Rate This Ad allows a billboard designer to rate a random piece of billboard artwork using the following scale: 1 (not good), 2 (below average), 3 (average), 4 (very good), 5 (great). Then the designer talks about what they may have done differently for outdoor advertising. This week’s rating is provided by Greg Callaham www.gregcallaham.com) who has over 30 years of experience in outdoor advertising design. Insider has used and endorses Callaham’s services.

Jimmy Johns

Rating: 3 (average)

• The ad shown here is about what one might expect from a big corporation that builds their ads to all look the same.
• Sure, there’s the hero shot of the sandwich, the large directional, the logo, the required slogan, and the required web address. But if copy on a billboard is too small to read, it should not be on the billboard.
• The photo is mouthwatering and worth a thousand words; let it do its job.
• Don’t make the directional difficult to read by stacking it in different sizes; make it easy to read so the target audience can find that sandwich.
• The tag line is a distraction; delete it so the ad can make the target audience hungry and inform them as to where they can satisfy that hunger.
• If the web site is going to be that small, delete it. Most importantly, give the viewers a target to hit when they follow the directional; make the logo bigger and easy to identify.
• This ad earns a 3 (average).

As always, I do not know the details of the art request or components of the campaign this ad may or may not have been part of. But looking at this challenge with the eye of an OOH graphic designer and through the lens of the target audience, I would have urged the advertiser to run the ad pictured below to promote the same or a similar message: