Rate This Board 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 uses and endorses Callaham’s services.

Chicken Salad Chick

Rating: 3 (Average)

• The concept of this board is a terrific idea. It draws attention to a particular restaurant, potentially boosting sales during these trying times. It also intrigues competing restaurants to contact the outdoor company to find out how they can get a turn in the spotlight. Kudos to whoever came up with this!
• The design features a prominent headline, an explanatory subhead, and a “donut hole” for the advertiser to create/increase awareness.
• From the perspective of the outdoor company, mission accomplished, and that earns a 3 (average).

However, the marketer in me demands I also look at this from the customer’s perspective. When I do, I see room to make changes to benefit the customer and build local good will for the outdoor company, aka, long-term sales.

• Drop the branding elements for the OOH vendor; they take up valuable ad space and compete with the advertiser’s logo.
• Lose the spotlight artwork for the same reason. You can create the impression of a spotlight with color because you’ve already used the word “spotlight” in the headline.
• Rearrange the subhead so it does not intrude into the area for the advertiser logo. Afterall, this is the hero shot of the ad elements, so treat it like a hero.
• Make the headline and subhead larger and make the character-rich subhead upper- and lowercase for improved legibility.
• Finally, the advertiser should have one piece of contact info. Now, the advertiser (and prospects) see the OOH company as a more altruistic business partner while the target audience reads the ad easily and knows they can get something to eat at the advertiser’s nearest location. Win, win, win. Given the opportunity, I would have posted the layout below.

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