“Billboard advertising appears to be well suited to engage the less fortunate, providing productive pathway for the conveyance of helpful, supportive details, yielding healthier populations, enhanced opportunities and better communities.” That’s the conclusion of a 2017 white paper by the James K Elrod, CEO at Willis-Knighton Health systems and John L. Fortenberry, professor at Louisiana State University. Willis-Knighton Health systems has used billboards since the 1970’s and currently rents 28 billboards in Shreveport, Louisiana.
The authors give several reasons for the effectiveness of billboards in communicating with low-income and disadvantaged individuals:
- An increase in miles travelled means that billboards are getting more impressions.
- Billboards can’t be screened by adblocking technology.
- Billboards are cost-effective with the lowest cpm of the major media categories.
- There is a greater density of billboards in dense urban areas which have higher concentrations of poor and disadvantaged people.
- Poor people tend to use public transit routes which travel on high traffic roads with lots of billboards.
- Receptivity to billboard messages increases as income and education levels decline.
Insider’s take: Billboards are a great way for hospitals to communicate with disadvantaged at-risk clients. You should forward this white paper to your hospital prospects especially if they operate in urban areas.
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You might want to know what the Huntsville Alabama area Huntsville Hospital System has done with billboards. I did contact a friend with their board and pointed out they might want to look at a program and could actually use some of their properties to be signage locations. I asked for a private conversation with the management for this purpose. The Hospital instead bought signs and sites and operates in the public space, paying no taxes because it is a “Not for Profit” entity. It also sells spare as space to other entities competing with the private sector, tax free.
It has taken on a regional mission at this time and has bought hospitals in Decatur, Athens, and Hartselle. It has also worked in the political sphere to block private hospitals from building a competing hospital in the area. This is an industry trend you should be aware of.
Your respectful correspondent in Huntsville.
Cory Brown w/ Cat Bird Media.