Know-How Exchange : Advertising/PR

While I like the overall layout, I think you need to do a quick study of how long people/drivers might be able to look at your signage as they drive forty feet below it.

One comment is that your eyes will need to move around a bit to pick up the two most important pieces of information URL and the telephone number.

Quick without looking what is the telephone number? See what I mean. I think if you could figure out a way to have both the telephone number and the URL in the same blue on white, you would likely make a more memorable statement, since hopefully you want people to call the number and to build the brand.

Maybe a funner way to do the billboard is to have a handsome man with his head wrapped in a towel on the opposite right side with his statement being "ask us about and the phone number" I don't think you need the sales, service and installation. Thats great for the side of a panel delivery van but doesn't do much for a billboard.

thems my thoughts and you are welcome to them

best regards
Phil

I looked at it for exactly the same amount of time I'll see it on the road, without killing myself in the process...
So all I remember is this:


1. There's a face on the left, hmmmmm, kind of good looking
2. There's something written in the middle, but it was too long, damn, I didn't have enough time to read it...
3. Oh, there's a phone number on the right, wait,wait, wait, where's my damn pen, ouch, we just passed the bilboard.

Maybe next time...

So I'm driving down the road and see the billboard for 2-3 seconds. What do I see?

I see the smiling woman.
I see the copy ("Never run out of hot water again").
I see the web address.

I may see the rest, but I certainly can't remember it all, and won't pull over to write it down. The web address is memorable, which makes it possible for it to "stick".

What I don't see is someone's pain overcome. For example, if the woman is frowning and still has shampoo in her hair, I'm thinking her shower ended abruptly -- no hot water. Oh, I hate when that happens. How can I make sure it doesn't happen to me?

That's the emotional "hook". Still another question comes up -- how much will this cost. Perhaps a tankless water heater is proven to pay for itself in a year's time because the latest heaters are so efficient and don't require fancy plumbing to install, etc. Add the cost factor to your copy (if you can justify it)

"Never run out of hot water again
(and save $$$ on your water bill)!"

The tankless water heater is your solution to the problem, but I wouldn't use the billboard real estate to tell them about it (and certainly I wouldn't have the text size compete with the text for the main copy). You want to quickly target, identify the pain/problem, and show you've got the solution. Then contact you for the answer.

Hi Shelley,

I'm going to keep it real simple.


I Like.........
Your guts and determination

Your passion to try something new

The color's, the bold words in the center

When I'm reading billboards as I'm driving down the highway I just like it when the designers are keeping it simple.


Dislike.............
I think there are to many words on the blue right side which makes me fight between which side to look at first.


Food for thought...

THE INNER VOICE SPEAKS IN COMMAND MODE & ON TOP OF THAT ---POSITIVE COMMAND--- MODE VOICE...
How many times have you reached for a glass of water and you thought in less than a split second ---don't knock that over---and what do you end up doing? Sure enough you knock it over and you watch the glass of water slip out of your hands and head crashing towards the floor as everything moves in slow motion all around you but your hands just don't move fast enough to grasp the glass as it slides out of your hands. Shelley I've been told that the human mind tends to have trouble trying to think negative so it's my understanding that when we use words that are negative our mind tends to block them out. For example if we tell a child not to do something they are almost programmed (or motivated) to do it. So as a rule if we want people to do something we really want them to do.... use a positive command voice and this tends to motivate most of the people better than telling them not to do something because we indirectly promote the opposite of what we are saying. So in all reality you're telling people ---Run Out of Hot Water again!--- So technically if I were you I'd tell them what you want them to do since the human mind operates in positive command mode. Another way to think about it is the human mind awaits for a command voice that gives instructions. It's a proven fact that when they began to put the parental advisory Explict Content stickers on Gangster Rap music in the early nineties it sold more music than it did before they labled it as something your parents listen to first. https://www.google.com/search?sourceid=gmail&q=Parental%20Advisory In other words the sticker was driving home a point and that is that "Kids shouldn't listen to this without the parents advising them or without parental consent". The label sent a dual signal that one kids shouldn't listen to this and that two parents should be alarmed when seeing this sticker on their kids CD's.

Some of the most powerful campaigns the world has ever seen were the ones where we were told to do something. "Just Do It"

Here's some samples of what might have good pulling power and I'm in no way telling you that what I've written here Shelley will work for you. However this may stimulate some new phrases or word links that work in the mind.

Get a TANKLESS water heater because hot water never felt so good.

Go Tankless because hot water never felt so-o-ooo good!

Go Tankless because hot water never felt so good and lasted so long!


She'll feel so good when you go Tankless because you never run out of hotwater.

He'll feel so good when you go Tankless because you never run out of hotwater.


Drop it like it's hot!
...Get rid of your old water heater and go Tankless.


Just Get It! The Tankless water heater.


Don't you wish you had a Tankless


(The last idea above builds on the implied thought that you're probably missing something because you don't have a tankless.)

Hey Shelley I'm not expecting you to agree with everything that I've put into this but you asked me to share my opinion and here it is. If you'd like to have me share more thoughts feel free to share your ideas and I'll be happy to respond. REMEMBER... our only real problem in life is our failure to be "MORE Creative" than we’ve ever been. If you “Invent” your opportunity YOU WILL most definitely create your future. I'm only an email away from you if you need further guidance, direction or you'd just like to talk more about it. You see I love it when my customers are happy. Is there anything else I can do for you?

Your Servant,

Lovingly Deremiah *CPE (Customer Passion Evangelist)

PS
I hope this makes sense
I was going to take a shower
and get under the hot water.

...I wish I had a tankless (smile)

Hi Shelley

great suggestions from experts. my 2 cents from Bangladesh....

the "woman" is a great attraction as well as a distraction in its current position. since people tend to read things from left to right, with your woman placed on the left the information will most likely to be overlooked while one is passing in a car. even if the car is crawling, more time will be spent on seeing the "woman" than on reading the information.

so my suggestions are....
1. to place the women on the right side in the white background

2. put the following on the left side
a. Never Get Out of Hot Water Again, Get a Tankless Heater (i have merged these 2 lines)
b. URL
c. phone number

3. to have the background color combinations in mirror image order, i mean the blue background to be on the left side on which the information will be, while the woman on the white background on the right side.

i would also like to have the woman have some expression regarding the hot water issue, currently her face can be used in any ad, be if towel, bathroom fittings to tiles, to bathrobes. i disagree to your clients apprehension of negative impression, rather its more realistic.

lastly, unless there is mandatory size restrictions of License # font size, you can have that placed at the bottom left corner to maintain your regolatory obligation.

hope this helps..

cheers!!

I once read that a true test for a good billboard is that you should be able to read it while you are driving straight into the morning sun, driving 70 mph while eating a breakfast burrito. An easier way to do this at your desk is to give it the "squint" test -- if you can't read it through your eyelashes, it needs work. So...

Use fewer words: "Never run out of hot water -- get a tankless heater!" Remove "Sales Service Installation" - that's a given.

Readibility: Use only two colors for type, not four. Use sans seriff type - it's cleaner and easier to read in a hurry.

Good luck!

What I see is not necessarily bad. My only question is how well known are you in the community? If well known, then less is more. Whichever, list your 'Company Name' at the top! You want everyone to know who you are 'your name'. Nobody cares if you have a website, but make sure you come up if someone does a google search.
Please use the same FONT. Mixing fonts confuses the brain. The font on the right side is good. Try using the same font in CAPS for the center text. Try with and without a stroke to get the look & feel that works for you. Put your company name to the top of the page and have the 'slogan' rest on the the woman's hand! Bottom line - I don't feel that a billboard is the best way to utilize advertising dollars. Personally, I would look for another way to put my marketing dollars to work. Good Luck!

A lot of ideas to consider in the posts above.

I would have said something like : Ask us how you can save money(energy savings) and feel good(better and longer showers) with the tankless water heater.

Also, I would feel better if there were a call to action in the message.
eg. The first 'n' qualified customers get a free GPS device.

I am definitely not a designer, so my comments are limited strictly to the overall advertising concept.

You've heard it already: Too much going on, too many words, not a clear call to action that people can remember.

And my recollection of your 8-word rule for outdoor is that it's a 3-word rule. Eight words is a paragraph when it comes to outdoor advertising. Find a way to let the graphic tell your story, then 3 words to state the benefit, then a URL that people can remember if they are grabbed by the benefit.

Is it a challenge? Yep. But the best outdoor ads have a great graphic and no more than 3 words. Forget the phone number; nobody is going to write it down or remember it (unless it's 800-HOT-WATER).

Shelley,
I am ALSO not a graphic artist.


How about a glass shower stall. Steamed up with a woman inside (silhouette) and

URL written in the steamed glass?

Above stall can say "Cold shower today??"

Michael