Today’s Rate This Ad column reviews a Starbucks ad which was placed programmatically with Lamar Advertising on Vistar’s platform. See comments by Ian Dallimore, Lamar Advertising VP of Digital Growth and GM of Programmatic at end. Programmatic creative can’t always be evaluated with the same rules as directional creative.
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 30 years of experience in outdoor advertising design. Insider has used and endorses Callaham’s services.
Starbucks Cold Brew
Rating: 3 (average)
- This billboard does an okay job of informing the target audience that Starbucks has Nitro Brew. However, it’s a little more challenging that it needs to be due to the size of the text.
- There’s the name of the product large enough to read in the photo, so it may not be necessary to include it in the copy.
- I’m perplexed by the odd spacing to the left of the logo and the right of the product; there’s a sense of imbalance that makes the ad “lean” to the right. For those reasons, the board earns a 3 (average).
If given the opportunity, I would have encouraged the advertiser to run the ad below. The text is large enough to read quickly and easily, with a little pause before the last word for emphasis. The copy and photo are more balanced. And the logo is larger. I also seized a wasted opportunity by adding a vague directional as enticement in the large empty white space in the lower left. As ubiquitous as Starbucks locations are, there’s just got to be one ahead.
Lamar’s Ian Dallimore had these comments after reading this post.
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