where many people are congregating, pulling the banner behind the plane. This works best when the sky is open, as at a beach, sporting event, concert, or parade. People look up at this distraction, read the ad and remember the product or service. Sound expensive? Actually aerial advertising is more cost effective than one might think.
For much less cost than other traditional advertising methods, aerial advertisers claim that their method reaches more people in a more effective way. Here’s an example: One beach in Miami was advertised to and then, 30 minutes later, 2000 people were surveyed. The survey showed that 88% knew the ad had flown by, 79% recalled what the subject, and 67% could recall at least half of the exact message. Anyone would be hard pressed to say that printed ads, radio or TV could match that effectiveness at just five dollars per thousand people targeted. Those spending significant amounts of their budget on traditional advertising would do well to consider that they can reach as many people with less than half that budget using aerial advertising.
The noise of the plane overhead attracts the attention of the crowd and they look up. There, behind the plane, is a banner flapping in the wind and displaying a large, readable message, product, logo, or website. This naturally raises their curiosity and they want to know what it’s all about. As the banner passes overhead, they are able to read it several times. Just the uniqueness of the delivery causes many to remember the product because it stands out from everything else that is fighting for their attention.
Concerns of air pollution caused by the plane can be put aside as this is much less than the amount of waste produced by discarded print advertisements reaching the same number of people. Comparatively, aerial advertising is much less invasive.
Those interested in a cost effective means of making their product or service known in a specific local area would do well to consider aerial advertising.
