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Blog Maximize your travel and tourism campaign with billboard and out-of-home advertising

Maximize your travel and tourism campaign with billboard and out-of-home advertising

April 9, 2024 Kayla Caticchio

Spring is here – which means summer travel is on the horizon for many of us in the Northern Hemisphere. For advertisers, it’s time to gear up campaigns aimed at targeting crowds set to depart on fun-filled travel adventures.

According to the first UNWTO World Tourism Barometer of the year, by the end of 2023, the number of people travelling internationally rose to 88% compared to pre-pandemic rates, with an estimated 1.3 billion international arrivals. The travel industry expects a full recovery by the end of 2024.

Despite the pressure of inflation, a recent study by Hilton reveals that consumers plan to spend more on travel in 2024. Kevin Jacobs, Chief Financial Officer and President of Global Development at Hilton, says, “Even with ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty, travel demand has remained strong as consumers continue to prioritize the value of experiences and connections over things.”

Digital out-of-home (DOOH) and billboard advertising enable travel and tourism brands to elevate their advertising campaigns, targeting key demographics and initiating contextually relevant dynamic campaigns that adapt to audiences on the move. Here are some effective ways advertisers can leverage the medium in their upcoming summer campaigns. 

Think outside the airport

Airports present many opportunities to engage audiences in a high-dwell time environment that ranks high for perceived brand value compared to other media channels. While they’re a great way to reach travellers in a purchasing mindset, they shouldn’t be the only location you consider when planning your campaign. 

With OOH, advertisers have the unique opportunity to capture the attention of audiences dreaming of being elsewhere. This can mean activating OOH ads in subway and train stations, roadside billboards and bus shelters during commuting hours. These ad placements are sure to catch the attention of workers on their way to the office who are already considering where to spend their time off. 

Billboards and OOH advertising around university and college campuses are a great way to market to summer break-bound students where they live, study, work, and play. The advertising opportunities on campus are endless, from DOOH screens in high-traffic areas to campus transit and street furniture, allowing brands to create impactful campaigns that promote summer travel, enticing students with exciting destinations, special offers, and memorable experiences.

A new survey from Nationwide Travel Insurance reveals that 91% of Americans plan to travel domestically this year, with 60% saying they will likely make the trip by car. With this in mind, there’s never been a better time to consider roadside advertising, like billboards, to boost brand awareness and inspire travellers. For example, local attractions like amusement parks, restaurants, or entertainment venues can use billboards strategically placed near highways to capture the attention of passing motorists and promote unique experiences available in their vicinity.

Drive audiences online

The insights from Hilton’s global traveller survey underscore the importance of online booking convenience, with 80% of respondents emphasizing the need for seamless digital booking experiences. Real-world OOH ads can capture consumers’ attention and guide them toward taking action online, like visiting a company’s website or social media pages, reaching out to a travel advisor, or making reservations through a third-party platform.

For example, a hotel chain looking to promote its loyalty program could activate OOH ads strategically placed in key tourist locations or near business districts, featuring benefits like discounted room rates, complimentary amenities, and personalized offers. By prompting consumers with compelling visuals and clear calls to action, these OOH ads can drive traffic to the hotel’s website or mobile app, encouraging travellers to explore and book accommodations online.

Through mobile retargeting strategies, advertisers can target individuals exposed to out-of-home ads by geofencing relevant locations, effectively reconnecting with these audiences through mobile devices or other online platforms later. 

Leverage programmatic DOOH for greater, more contextual impact

Programmatic digital out-of-home (pDOOH) allows advertisers to connect with audiences in real-time with contextually relevant content, helping drive brand awareness and purchasing decisions through engaging displays.

Through pDOOH capabilities like data triggers, advertisers can engage with audiences based on location, weather, time of day, current events, financial data, and more. Using weather-based triggers, for example, a tourism board can promote indoor attractions like museums, art galleries, or shopping centers to tourists during a rainy day. Alternatively, they can highlight outdoor activities like beach outings or boat tours on sunny days. 

An airline advertising international flights can customize promotions using financial triggers based on currency exchange rates. Suppose the exchange rate of the destination’s currency is particularly favourable against major currencies like the US Dollar (USD) or Euro (EUR). In that case, the airline can run promotional campaigns targeting travellers from countries where their currency has a stronger purchasing power, highlighting discounted fares or special offers on flights to these destinations.

By leveraging platforms like digital billboards and transit advertising, advertisers can engage with audiences in high-traffic areas, capitalize on seasonal travel trends, and create memorable brand experiences that resonate with travellers. The ability to deliver contextually relevant messages, adapt campaigns based on real-time data triggers, and target key demographics makes OOH a valuable tool for advertisers looking to maximize their reach and influence during the summer travel season.

Interested in getting started with programmatic DOOH this travel season?

Explore curated audiences in our Travel & Tourism package here !

Kayla Caticchio

Content Marketing Manager

Kayla has been a part of Broadsign’s marketing team since 2021, where she specializes in creating content on all things OOH, DOOH, and pDOOH. She spends her free time reading and trying new restaurants.

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Everything You Need to Know About Billboard Advertising

Read about billboard advertising, the cost of billboard advertising, and how to design a billboard that connects with your audience

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Updated: 04/26/23

Published: 04/26/23

Whether you're commuting by car, bus, or train you may find yourself watching the world — and billboard advertising — go by.

Some billboards can be very entertaining. And according to 2023 research, 49% of adult consumers notice billboard ads more than they did just one year ago.

Billboard advertising isn’t your typical inbound marketing strategy. But it can be a powerful way to build brand awareness and attract customers. It can also work to strengthen other marketing efforts such as blogging, online lead offers, or SEO.

Keep reading to learn more, or jump ahead to the topic you're looking for:

Billboard Advertising

Billboard advertising statistics, billboard advertising cost, billboard design tips and examples.

Billboard advertising is the process of using a large-scale digital or print ad to market a company, brand, product, service, or campaign.

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Billboards are typically placed in high-traffic areas, such as along highways and in cities. This helps make sure that they're seen by the highest number of drivers and pedestrians.

And billboards fall under the category of out-of-home (OOH) advertising. Out-of-home ads can include billboards, bus shelters, wallscapes , and posters.

Billboard advertising is effective for building brand awareness. This is because it broadcasts your business (or product or campaign) to as many people as possible. Because they’re in such busy areas, billboards tend to have the highest number of views and impressions when compared to other marketing methods.

Does billboard advertising work?

Until 3D digital billboards started going viral, many people were thinking that billboard advertising was a dated strategy.

But while billboards are sometimes criticized for being disruptive , they're also quite effective.

While billboard rental costs can be higher than digital advertising, there are many benefits to this type of marketing. In fact, the scale of the audience alone can create a big boost in brand awareness. How big a boost? Let's go over some statistics.

Almost 82% of viewers can recall a digital out-of-home ad they saw over a month ago.

2022 Statista data shows that 32% of respondents like billboards, and 9% like them a lot. In comparison, a different Statista survey shows that online ads annoy 41% of respondents.

And research from OOH Today says that out-of-home ads show much higher recall for consumers than:

• Live and streaming television
• Podcasts and radio

These incredible numbers may be why top brands are increasing their OOH advertising spending.

The Out of Home Advertising Association of America data says that 79% of the top 100 advertisers increased their spending in 2021. Of those, 32% doubled their spending. 27% of the top out-of-home advertisers are technology or D2C brands.

Another important area of billboard statistics is the increase in digital billboard advertising. Per 2021 Statista data, there are 350,000 billboards in the United States. Of those, 9,600 are digital billboards.

And consumers who see digital billboard advertising often take action. According to 2020 Statista research, 35% of respondents visit a website or search online after seeing a digital billboard. And 20% recommend that product or brand.

Plus a 2023 Azoth Analytics report says that the global digital billboards market was worth over $18.5 billion in 2021. The report expects this figure to grow by 7% in the next five years, an increase of more than $1.2 billion .

The cost of billboard advertising depends on many factors. These include:

• Billboard location
• Total traffic in the area
• Estimated numbers of how many people will see your advertisement

Billboard advertising costs are typically charged monthly. They can range anywhere from $250 on a rural highway to upwards of $50,000 in Times Square. The average cost runs around $850 for four weeks.

Digital billboard costs start at a slightly higher price point. While some can charge as little as $10 per day, the average cost of a four-week campaign is $2,100 .

As mentioned above, billboard advertising is out-of-home (OOH) advertising. This is any advertising that reaches consumers when they’re outside their homes.

Each OOH advertising opportunity gets an OOH rating. This rating ultimately determines its value and cost to advertisers.

Geopath is a nonprofit organization that gives OOH ratings. To do this, it uses technology and media research to estimate the weekly impressions of every billboard in the country.

Then, OOH advertising companies, like the companies that own the billboard spaces, pay Geopath for this data. Then they share this data with potential advertisers.

According to Geopath, there are up to 10 determining factors that make up an OOH rating and, therefore, the cost of each billboard advertising opportunity.

Here are the three main factors:

Circulation

This is the total number of people who pass by the billboard each week. Local transportation authorities collect and share this information.

Demographics

This refers to the age, gender, income level, and other characteristics of the traffic that passes the billboard. Geopath collects this information from travel surveys and local transportation authorities.

Impressions

This is the number of people who see the billboard. This information is calculated based on many factors including:

• The billboard’s circulation
• Billboard size
• How close it is to the road
• Billboard visibility
• Traffic speed beside the billboard

But the cost of billboard advertising doesn’t stop with "renting" ad space. You must also consider the cost of designing the billboard as well as printing and construction. Depending on what kind of billboard you want to create, this could cost anywhere from $2,000 to $100,000 .

This cost won’t apply to every billboard, but is something to consider if you want to get creative with your billboard .

If you outsource your billboard design, these fees start at $150 but will go up depending on the agency or designer you choose. The complexity of your desired design matters too. For example, if you plan to create a 30-second 3D animation for your digital billboard advertising, these costs could start as high as $1,000 per hour .

Billboard Advertising ROI

While digital billboard advertising is clearly a popular choice, it's also expensive. But 2022 data shows that digital billboards deliver a 38% ROI . Traditional billboards also have good ROI, with a 40% return on investment.

Note : If you plan to run a digital billboard campaign to direct traffic to your website, this ROI calculator can help you figure out what to spend.

Billboard advertising ROI may be lower than other forms of content marketing . That said, one of the most powerful reasons to advertise with a billboard is brand recognition. If that's your focus you may want to measure ROAS (return on ad spend) instead.

Whether you're looking for a 3:1 or 5:1 return on your investment in billboard advertising, you'll need to do your research before committing.

Then, make a plan to create and measure your billboard campaign for effectiveness. For example, adding a CTA with a unique URL to your billboard ad can help you track conversions.

The billboard design tips below can also help you create a billboard with strong ROI.

If you’re going to invest in billboard advertising for millions to see, you want it to do its job. Here are a handful of billboard design tips and examples that’ll make sure your billboard is effective and eye-catching.

Tell a (short) story.

Successful billboards take viewers on a journey. Most billboard designs tell this story with imagery and maybe some text. In fact, most drivers stop reading after a few words. Use your billboard to show the essence of an idea or campaign rather than describing it with text.

Apple’s iPhone challenges gather stunning images from iPhone users that highlight the photography features of the product. At the same time, they also add inspiration to public billboards.

Image Source

A story doesn’t have to be complex to be exciting. This 3D digital billboard example from BMW tells the story of their latest model heading out for a quick drive.

Make it bold and simple.

Drivers or passersby only have a few seconds to get a glimpse at your billboard advertisement. To reach the highest number of viewers (and potential customers), keep your billboard design simple. After all, some people may be blowing by your billboard at 70 mph. Use big, bold fonts against contrasting background colors and avoid narrow, script fonts.

Also, choose colors that stand out to viewers. If your billboard is in a rural area, avoid greens, blues, and browns.

The fun example below plays with the traditional billboard format to quickly draw attention and engagement.

This billboard example is just text and color, but it makes a bold and clear statement. If your message is the most important part of your billboard, use design decisions like font , layout , and color to draw attention to it.

Consider its location.

You may not have grown up in the neighborhood where you live, but you've probably lived there long enough to foster a certain sense of pride. So, when you wander by billboards that are authentic, you pay attention.

Well-designed billboards reflect their location. They take advantage of sports teams, nicknames, nuances, or inside jokes related to the area. This can make the billboard (and brand) much more impressionable to those who see it.

The popularity of the Shinjuku digital billboard in Tokyo, Japan makes it a hub for creative inventions like this example from Nike.

Mobile billboard advertising like the example below can be where your audience is at the times they need what you’re offering.

Some billboard advertising is temporary, but the local billboard below is now one of the icons of the city of Portland, OR. This article talks about the history of the Portland stag billboard and its origins as a sportswear brand advertisement.

Make it interactive.

Depending on your billboard's location, you may be able to design it so it interacts with its surrounding environment. This strategy makes your ad stick out among the noise. It grabs the attention of passersby.

The billboard from Intel and Genvid below is also an interactive game that viewers can play with their mobile devices.

Make it memorable.

OOH advertising to stand out from the hustle and bustle of a regular commute (or the monotony of a long road trip). Your billboard shouldn’t be any different.

Every billboard advertisement needs to tell a story or share a call-to-action in a way that’s interesting and memorable. Whether you call on humor, anger, empathy, or cleverness, use emotional marketing tactics in your billboard design to help with recall. Take a look at these examples of eye-catching, creative billboards .

It's easy for anyone to put up a billboard, and businesses aren't the only ones looking to advertise. Proud moms congratulating recent graduates , singles looking for a date , and fans trying to save streaming shows are competing for billboard attention too.

While some of these efforts may not be right for your brand, they bring smiles and news attention, and many of these local efforts end up going viral.

Looking for more inspiration? Check out these edible billboard examples .

Out of Home Advertising: The Marketing You Never Knew You Needed

Billboard advertising might not be your typical marketing strategy. But it’s a highly effective way to promote your products and boost your brand.

So, make the most of the tips and examples above to create an unforgettable billboard for your brand. And, who knows? Someone may look out the window during their next commute and see your billboard — and become a new customer.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in September 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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10 best travel ads that will make you book your next vacation in seconds

November 10, 2023

As the world recovers from the pandemic, travelers are keener than ever to find their next vacation spot. And the companies’ and countries’ tourist offices are wasting no time trying to attract as many visitors as possible to their destinations. 

To show you some of the true gems in travel advertising, we’ve put together a list of the 10 best travel marketing campaigns that will make you want to book your next holiday ASAP. Plus, a little background on tourism marketing.

So let’s dig in!

What is tourism marketing?

Tourism marketing refers to strategically promoting travel destinations, attractions, and services to potential visitors. As part of tourism marketing, companies from the various aspects of the tourism industry develop targeted marketing campaigns on various channels to spread compelling messages to attract tourists.

Each tourism campaign aims to increase awareness, generate interest, and ultimately drive visits from local and international visitors.

10 best tourism marketing campaigns

Here are the ten best tourism campaigns and ads:

1. Switzerland – Yodel Ay Hee Hoo

Is there a better way to promote the countryside than by inviting various people from a train station to spontaneously take a day off from work and enjoy the beautiful and peaceful Alps?

That’s exactly what the Switzerland tourist office did in one of their endearing tourism campaigns and sent the important message of how often we forget to take a step back to relax from our busy daily schedules. 

The creators made the travel ad even more authentic by live streaming from the Alps, with an elderly man inviting everyone from the Zurich train station to come join him. 

Intending to inspire travelers, this innovative approach caught daily commuters off guard and made them question whether to take a free daily ticket to the Alps or to continue their regular trip to work. 

2. Travel Oregon – Only Slightly Exaggerated 

Whether you’re watching an ad for the latest toothpaste or a fantastic new trip destination, they all have one thing in common – they exaggerate how great they are. 

Travel Oregon used this common motive in their “Only Slightly Exaggerated” tourism campaign to paint Oregon as a unique, dreamy, cartoon-like destination. 

The ad shows that Oregon mountains are more magical than anywhere else, rivers hide secrets never seen, and the streets offer entertainment like nowhere else. Just like in your childhood dreams! 

3. Iceland – OutHorse Your Emails

Being able to disconnect from work when on vacation is something that many of us struggle with these days. Luckily, Iceland found a perfect solution for the problem – outsourcing your emails to Icelandic horses. All you have to do for that is come to Iceland, and the rest will be taken care of.

This quirky ad is an amazing example of how creative and funny countries can get in attracting new tourists. 

4. Sweden – Spellbound

Have you heard of Dark Tourism? If you’re a fan of horror stories and mystic movies, then you certainly did! And you’ll absolutely love what Visit Sweden released this year as an attempt to attract a specific target audience with their unique tourist marketing campaign.

Their Spellbound campaign invites mystique lovers to Sweden to explore beautiful nature while enjoying the unique experience of listening to a chilling audio story. The campaign was set up so that a Spotify playlist would only become available to visitors once they came to a specific location. 

This way, they had to visit the location to get the unforgettable and scary experience. Who would’ve thought that horror stories could be such a great way to advertise a country?

5. Tourism Ireland – What Fills Your Heart?

You can never go wrong with a heartwarming tourist marketing campaign that celebrates good spirits, brings nostalgia, and connects people to the nature and the culture of one place. Tourism Ireland managed to do all that in one of their recent campaigns titled “What Fills Your Heart?”

In a series of ads with famous Irish actresses in the main roles, including Derry Girls and Sharon Horgan , the Irish tourist board told the story of Irish history, culture, and customs. 

Source: youtube.com

6. Vienna – What Does A Belly Do In Vienna?

There is no better place for a hungry and heartbroken belly to indulge in life’s beauties than Vienna. That’s the story Vienna’s tourist board told in their highly creative and surrealistic short film. 

As the belly walks through the streets of Vienna, trying to forget his dear human who didn’t treat him well, we get a glimpse of what tourists can see and enjoy during their next visit to the city. 

The creator’s unique approach to promoting Austria’s capital wins the creativity award and is an excellent magnet for new tourists. 

7. Only in Scotland – Why Scotland Needs You

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries struggled to attract tourists. People were concerned about their safety and if the location could provide memorable experiences despite numerous restrictions. 

At that time, Scotland released a beautiful ad showing why Scotland needs people while showing tourists why they’re the ones who actually need a holiday in this astonishing place. The ad is in the spirit of hope, serenity, and relaxation – everything people needed during the pandemic. 

8. KLM – Live Hologram Bar

Imagine spending hours at the airport talking to almost anyone in the world. You could learn about different cultures, what to visit in your next destination, or chat to make the time go by faster. 

In their 2019 marketing campaign, KLM placed hologram bars in airports around the world and allowed travelers from different parts of the world to connect and exchange their stories. Not a bad way to spend your time waiting for your next plane. 

9. Croatia Full of Life – Ode To Joy

What is a summer vacation in Croatia other than your own yearly ode to joy? 

This famous symbolic motif is what Croatian Tourist Board chose for the promotional campaign in 2012, and earned a prestigious travel industry ‘Oscars’ award, ‘Das Goldene Stadttor,’ at the International Tourism Film Festival. 

Beethoven’s inspiring music narrative, led by cellist Ana Rucner carries the video highlighting the rich cultural, historical, and natural heritage of Croatia as well as many Croatian beauties. 

10. Chicago Not in Chicago

In 2022, Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot announced the launch of the “Chicago Not in Chicago” campaign to show how Chicago has inspired many other iconic cities worldwide. 

This creative campaign featured city tour buses across major US cities where people got a tour of Chicago instead of the city they were visiting. And by first confusing and then entertaining the visitors, the campaign sent a powerful message that every city has a story – a Chicago story. 

Final thoughts

When it comes to travel marketing campaigns, the sky’s the limit. Countries and companies can use many different sources of inspiration to tell unique stories about a location or a travel service. 

And these travel marketing campaigns are a great example of how creativity combined with emotional appeal is a recipe for success. The only question remains: “In which of these locations did you book your next vacation?”

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Hospitality Billboard Advertising & Marketing

Powered by fliphound, 59 percent of motorists noticed a digital billboard ad in the past month nielson 2016 billboard study.

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Digital Billboards Invite the World to Your Door

Billboards have always played a role in promoting the hospitality industry. Thousands of resorts, hotels, airlines, tour companies and travel service providers use billboards and outdoor advertising, in addition to internet and print advertising, to connect with travelers and guests. Whether you’re offering travel packages, promoting loyalty programs, marketing a small hotel, resort, casino or conference center, or are a meeting and event planner, you’ve probably at least thought about billboards.

Digital billboards offer immediacy and flexibility that adds spice to whatever aspect of the hospitality market you’ve decided to promote. Want to promote your website? Perhaps you’d rather tell them about new guest rooms or new ownership or upgraded connectivity or target potential guests hoping to blend business and pleasure. Maybe you’re generating a little publicity by sponsoring a local charitable event. You can even use billboards to recruit staff. Whatever your message, with drivers spending up to 15 hours a week in their vehicles, billboards offer a premium way for travelers to see your message in a way they can’t ignore.

Sure, drivers may only see your message for a few seconds as they’re driving by. But, unlike many other industries, marketing for resorts and travel services relies on high-resolution images. A well-chosen image and a few words with impact and that’s all that’s necessary to get viewers minds off their commutes and thinking about places they’d rather be, whether it’s for a long weekend, a longer vacation (or local staycation), or just someplace away from the office for that next seminar or team-building exercise.

Digital Marketing Adds Color on People’s Dreams

While the average would-be traveler is much more likely today to rely on a Google search than on flipping through the pages of a magazine for information and ideas, digital billboards are already proving their worth. One of the best examples is with Atlantic City, where the casino and hotel owners have saturated the Atlantic City Expressway with both static and electronic billboards to reach the more than 66 million drivers who cover the route between there and New York every year. Depending on the property, the boards are used for everything from branding to highlighting the lineup for a casino’s nightly entertainment.

Casinos, with their hotels, conference centers, restaurants and other amenities, may represent the glitz and glam of the hospitality trade, but there’s nothing more wholesome than a vacation in northwoods Wisconsin. How does the Wisconsin Hotel & Lodging Association tell residents of the state’s largest cities about what it has to offer? Digital billboards, of course. The organization is so sold on the boards that it offers its own list of billboard locations, availabilities and prices to its members as part of its marketing package. Even if you don’t have an association that’s looking out for your marketing interests, Fliphound can help you put your name in lights, and in the best locations.

It’s a rare hotel, convention hall or conference center that doesn’t have its own full-color digital display out front to let the general public know what’s going on inside its walls, and give advertising time to those sponsoring the events. However, venues as large as the Colorado Convention Center and the Los Angeles County Fairplex take that a step further. Both offer digital billboards in the general community to publicize upcoming events and allow organizers to give free advertising to those giving their activities a boost with donations of time and money. Talk about telling the public who’s special! Purchase time through Fliphound, and you can do the same, without the cost and long-term contracts of other billboards.

Selling Experiences - One Customer at a Time

Hospitality has gone through some tough times as the economy has come back from the recession. Technology has changed some jobs within it, such as travel agencies. Whether you’re enjoying the glow of a stronger economy or still fighting to find your role in the marketplace, digital billboards from Fliphound can help you affordably target your audience. For instance travelers are looking for agents who can help them find the best deal or a hidden wonder. As a travel agent, you can capitalize on that in your advertisements.

Digital billboards from Fliphound can help you reach your intended audience. Whether your specialty is cheap trips for students or high-end golf vacations, there’s a billboard likely to reach your preferred demographic. People planning a vacation often want to be wowed by high-quality photos and graphics, which are ideal for digital billboards. And, don’t forget you’re selling an experience, not just a place. Choose photos that evoke the calm and relaxation of a beach, or the exhilaration of a ski slope.

Much of your product can be booked with the click of a mouse, so it’s important to target what sets you apart from other agencies and other facilities. Whether you’re close to family amenities, you have a world-class spa or you’re sensitive to the needs and budgets of both corner office execs and their entry level employees, billboards near your hotel or located near businesses can draw attention to your offerings. As one expert advises, “Don’t sell deals: sell experience.”

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With so much of today’s travel and conference advertising budgets tied up online, help yourself stand out from the crowd with digital billboards. Digital billboards (out-of-home advertising) are on 24/7, and can easily be utilized to direct people to your internet and social media campaigns. However, there’s also nothing like a high-quality photo or image to help get people thinking about that next vacation. At Fliphound, we offer easy-to-buy, easy-to-use billboards that catch the eyes and imaginations of commuters.

Fliphound’s online nationwide digital billboard network makes reaching your preferred clients easy, whether they’re business leaders, families or students, in your community, your state or across the country. Look through our inventory of independently owned digital billboards and decide where you’d like to advertise, then set your budget and design your ad. Whether you’re promoting a special event, a travel package, a new service or simply seeking to boost your overall brand, our digital billboards will let you show them what’s special about you and your business.

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It only takes a few minutes to get started on Fliphound. Look through our inventory of digital billboards and choose the site or sites that best reach your clientele. Determine your budget based on the length and frequency of your campaign. Then, design your ad and you're ready to go. You don't even need to enter your credit card until you're ready to buy. And, if you have questions about Fliphound or billboard advertising, don't hesitate to reach out .

Additionally, if you are new to outdoor advertising, we recommend checking out the following very helpful resources to learn more about hospitality billboard marketing and advertising:

British Airways’ ‘Magic’ Billboards Win Direct Grand Prix at Cannes

Mammoth Mountain Resort – The Top of California

Talk to a Billboard and Win a Swiss Mountain Vacation

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Travelling Billboard Advertising

Travelling advertising as the name implies means a marketing strategy executed by private and public entities tailored to attract travelers intending to visit a country for social or business purposes.

Ideally, this marketing approach is often practiced by firms such as travel agencies, airlines, tour guides, boat cruise companies, hotels and other business entities that offer services or products to travelers.

Travelling advertisement may otherwise be known as international tourism advertisement. It uses an array of marketing tactics to make their services appealing to their audience. Some of the major modes of travel advertising are mobile advertisement and truck advertisement.

Mobile Advertising

Mobile advertising is a medium of advertising through mobile devices such as mobile phones. In this form of advertisement, marketing is executed via text ads, social media, and websites banner advertisements.

Over the years, mobile advertisement has been the most used form of travel advertising. This is a result of technological evolution globally.

According to statista, there are over 5 billion internet users worldwide — and an average user spends up to 6 hours on the internet daily. This data further proves that half of the world population spend a chunk of their time on the internet— hence, making it the best medium to reach out to potential customers using traveling advertising.

For instance, hotels across major tourist centers have invested into connecting with potential customers via the internet. These hotels enlist their numerous services and hospitality advantages over other competitors— giving their customers an appealing picture of their services before booking. Other private firms such as travel agents, cruise companies and non governmental travel organizations make use of similar mediums to reach their ideal customers.

Truck Advertising

At some point in life, we’ve likely come across trucks/buses with wallpapers or motion graphics displaying an advertisement for a certain product or service— that is a typical example of truck advertising. Also, for the others who have not seen such mode of advertisement, here is a better definition.

Truck advertising is a method of mobile advertising that allows trucks display commercial advertisements on the body to convey product/service messages to potential customers.

Trucks are large vehicles and are often big enough to cover a large area of ground, magnifying the content attached to its body to a great number of people. Some companies use their trucks for advertising as well as transportation. There are also companies that lease out spaces of their trucks for advertisement.

This form of advertisement is common due to the countless number of locations a truck could drive to within a time frame. Additionally, truck advertisements give potential customers an intense connection to the displayed advertisement within a closer view unlike billboards. A typical example is Movia, a media platform that deals with billboard and truck advertising. The company specializes in moving canvas trucks to people a business is willing to reach. They convey the message to the designated demographic and geographical area. They may even move along specific routes to ensure numerous people get a sight of the displayed advertisement.

Travelling advertising is a form of marketing that pushes services of certain companies across borders. This mode of advertising is basically used to attract clients intending to visit a country for whatever purpose.

Bottom line, many advertisers including the private and public entities have similar objectives, which is to increase their revenue as well as popularize their products/services to travelers.

We’ve moved. Back40’s new address is 2513 S. Kelly Suite 120 Edmond, OK 73013

Billboard Advertising Statistics, Cost & Effectiveness

Billboard advertising statistics.

• Over 50% of people say they’ve been highly engaged by a billboard they’re seen in the last month. ( Source )
• 71% of people consciously look at billboards when driving. ( Source )
• Americans spend almost 300 hours in their cars each year. ( Source )
• There are currently 342,306 billboards in the US and almost 8,000 of these are digital billboards. ( Source )

Whether you’re commuting to work or taking a trip out of town, you’ll soon find yourself glancing at billboards along the way. If you’ve ever wondered how effective billboard advertising is, you’re not alone. For small- to medium-sized businesses working on a limited budget, the time people are in their cars is crucial. If done right, billboard advertising can be a powerful tool in attracting more customers.

Out Of Home Advertising

Today’s out of home (OOH) advertising offers more creative avenues when it comes to businesses getting out their message. OOH is highly adaptable and billboard advertising is just one aspect of its unlimited marketing potential. Billboard advertising utilizes large-scale print to market a company, brand, product, or campaign. Since billboards are placed in high traffic areas, it is an effective method of building brand awareness.

Who Would Benefit From Using Billboards

Businesses looking to generate more brand awareness or advertising specific store locations would work best using billboards. Billboards are usually located near high traffic areas such as highways and this location is perfect for local businesses to get their name out there. 

Be sure to consider if billboard advertising is right for your business. Ask yourself this: 

• Does your business meet the eight-second rule? The eight-second rule means people passing by can understand your message in eight seconds. If not, then billboard advertising might not be the best option. 
• Is your product relevant? A billboard will be displaying your product to a mass audience so if the product isn’t as relevant then you might not be able to make the impression you desire.

Billboard Statistics

Now that we’ve got some background on OOH advertising, let’s take a look at a few billboard advertising statistics to measure the effectiveness. According to the Arbitron National In-Car Study , 71% of people consciously look at billboards when driving. Despite the growing forms of transportation, Americans spend almost 300 hours each year in their cars. As for the return on investment, OOH advertising is more effective at driving online activity than TV ads according to Dashtwo .  These statistics just scratch the surface of how effective billboard advertising can be when promoting brands. In addition to increased exposure, billboard advertising can strengthen in inbound marketing such as blogging, SEO, or social media. 

For those looking for a more nontraditional route to outdoor advertising, then continue reading to learn about mobile billboard advertising!

Mobile billboard advertising statistics

Mobile billboards produce high value for companies big or small. Moving advertisements tend to be more memorable and a higher-level engagement with the advertisement itself. Due to its move-ability, mobile billboards narrow-cast down to a hyper-local level. According to statistics found on this site , mobile billboard ads found on trucks were noticed by 98% of people in the cars. Not to mention that The Outdoor Advertising Association calculated that each truck can generate 30,000 to 70,000 impressions per day. Location and routes are key when tracking where the target audience will resonate most with the ad. 

Demographics and location insights will aid in identifying the specific type of audience. In the end, not only will you reach high-frequency rates, but you will also create lasting impressions on your audience. A few other benefits of mobile billboard advertising would be: 

• Increased visibility at eye-level
• Flexible for short- or long-term campaigns
• Cost-effective and more control over the campaign 

While mobile billboards are nontraditional, that doesn’t make them any less effective. In fact, they are an exciting and engaging way to generate more word-of-mouth marketing. This is a media format that isn’t as common as stationary billboards, but it helps break through the noise of other advertisements.

How Much Does Billboard Advertising Cost?

Billboard advertising costs vary depending on format, demographics, and impressions. If you are considering the nontraditional route and are looking towards digital billboards, then you’ll find those costs to be significantly higher. Regardless of which route you choose, billboard advertising is an investment you need to be willing to make.

A Quick Look At Average Billboard Costs

Billboard prices vary depending on location and some cities within the United States can be costly. According to the statistics , Oklahoma City averaged $1,800 while Seattle Washington averaged around $4,000. 

As you begin to figure out the rental costs, you’ll then need to research design, installation, and additional fees that come with billboard advertising. 

• Design costs: If you choose to outsource your billboard design, the costs can range from $150 to $1000, depending on if you choose a freelancer or an agency. 
• Materials costs: Vinyl banner is a great material to use for physical billboards, and costs around $1 to $1.50 per square foot.

Installation cost: This information could be included in the rental rate, but depends on the provider.

How To Choose A Location

Location is everything when it comes to billboard advertising. Traffic speed, travel destination, and proximity of billboard to the road all influence the effectiveness of the billboard itself. Be sure to evaluate several locations and visit them before committing to billboard advertisement. Once that is done, find where your customer base is coming from and choose the location that will generate the most traffic to your brand, company, campaign. 

If you already have a location, take a look at the advertising company next time you visit or pass the sign. The company’s logo will usually be listed below the image on the billboard.

Competition and Production

As with any industry, there will always be competition. If you look into areas with lots of other nearby billboards, you might be able to find some good discounts. However, this means that you might have difficulty standing out amongst the others in that area. Competition drives price and billboard advertising not only costs money to rent, it also requires production costs.

Billboard Design Costs

Billboard size is one of the determinants of price when it comes to design costs. Visually, a bigger billboard is easier to see than smaller ones especially when placed near a highway. The standard billboard size is 14” by 48” and can give you unparalleled visibility, but costs can increase as you get into the designing aspect of your billboard-like lighting. If you want your billboard to be visible at night, then lighting is the way to go. Some examples of billboards that utilize lighting would be casinos, restaurants, and even some retail stores. Lighting also helps in gaining more impressions since they are easier to see at night. 

For someone looking for more insights on the concept of a billboard, it is important to note that the largest one available is termed as the ‘bulletin’. However, the size of the advertising region also depends on the location and business preferences. Typically, a standard billboard measures around 14 feet in height and 48 feet in width, in usual cases.

The Impact of External Factors On Billboard Advertising

Billboard advertising costs are affected by circulation, demographics, and impressions. 

• Circulation: Circulation estimates the number of people that are exposed to OOH advertising displays based on the traffic volume in a market.
• Demographics: Demographics are broken down by age, gender, and income level of those who pass a billboard. It is important to note that you might end up paying more to advertise to those with higher income levels. 

Impressions: Unless specified in-market, impressions include all people who notice the ad. Other factors like the size of the billboard, visibility, the speed at which people are passing play a part in this area as well.

Billboard Advertising: The Good & Bad

As mentioned before, billboards are an investment. This investment can be expensive or inflexible, however, the high exposure and targeted message can be beneficial to your return on investment. After understanding how much a billboard costs, we can compare the pros and cons of billboard advertising. 

• Chance of larger exposure
• Cost-effective in terms of impressions
• Location targeting
• Simple messages
• Not as flexible/ immovable
• The time period for exposure is short-lived
• Measuring effectiveness can be more difficult

Traditional vs Digital Billboard Advertising

Both formats have clear advantages when it comes to billboard advertising. Whether you are wanting a stationary or dynamic billboard, it all comes down to what would work best for your company or campaign.

Traditional

• Less expensive
• More inventory 
• Avoid technical issues

Traditional billboards allow for more exclusivity, meaning your display will be hard to go unnoticed. Unlike digital billboards, static ones make up the majority of OOH advertising and outdoor space which makes them more readily available. There’s always room for creativity and with traditional billboards, you won’t be limited to specific dimensions. 

• Utilize dynamic ads which makes them more effective
• Advanced targeting options 
• More flexible with updates and optimization

Digital billboards work best for those looking to increase their engagement. Since these are more dynamic in nature, the motion draws more attention to those passing by. Digital designs are more flexible than printed ones which allow for quick turnaround if you decide to change the design. The best feature for digital billboards is being able to advertise at peak times. Rush hour or seasonal campaigns are the perfect times to make sure your ad is seen at the right time.

A Closer Look

At the end of the day, billboard advertising can help your business reach a larger number of people if done correctly. For entrepreneurs or local businesses whose target audience is broad, yet within a similar geographic area, billboards help in narrowing down that audience. 

Your billboard advertisement should appeal to your audience type and reflect your marketing goal.

Billboard Advertising Effectiveness

Even though we’ve covered the pros and cons of billboard advertising, is it a truly effective strategy for brands? Having your billboard being noticed is only half the battle. You also need to be able to ensure customers take some sort of action after seeing your ad. The Arbitron National In-Car Study , found that 71% of Americans consciously look at billboard messages while driving. Those same people were able to learn about a new event or restaurant they later attended. It is these instances that show just how impactful billboards can be. 

Effective Billboards

What exactly is an effective billboard? Creating a strategic and engaging ad is the key to making sure your ad is memorable even after being viewed once. Billboard advertisements that contain too much information can be overwhelming as they drive by. Avoid incorporating provocative content as this could lead to accidents. When creating your ad, stick to two or three colors and no more than six words. This will draw commuters attention and communicate clearly with the potential audience base.

Billboard Advertising Done Right

Billboards are great marketing tools when used correctly. Strategic planning involves figuring out which area best suits the service you are providing, more specifically, where that service is needed. Unlike ads you see on your phone or computer, billboards are mostly unavoidable. You must consider which aspects of the billboard advertisement are significant enough to draw more attention. Compared to other forms of advertising, billboards can run a lot cheaper in the long run and the results can outweigh the initial investment if done right.

Digital Marketing Services in Oklahoma City

Billboard advertising is seen by people passing by in the physical world while digital marketing does the same in the online world. Digital marketing can be tailored to match your business’s ideal customer. Billboard advertising continues to be a prominent marketing method, especially among small or local businesses looking to gain more awareness.  

Oklahoma City is a growing industry for digital marketing agencies and there will always be opportunities to grow your business. It can be overwhelming at first when trying to figure out the best ways to market. If you’re interested in finding out how we could help, check out our digital marketing services here.

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Billboards for Travel Agencies

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Billboard Advertising Rates for Travel Agencies

Buying billboards for travel agencies is a very affordable way to advertise. Billboards are 80 percent less expensive than TV, 60 percent less expensive than newspapers and 50 percent less expensive than radio. Not only are billboards the least expensive form of traditional advertising, but they also fit seamlessly into your existing travel services ad campaign! Looking to buy billboards for travel agencies? Let BillboardsIn help you create the perfect billboard ad today.

Buying Billboard Ads for Travel Agencies

Utilizing billboards for travel agencies is a great way to get your name out to the public and attract new clients when online sites have taken over the travel industry! Billboard advertising is a cost-effective way to make your services stand out! Outdoor advertising is a great marketing tool for travel agents. Having your name and face on a huge digital billboard will create awareness for your travel services. People driving by your poster every day will begin to associate your knowledge and services with a friendly face. When they are looking for a getaway or looking to book a group trip, you'll pop in their head immediately.

Additionally, you can place billboards for travel agencies anywhere you want. Placing a bulletin along a highway or other high traffic area will result in a huge audience reach. Newer tech provides detailed demographic statistics, such as gender, age, and even household income for many billboard locations, allowing billboards for travel agencies to be placed in the perfect spot.

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Travelling billboards, explore examples of, themed vehicle wraps.

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Learn how you can utilize a Traveling Billboard, including great “parketing” tips, from our blog.

MARKETING BECOMES “PARKETING”

Traveling billboards are the perfect way to advertise your business every time you leave your office. Vehicle advertising generates between 30,000 to 70,000 vehicular impressions a day.

Source: Transportation Advertising Council of America.

Eye-catching vinyl wraps and 3D characters transform your vehicle, making you stand out in traffic unlike any other wrap. You’ll become the talk of the town everywhere you go, whether you’re just picking up supplies or parked at a local community event. Ready to turn heads on the road? Contact us today to explore our custom themed vehicle wrap designs and transform your ride into a mobile masterpiece that reflects your child-friendly business.

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55 Best Billboard and Outdoor Ads of All Time

Looking for the most creative, traffic stopping, head turning billboard ads out there? Well you have come to the right place. You will love this comprehensive list that we’ve compiled.

With digital taking the lead in the industry, it’s easy to start wondering if other traditional forms of advertising still make an impact. We definitely think that billboards and other forms of outdoor advertising are still highly effective. Advertisers are challenging themselves each and every day to stand out, and by utilising billboards in a creative manner, not only do you get your message across to the masses, you’re able to show clever creativity and become memorable.

We’ve compiled a list of the most eye catching billboards out there. They are witty, gigantic, and they get their message across in a creative way. Let’s get into our list of the best billboard ads of all time!

• Our 4 Favourite Hygiene and Beauty Billboards
• The Best Food Billboards

Our Top 10 Homeware & Hardware Outdoor Ads

Top 3 automotive billboard ads, favourite 3 health and medical billboard ads, the best entertainment billboard ads.

• Top Travel Billboards

Safety Awareness Billboard Advertisements

Clothing brands outdoor billboard ads, top technology billboard ads, environmental out of home billboard ads, hygiene and beauty billboard adverts.

The hygiene and beauty industry is commonly advertised on billboards and because of various sizes of these canvases, one is able to take advantage of the space to make an impactful statement. Let’s have a look at some creative examples.

The hygiene and beauty industry is commonly advertised on billboards and because of various sizes of these canvases one is able to take advantage of the space to make an impactful statement with this medium. Let’s have a look at some of the creative options out there.

Via canva.com

Do you struggle with pimples? Use ponds to clear them away. The billboard shows a person’s face hidden by the corner of the canvas of the ad. A very clever play on combining imagery and text.

3. Ponds Antibacterial Scrub

The facial scrub and pore cleaner billboard ad portrays a giant pore and in the middle of the pore stands a man, who is literally cleaning out the pore and taking out the dirt that is in it, which may be the cause of blackheads.

4. Kolestone

This innovative design features a woman’s hair due, cut in the billboard and making use of negative space to capture the variations of Koleston Naturals’ colours through the different phases of the day and night.

Via Adsoftheworld.com

The Best Food Billboard Ads

Food is probably one of the most advertised categories on all various ad platforms. But food ads on billboards are a sure way to get your tummy rumbling while sitting in that peak hour traffic. Here’s a look at some popular out of home billboard ads:

This billboard add shows the contrast and the well-known black and white silhouette of the oreo cookie in the form of an eclipse. This creates the indelible image of the oreo, reminding you about the cookie.

2. Mr Kipling

Mr Kipling is a brand of cakes, pies and other well known pastries. The billboard ad shows a collage made of cakes and other baked goodies, relaying the message that life is better with a little bit of cake, and not just any cake , but cake from Mr Kipling.

Via Adweek.com

3. McDonald’s

This billboard ad shows just how convenient Mcdonalds is; even at the odd hour of 2:04, Mcdonalds will be open 24 hours for your convenience. 

Making use of rocket ships, race cars and a super hero squadron, KFC uses this metaphor to communicate just how fiery hot their Hot and Spicy chicken is and the graphics superimpose the chicken, making it the hero of the image.

Via Penji.co

5. McDonald’s- On your right

From the award-winning Follow the Arches campaign, the McD’s team deconstructed the iconic golden arches and transformed them into minimal directional billboards to help steer drivers to the nearest branch of McDonald’s on their daily commutes.

6. Coca-cola

Coke has always had this life long adage of sharing life’s moments over a coca-cola. In this ad the drink is drawn on the side of the building and there are straws emanating from the bottle directed towards different windows. The neighbours can then share from the same coke bottle, and thus share in coca cola moments.

Via Boredpanda.com

7. Anando Milk

Using their well known catchphrase “ Have a break, have a Kit-Kat ”, this billboard lets the consumer fill in the missing words on what seems like an incomplete billboard in the process of completion, but the guys decided to have a break.

9. Chipotle

Sometimes you just have to highlight the most important words so that the message is clear. Chipotle wanted to effectively write about their locally sourced natural ingredients but this massive billboard with the right copy highlighted, did that job for them.

Via Sellingeating.com

10. McDonald’s Fresh Salads

Let them eat cake, a Really Big Cake! A key ingredient for any baker in the kitchen, Royal baking powder makes sure your baking comes out better and bigger than expected. Wrapped over two huge walls of a building that has a cross section in it, making it look like a sliced out cake, this billboard instantly attracted attention that turned the building into a landmark.

Via penji.co

The homeware outdoor ads definitely don’t disappoint when it comes to creative use of billboard ads. Let’s go through a few of our favourites!

1. Tyrolit Rust

This billboard, intended to show off Tyrolit’s Iceline knife range’s unique selling point. Initially, passers-by were faced with a mysterious sheet of metal, with just the brand’s logo on it. After a few weeks, the surface became covered with rust, leaving only the shape of a knife untouched by the rust and the tagline; Flawless. Forever. drove home the message.

Via trendhunter.com

2. Kitchenaid

Kitchenaid shows us its diverse options of colours for their kitchen wear and how you can mix and match their product to suit your space by using a minimalistic billboard featuring a striking photo of their stand mixer on a dark background, with the KitchenAid logo serving as the only copy. When the CN Tower changed colour, the billboard would detect this and automatically change the mixer colour to the match the colour of the tower.

Via adweek.com

3. Craftsman

Has over 90 years of quality and innovation in tools used for building and DIY. The billboard ad has the outer structure of a strong arm holding fast a spanner, and the text depicts that the trust is in your hands.

4. Strong Tape

The billboard which is on the side of a building, shows that the corners of the canvas are held up with the tape adhesive, and a roll of the tape is smack in the middle, sending the message of just how strong the tape is.

Via boredpanda.com

Creatively demonstrating the power of the Miele S8 monster suction vacuum cleaner, this brilliant billboard design was placed over a well-known tunnel, giving the illusion that all the cars that go into the tunnel are getting sucked into the power of the vacuum.

Via digitalsynopsis.com

6. Mr Crack

From the urban slang saying ‘crack is whack’, no one likes to see cracks. And Mr Happy Crack from the crack team specializes in the fixing of cracks in your foundation and wherever else the walls split. We’re not sure if they can help with the crack of the handy man though.

Via tastyad.com

7. Coops Paint

This ad was a joint venture between Coops Paint and Nationwide Insurance. You may be minding your own business painting your walls, and all of a sudden the paint spills and makes a mess in the house or on your car. Do you have the insurance to help you deal with the mess? That’s where nationwide comes in, to help with the insurance of the unexpected calamities of life.

Via deliciousthemes.com

When it comes to something sticking, nothing sticks with you quite like the tune of a song. That’s why 3M took three of the most catchy songs and put them on numerous billboard sites across Hong Kong.

Berger paints, developers of natural finish colours. The billboard shows a painter up on the wall as he paints the canvas of the billboard with the natural sky blue colour. The colour blends in with the natural light of the sky and into the billboard, depicting just how natural the colours are, they blend into the very nature.

Your furniture and home accessory store is here to help you set up the “jigsaw puzzle “ that is met up with when you buy various goods from the store. You need not worry, IKEA has your back and will sort it out for you.

What better way to get you thinking about getting a new car, than whilst you’re in your not-so-new car. Here are how some of the big players in the automobile industry are taking advantage of the spaces on the roads.

1. BMW VS Audi

The battle continues between the big car manufactures and in this instance its BMW and AUDI. There is a juxtaposition of two billboards, one small one by AUDI and a bigger, more towering one by BMW. The copy on the small one reads, “Your move, BMW”, and the towering BMW one comes back with a “Checkmate” response. And just like that the game is over, there’s clearly no more competition.

2. Mazda Sticky Notes

The billboard ad shows sticky notes on which there are drawings and intricacies that go into the design and planning of the Mazda.

Via bobshideout.com

3. Chevrolet Penny Billboard

This billboard was right on the money, aiming to advertise the 769,500-pence starting price of the new Chevrolet Aveo. They wanted to stop traffic and put money back into the motorists hands, and they succeeded. As people walked by, they would stop and pick a penny or 12 from the billboard and within 30 minutes the pennies were all gone.

Many people find traffic a headache, and so the creatives addressed the pain. Here are two creative billboards that we felt boldly address those pain points many of us struggle with or try to ignore.

Paracetamol offers relief from aches and pains. Even though you feel as though you have been hit by a bulldozer truck, your pain shall be made better and you’ll have symptom relief.

Via Cannes Short List 2009

3. Silberman’s Fitness Center

The billboard shows a man with a pot belly, standing on the far end of the billboard causing it tipping to the side, showing just how weighty he is; suggesting that he is in need of Silberman’s Fitness Centre to help him shed some of the weight.

4. Colorado Crisis Service

The Colorado Crisis Services made use of jumbled up typography to drive the point home that help is just a phone call away when life stops making sense.

This category looks at some fun, funny and shocking ads that promote various sectors in the entertainment industry, from music to movies to magazines. Let’s dive in!

A creepy, yet pretty cool campaign, by the online music streaming app, in which they made use of their precious data to create fun, funny and embarrassing content, without exposing its users personal information of course. This billboard they use a humorous approach to ask this particular user what exactly they did on Valentine’s day that they played the song 42 times.

After causing a whole lot of confusing for commuters, with a plain stark white billboard that included no branding, just the somewhat insulting text that “Netflix is a joke” which resulted in a lot of social media chatter, it was later assumed and somewhat confirmed that Netflix themselves were behind the campaign to promote their stand up comedy shows.

Top Travel Billboard Ads

What’s better than being stuck in traffic? Reminded that island holidays exist and you should book your next getaway? We think so too. Take a look at some of our favourite travel out of home billboards:

1. The Detroiter Travel Center

The billboard ad shows that at the next exit you will find the bathroom; as depicted by the image of a passenger who is pressed and in need to take a leak. Detroiter Travel Centre, will always get you there.

Via Canva.com

2. British Airways

British Airways makes use of their surveillance technology to track flights – allowing a child to point to the overhead flights in real time. The billboard manages to channel that excitement one gets a child when they #lookup and see a plane in the sky.

Via Creativebloq.com

3. Air Asia

Cheap enough to say, Phuket i’ll go is what the ad says, but if you pronounce the Ph as an F then it gives it a totally different meaning. The expletive, goes to show that you wouldn’t mind the pricing of the airline ticket at all.

Via Tastythailand.com

Mammoth Mountain is a ski resort out in California. Made from a lava dome, it offers great ski slopes and this is depicted by the billboard ad that shows a skier with some considerable hang time while skiing on the slopes of mammoth mountain.

Being on the road, safety should be the biggest priority. Here’s a great billboard that punts the message of road safety.

The billboard depicts a guy sitting in the back seat without a safety belt, however attached to the back seat is a slingshot ready to launch the guy at any moment. Sending a message that one shouldn’t sit at the back with no seatbelt thinking that it is safer because it isn’t. So rather belt up

A little retail therapy never hurt anyone, here are some awesome billboards that will have you wanting to go try something on.

Even this billboard had to get a pair of Levi’s 501. This LA billboard really had heads turning with it’s creative use of printed vinyl that is stretched around a metal framework, magically replicating the texture and look off a real pair of 501’s.

Via Trendhunter.com

This billboard spans over the whole highway and depicts a goalkeeper dressed in his Adidas sponsored outfit, diving across the road as he saves the ball from going through the posts. Extremely eye-catching and highly original, this billboard shows how you can push the boundaries of traditional advertising.

Technology… where would our creativity be without it! Here are some billboards that pay homage to the greatness of technology.

1. Apple iPod and iTunes

There is just no way anyone would miss this huge billboard by Apple which towered several feet in the air showcasing a fountain of products that can be purchased and enjoyed on the then-popular portable media player, the iPod. Apple’s message is simple: combine an iPod with iTunes and you have an endless source of entertainment at your fingertips.

A smart idea to create bench. IBM hows up as being a leader in innovation, not just in the computer sphere but also in advertising. The billboard doubles up, not only as a marketing strategy, but also as a “park bench” where the commuters can sit as they wait for the bus. Subtle, not so intrusive, but delivers the message needed.

Apple pulled off this creative spot the difference trick with a giant billboard that shows a guy seemingly dancing with no earphones in his ears for the morning traffic rush. Later in the afternoon traffic the billboard changes and now has the Air pods inserted in the man’s ears and the ad suddenly makes a lot more sense.

A reminder to take care of the world that takes care of us. We loved these billboards conveying this important message with more than just a graphic.

1. UTEC Clean Air

A billboard that brings innovation to life. UTEC created this billboard during the construction of their new campus to minimise the air pollution that would come as a result of the project. The billboard uses amazing technology that filters the polluted air into the billboard and cleans it through a water system and releases it on the other side as clean air.

2. Wave of Waste

To mark World Oceans day in 2018, Corona worked with Wieden + Kennedy on this sobering billboard advertising campaign. A 3D ‘wave’ made from plastic waste collected in the UK, with an image of Chris Hemsworth surfing the wave that seems to be coming out of the billboard to emphasise the volume of plastic ending up in the ocean. The public was encouraged to drop off their own waste at the site.

Credit given to the following websites:

• www.adsoftheworld.com
• www.sellingeating.com
• www.trendhunter.com
• www.adweek.com
• www.creativebloq.com

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Empire is an industry leader in the advertising and media buying realm. Working across the UAE and further abroad, we are well-versed in every aspect of marketing and advertising. If you’re interested in reaching your audience through outdoor advertising, contact us and we’ll get you noticed.

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Taylor Swift's new album

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Billboard Explains: Taylor Swift’s Record-Breaking Chart History

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Taylor Swift is one of the most acclaimed artists in Billboard ‘s history, and we’re celebrating the April 19 release of her 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department , by strolling down charts memory lane.

The 33-year-old superstar kicked off her charts journey back in 2006 when her debut single, “Tim McGraw,” arrived on the country charts and peaked at No. 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 . Swift’s career kicked into high gear with the release of her 2008 album, Fearless . The title track peaked at No. 4 on the Hot 100, and “You Belong With Me” made its way up to No. 2.

More from Billboard

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Alek Olsen Rules TikTok Billboard Top 50, YG Marley Nears No. 1

Taylor Swift's 'Tortured Poets' Breaks Spotify Record for Most Pre-Saved Album Countdown

Overall, Swift has 11 Hot 100 chart-toppers under her belt, tying her with Whitney Houston as the fourth most among women in chart history. She has 232 songs on the Hot 100 in total, more than any other female artist and only second to Drake overall. Swift is also the only woman to replace herself on the Hot 100 — and she’s done it three times.

Watch Billboard Explains: Taylor Swift’s Record-Breaking Chart History in the video above.

After the video, catch up on more  Billboard Explains  videos and learn about  Peso Pluma and the Mexican music boom ,  the role record labels play ,  origins of hip-hop , how  Beyoncé arrived at  Renaissance ,   the evolution of girl groups ,  BBMAs ,  NFTs ,  SXSW , the  magic of boy bands ,  American Music Awards , the  Billboard Latin Music Awards , the  Hot 100 chart ,  how R&B/hip-hop became the biggest genre in the U.S. ,  how festivals book their lineups ,  Billie Eilish’s formula for success , the  history of rap battles ,  nonbinary awareness in music ,  the Billboard Music Awards ,  the Free Britney movement ,  rise of K-pop in the U.S. ,  why Taylor Swift is re-recording her first six albums ,  the boom of hit all-female collaborations ,  how Grammy nominees and winners are chosen ,  why songwriters are selling their publishing catalogs ,  how the Super Bowl halftime show is booked  and more.

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The trains and stations of the Moscow Metro

2 Comments · Posted by Alex Smirnov in Cities , Travel , Video

The Moscow Metro is the third most intensive subway system in the world after Tokyo and Seoul subways. The first line was opened on May 15, 1935. Since 1955, the metro has the name of V.I. Lenin.

The system consists of 12 lines with a total length of 305.7 km. Forty four stations are recognized cultural heritage. The largest passenger traffic is in rush hours from 8:00 to 9:00 and from 18:00 to 19:00.

Cellular communication is available on most of the stations of the Moscow Metro. In March 2012, a free Wi-Fi appeared in the Circle Line train. The Moscow Metro is open to passengers from 5:20 to 01:00. The average interval between trains is 2.5 minutes.

The fare is paid by using contactless tickets and contactless smart cards, the passes to the stations are controlled by automatic turnstiles. Ticket offices and ticket vending machines can be found in station vestibules.

Tags:  Moscow city

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The bridge over Zolotoy Rog Bay in Vladivostok

The views of St. Petersburg from the TV tower >>

Tomás · August 27, 2012 at 11:34 pm

The Moscow metro stations are the best That I know, cars do not.

Alberto Calvo · September 25, 2016 at 8:57 pm

Great videos! Moscow Metro is just spectacular. I actually visited Moscow myself quite recently and wrote a post about my top 7 stations, please check it out and let me know what you think! :)

http://www.arwtravels.com/blog/moscow-metro-top-7-stations-you-cant-miss

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McDonald's new marketing: Billboards that smell like its French fries

• Fast food giant McDonald's launched a new marketing campaign this week.
• It produced a series of blank yellow and red billboards in the Netherlands.
• But the seemingly empty messages smell like the chain's iconic fries.

Fast food giant McDonald's released a new and quirky marketing campaign this week.

The company has found a novel way to leverage some of its iconic products by making the billboards smell like their fries.

It released a series of blank yellow and red billboards in the Netherlands that don't even carry the McDonald's golden arches logo. But the marketing creatives behind the campaign don't reckon you need to be told what is being advertised; the smell alone will get the message across.

Related stories

"The prints appear to be empty at first glance, but as passers-by approach within five meters, they are greeted with the distinct aroma of McDonald's French Fries, coming from inside the billboard," the company said in a press release.

The statement says the billboards were "strategically placed" within 650 feet of some of its restaurants.

Stijn Mentrop-Huliselan, CMO of McDonald's Netherlands, added: "We are well known for our distinctive brand assets that are mostly visual. Smell has been proven to be more effective at sparking clear and emotional memories than images. With the inclusion of this next sense in our advertising, we found a new way to remind people of Good Times at McDonald's."

It also comes after news that the company has partnered with Krispy Kreme to offer its products at its stores across the US.

The partnership is set to kick off later this year and will see Krispy Kreme donuts in stores nationwide by 2026.

The company has not specified how many of its stores will be participating, however.

Earlier this month, McDonald's announced that it was taking over ownership of its franchised stores in Israel due to a global sales fall sparked by boycotts over the Israel-Gaza conflict.

Watch: We made Mcdonald's original 1955 fries and compared them to modern Mcdonald's fries

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Column: What’s behind those ‘Shame on you’ billboards in the Coachella Valley

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There are so many billboards on each side of the 10 Freeway through the Coachella Valley that they bleed into one another like a deck of cards being shuffled. They come at you so fast that you begin to think the headliner this weekend at the Coachella festival is attorney Jacob Emrani .

Even in this cluttered landscape, two billboards featuring Desert Community College District Board trustee Bea Gonzalez stand out.

They’re at opposite ends of the valley — one near Fantasy Spring Resort Casino in Indio, another just east of the Indian Canyon Drive exit in Palm Springs — and feature the same photo of the spiky-haired, bespectacled trustee.

“Bea Gonzalez. Shame on you for voting against COD [College of the Desert] students!” the billboards blare against an orange background. Below that is the name of the group that funds them, Promises Made Promises Broken.

The hundreds of thousands of concertgoers who’ll pass by most likely won’t give the billboards a second thought. But they tell a story of a political brawl that has consumed the Coachella Valley.

Supporters say a long-planned College of the Desert campus in downtown Palm Springs, which is expected to break ground this year, will bring prestige and new programs such as hospitality, engineering and film to an area that needs it. Opponents such as Gonzalez say that the estimated $400-million cost is exorbitant and that the funds should be spread across underserved areas of the Coachella Valley.

When Gonzalez beat a two-term incumbent in a 2020 election, she joined two other trustees in trying to limit the scope of the Palm Springs project, if not scuttling it altogether.

Soon came the attacks: An unsuccessful 2021 push for a faculty vote of no confidence against Gonzalez and her trustee allies. A 2022 election that saw former college president and Gonzalez critic Joel Kinnamon join the board and flip the majority to his favor. A threatened recall that never materialized. Whispers that Gonzalez is a puppet of Latino politicians based in the eastern portion of the Coachella Valley who have increasingly clashed over resources with pols in the wealthier, whiter western communities.

And, of course, there are the billboards, which have shifted up and down the 10 since the beginning of 2023. They’ve become such a part of the region’s life that Gonzalez recently told me she’s used to having strangers stare at her before asking if she’s that woman.

“I have to laugh,” the 55-year-old said as we enjoyed bowls of split pea soup at a diner in Desert Hot Springs, “because what else can I do?”

A new generation of young Latinos is making Coachella a must-visit stop for 2020 Democrats

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Feb. 26, 2020

The brawl has grown so contentious that the city of Palm Springs sued College of the Desert in 2022 for failing to turn over documents related to land use decisions, in alleged violation of the California Public Records Act. Kinnamon got into a physical altercation in January with United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1167 President Joe Duffle, a Gonzalez ally, with each accusing the other of starting the fight.

Kinnamon didn’t respond to repeated requests for an interview. Meanwhile, Promises Made Promises Broken — which the Desert Sun, the local newspaper, has described as “worrisome” for its refusal to disclose its members or donors — has flanked its anti-Gonzalez billboards with mailers and video ads as the group seeks to defeat her at the ballot box in November.

“If you know an election is coming, the smart thing to do is to create a negative perception far in advance,” Promises Made Promises Broken spokesperson Bruce Hoban said. “This Bea thing with ‘No, no, no, no, no’ at every trustee meeting is nerve-racking. It’s just relentless.”

Gonzalez is warm and self-effacing, with a good laugh. She said of the long campaign against her: “I think [opponents] are scratching their heads and thinking, ‘OK, we’re attacking her. We’re shaming her, and she won’t stop.’ But I really think these people have no clue the investment that I made into my community for years.”

Born and raised in Indio, Gonzalez is a College of the Desert alumna and has worked as an administrator for the Coachella Valley Unified School District for nearly 30 years. A longtime community activist, she ran for the community college district board in 2020 after hearing complaints from former students about shoddy facilities and a lack of classes and majors.

“You and I know,” Gonzalez said, “that if you want to change something, you have to be inside. And that there’s no other way.”

When she assumed office, the mother of two went through staff reports on the long-proposed new campus project. It was originally planned for northern Palm Springs, but Kinnamon announced in 2014 that the district wanted to take over a long-abandoned mall downtown and build there. Two years later, voters passed a $577-million bond to help fund that project and other improvements for existing facilities.

Gonzalez said that she’s not opposed to a new campus in principle but that putting it in Palm Springs makes no sense since there’s already a smaller facility there, and far more students reside in cities such as Cathedral City and Desert Hot Springs, which she represents.

“And so to me, I was, like, ‘Wait a minute, what is going on here?’ And all of a sudden, there was this outrage from the entire West Valley, and all these attacks started — and I mean, they went all in . Every time I would vote no on a contract or ask a lot of questions — boom! Billboard No. 1. Boom! Billboard No. 2.”

She smiled. “I figure by now, I should have at least 20.”

Hoban, the Promises Made Promises Broken spokesperson, said he didn’t “know anything about College of the Desert, anything about community college” until attending a breakfast meeting in 2021 and hearing Gonzalez criticize the Palm Springs project, then finding out the board was going to cancel a proposed Cathedral City campus.

“All the plans that had been promised for 17 years were getting heavily modified or canceled and we said, ‘Wait a second. Why isn’t anything being built in the West Valley?’”

As a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, Promises Made Promises Broken doesn’t need to disclose its members or how it spends its money. Paperwork filed with the California secretary of state lists its officers as Palm Springs restaurateur John Shay, jeweler Theresa Applegate and Cary Davidson, a Los Angeles-based attorney and trustee at Claremont McKenna College.

An email to them requesting an interview was instead returned by Hoban, who co-chaired the campaign that defeated a 2018 measure that sought to ban short-term rentals in Palm Springs of single-family homes . Asked who else belongs to Promises Made Promises Broken, Hoban said it’s “made up of people who have always been very involved in political issues and causes, so we know our way around.”

He wouldn’t disclose how much the group spends on billboards, although he claimed the going rate in the Coachella Valley for one billboard was $500 to $4,000 a month. Whatever the amount, he said his group is “100% completely” satisfied with their investment.

“People see them, and people will talk to us, and say, ‘I didn’t realize this problem with Bea Gonzalez,’” Hoban said.

Gonzalez acknowledged that she was angry when the billboards first went up, but she has made her peace with them.

“I’m getting this because I’m doing my due diligence — I ask these questions because I want that clarity,” she said. “And when the attacks started, it just made me even more curious.”

She pulled out a letter from a manila folder that she sent to California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta’s office asking that he investigate the use of College of the Desert’s bond money over the last 20 years.

“How can I vote yes, if a yes vote would be simply because of the intimidation? I can’t do that,” Gonzalez said.

A spokesperson with Bonta’s office said it’s “unable to comment on, even to confirm or deny, a potential or ongoing investigation.”

We finished our breakfast, then drove toward the 10 to see her billboard near Indian Canyon Drive. We parked on the freeway divider and admired it from afar as traffic sped by just feet away. I told her I vaguely remembered seeing the low-slung orange thing last summer.

Gonzalez waved at the billboard, as if to say hi. Then, she cracked up.

“Well, at least they used a good photo of me!”

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April 15, 2024

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Coachella 2024: Everything you need to know about the festival

April 9, 2024

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Election 2024 | Florida Democrats put up billboards to find…

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Subscriber only, election 2024 | florida democrats put up billboards to find candidates for november.

Florida Democrats are putting up billboards in four counties to recruit candidates for dozens of legislative and congressional races where the party has yet to find someone to run in November.

“You’re already a leader. Run for office,” state the billboards, which will appear in Miami-Dade, Polk, Seminole and Madison counties.

The appeal, which also will include digital ads, comes less than two months before the June 14 deadline to file for state House and Senate races and a little more than a week before the federal deadline to file for Congress on April 26. The cost of the campaign was not revealed.

“We all know someone who should run for office, and if there has ever been a time to step up and lead, it’s now,” campaign director Danielle Hawk said Wednesday. “We hope this campaign is the sign that leaders in our communities need to see to make the decision to run, and the Florida Democratic Party is here to help.”

Florida Republican Chair Evan Power was dismissive of the effort.

“Floridians are so turned off by the Democrats’ radical agenda that the Florida Democratic Party have had to spend tens of thousands on billboards just to attempt to find candidates,” Power said via text.

“While Nikki Fried [the state party chair] is lighting her limited campaign cash on fire, Republicans are growing our registration lead, flipping local elections, and delivering for Florida’s citizens,” Power added.

According to the Florida Division of Elections, on Wednesday there were 37 state House seats across the state with no Democratic candidate filed to run, compared to 20 with no Republican candidate.

While many districts without Democrats are in heavily Republican areas, others that lean Democratic on paper also have no party member currently in the running.

The party’s statement about the billboard campaign specifically listed only 27 uncontested state House seats. Democratic spokeswoman Eden Giagnorio said it did so because candidates were planning to file for those seats.

Democrats would need to flip five state House seats to end the Republican supermajority in that chamber.

In the state Senate, there are four races in the Panhandle and South Florida without Democratic candidates. The party needs to flip just one seat to end the GOP supermajority on the Senate side.

“We are already competing in more races compared to 2022, but it is our goal to field candidates in every seat across the state and give Republicans a run for their money,” Fried said in a statement.

On the congressional side, the party listed three races with no Democratic candidate, in seats held by Republican U.S. Reps. Neal Dunn, John Rutherford and Gus Bilirakis.

The districts are a hard sell for Democrats, with all of them listed by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report as Republican strongholds for 2024.

Still, Aubrey Jewett, a professor of political science at the University of Central Florida, said having a candidate was vitally important.

“Not only might it increase the turnout of your own party, but it also ties down the other party and makes them have to worry about that seat, even if only a little bit,” Jewett said. “It means they have to run a campaign, it means they have to raise money, it means they have to buy ads. And it means that they can’t just spend all their time and money and resources on a few seats.”

Underdog candidates have also pulled off occasional upsets, he said, such as Democratic recruit Stephanie Murphy defeating 12-term Republican U.S. Rep. John Mica in 2016.

Florida Democrats are coming off one of their party’s worst performances in 2022. Their candidate Charlie Crist lost the governor’s race by 19 points. The Democrats also have a growing registration disadvantage, with Republicans having nearly 900,000 more registered voters as of March 31.

But the party has done well in elections since then, including winning the Jacksonville mayor’s race and a special election for a state House seat in Central Florida.

“Some of the seats are legitimately competitive,” Jewett said. “And Democrats actually have a chance to win, and probably should have won two years ago if they hadn’t had such a dramatic drop in turnout.”

in 2022,” said Democratic analyst Matt Isbell. “But I can easily see Biden winning Seminole this year.”

In addition, Isbell said, by placing billboards in heavy traffic areas such as Central Florida, the I-4 corridor and Miami, “part of it is just advertising for the party. … It’s essentially instilling confidence.”

More in Election 2024

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How Ozempic Turned a 1970s Hit Into an Inescapable Jingle

The diabetes drug has become a phenomenon, and “Oh, oh, oh, Ozempic!” — a takeoff of the Pilot song “Magic” — has played a big part in its story.

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By Craig Marks

In February 2023, David Paton, guitar case in hand, strode across the most famous pedestrian walkway in rock history and into London’s Abbey Road Studios.

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Paton was no stranger to the rooms where the Beatles changed the course of popular music: His 1970s pop-rock band Pilot recorded two albums there. In his second life, as an in-demand studio and touring musician for the likes of Kate Bush and Elton John, he clocked numerous sessions with the prog-rock outfit the Alan Parsons Project, whose namesake produced Pilot’s signature hit, “Magic.” He even spent some time there with his boyhood hero, Paul McCartney, singing backup vocals on Wings’ “Mull of Kintyre.”

Paton had come to London to record a new version of “Magic.” “It was a great thrill to be back at Abbey Road, singing my song,” he said in a recent video interview from his home studio in Edinburgh, an array of guitars displayed behind him. The track’s stair-step chorus — “Oh, oh, oh /it’s MAAA-gic” — could test Paton’s vocal range even back in 1974, and again a year later, when the song became a worldwide hit, peaking at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100.

“It’s just about the enjoyment of life,” he said. “About waking up in the morning, you know? I was 22 when I wrote it.” Now he was 73, and unsure if he could still reach those high notes. But Paton took his place in front of the Abbey Road microphone and confidently sang that indelible hook, only with the word “magic” swapped out for something less ephemeral and more pharmaceutical: “Oh, oh, oh, Ozempic.”

As television viewers are all too aware, that altered chorus from “Magic” serves as the advertising jingle for the Type 2 diabetes medication Ozempic . Since the product arrived in 2018, the bowdlerized version of “Magic” — first rerecorded by work-for-hire musicians, and then re-rerecorded by Paton at Abbey Road — has taken its place alongside such classics of the form as Subway’s “Five Dollar Foot Long” and McDonald’s “I’m Lovin’ It” as marvels of marketing ingenuity.

“It’s an earworm all right,” said David Allan, a professor of marketing at Saint Joseph’s University and the author of “This Note’s for You,” a book about music and advertising. “You can’t get it out of your head.”

Those three seconds of AM-radio bliss — “It’s just a first, a third and a fifth note,” Paton modestly explained — have played a pivotal role in the Ozempic story. Its parent company, Novo Nordisk , has now become Europe’s most valuable public company, with a market cap of nearly $570 billion.

Ozempic, of course, has become much more than a diabetes drug: Its “off label” use to treat obesity has sparked a “weight-loss revolution,” as Oprah Winfrey called it in her March TV special dedicated to an emerging group of diabetes and anti-obesity medications . Buttressed by an ad spend of $120 million over just the first seven months of 2023, according to MediaRadar, Ozempic’s Q rating is such that the brand now stands in for an entire category of product, as Viagra does for erectile dysfunction drugs. On the March 30 episode of “Saturday Night Live,” the comedian Ramy Youssef appeared in a spoof commercial for “Ozempic for Ramadan” that featured the familiar “Oh, oh, oh” of “Magic.”

This Ozempic boom is due in no small part to the jingle, which helped turn a byzantine mash-up of syllables into a brand patients would request from doctors by name. Jeremy Shepler, who headed the Ozempic launch in the United States for Novo Nordisk, had previously enjoyed success deploying music in a commercial for a new-to-market nasal spray, and knew he wanted to find a song that worked both mnemonically and emotionally.

“The first song I came up with was by New Kids on the Block, the one that goes ‘Oh oh oh oh oh’,” he sang, referring to “You Got It (The Right Stuff).” “But New Kids was a bit too young,” he said. “The average age of our patient was between 50 and 55. Then it came to me: ‘Oh, oh, oh, it’s magic.’”

That snippet of a chorus not only seared the “O” in Ozempic into consumers’ temporal lobes, but its cheerfulness sold the promise of the drug: to “help people get back to a level of health when their life was bright and their future was optimistic,” said Jeff Rothstein, chief executive of CultHealth, the ad agency for Ozempic. Also, baby boomers exposed to the jingle would subconsciously hear the missing word “magic,” which, said Shepler, helped reinforce the drug’s transformative quality.

Novo licensed the song from Sony Music Publishing, and Rothstein hired a music production house to record the brand-specific version of “Magic.” When they tested a rough version of the commercial, “It was the highest scoring ad we’d ever seen,” Shepler said.

As the spot first began airing in 2018 (direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising is allowed only in the United States and New Zealand), Paton wasn’t even aware that “Magic” had been licensed for the advert. “I learned about it through Facebook,” he said. “Fans would write me, ‘I’m hearing “Magic” every 20 minutes on my TV’.”

Paton and Billy Lyall, his Pilot bandmate who died in 1989 at age 36, share a co-writing credit on “Magic,” and split the revenue generated by the composition with Sony Publishing. (Songs generate multiple income streams, some based on the performance or master recording, some based on the songwriting. In this case, since the original recording of “Magic” was not used by Novo Nordisk, Pilot’s record label, Warner Music Group, was not involved.)

As is common practice in the music industry, Sony was not obligated to receive permission from the songwriters to license the song. Not that Paton minded: Three music-industry executives, asked separately to assess the value of the Ozempic deal, said it was most likely worth seven figures to Paton. (Paton, Sony Music Publishing and Novo Nordisk all declined to discuss financial terms of the deal.)

The Ozempic commercial “is another example of why classic, iconic music catalogs are great investments,” said Jon Singer, chairman of Spirit Music Group, a music publishing company with a repertoire that includes songs by the Who, Chicago, Toto and T. Rex.

“Music as an asset can have multiple lives,” added Billy Mann, a Grammy-nominated songwriter and longtime publishing executive. “There’s a ‘comfort food’ feeling of nostalgia that hit songs can trigger. They’re time machines.”

In the Spotify era, older songs have spiked in value, as consumers repeatedly press play on the songs of their youth. For artists, those fractions of a penny eventually add up, and that has helped create a gold rush for veteran acts looking to sell their music catalogs. “There’s a finite number of songs that have proven to be iconic for 40 or 50 years,” said Bill Werde, the director of the Bandier music business program at Syracuse University and the author of the industry newsletter “Full Rate No Cap.” “Those songs have special value on the marketplace.”

Licensing a song for a commercial may be seen by some as antithetical to the countercultural spirit of rock ’n’ roll. “There have always been protectors of the flame who, when certain songs get used in certain moments, aggressively clutch their pearls,” Werde said. “But there’s very little evidence that this has ever harmed any artist.” He pointed to the Beatles licensing their utopian “All You Need Is Love” to Luvs diapers in 2007 as perhaps the most egregious example of an advertiser co-opting a song’s original meaning. “But no one really cared. It was Ob-la-di. Life goes on.”

Simon Allaway, 52, an Ozempic user and Chicago-based computer programmer and musician, loves the “Magic” spot. “I can’t help but sing along to it,” he said. “It’s a perfect fit with the product.” Another user wrote in a message-board post that whenever she injects herself, her father sings “Oh, oh, oh, Ozempic.”

“Magic” has been leased plenty of times before, for a Coca-Cola commercial — “I actually sang ‘Coke, Coke, Coke, it’s Magic’ back in the ’70s,” Paton recalled — for the 2005 Disney film “Herbie: Fully Loaded” and as the musical bed for Flo Rida’s 2009 single, also called “Magic,” to name a few. “People always want to use the song in some way or the other,” Paton said.

Asked if he was bothered by his song’s association with what turned out to be a lightning-rod product, he smiled and shook his head. “I was delighted! I’m a songwriter. I want to sell my music. A lot of people don’t know the name Pilot, but they know the Ozempic song.”

For musicians, the success of the Ozempic commercial could be a harbinger of big checks to come. Pharmaceutical companies have seemingly unlimited budgets to promote their wares: according to the media analytics firm Guideline, pharma surpassed tech and auto in 2023 to become the second largest industry for ad spending, behind only consumer packaged goods.

Already, Lady Gaga is a spokesperson for Pfizer’s migraine medication Nurtec ODT; Cyndi Lauper lends her distinct Brooklyn accent to a commercial for Cosentyx, which treats plaque psoriasis; John Legend and Charlie Puth pitch Pfizer’s Covid vaccine and boosters. The Jackson 5’s “ABC” propels ads for Trelegy (used to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), while commercials for the heart drug Entresto are soundtracked by Sonny & Cher’s “The Beat Goes On.”

But those spots haven’t embedded themselves into pop culture the way “Oh, oh, oh, Ozempic” has.

“In contemporary advertising, campaigns tend to have pretty short shelf lives,” CultHealth’s Rothstein said. “Two, three years, tops. Yet ‘Oh, oh, oh, Ozempic’ continues to endure. You can do all the market research in the world, and never end up with something like this.”

Read by Craig Marks

Audio produced by Sarah Diamond .

An earlier version of this article misstated the year that “Magic” became a hit. While the song was released in 1974, it reached the Billboard Hot 100 in 1975, not 1974. The error was repeated in the headline.

How we handle corrections

A Close Look at Weight-Loss Drugs

Ozempic’s Inescapable Jingle: The diabetes drug has become a phenomenon, and “Oh, oh, oh, Ozempic!” — a takeoff of the Pilot song “Magic”  — has played a big part in its story.

The Era of ‘Brozempic’: Some telehealth start-ups are playing up masculine stereotypes to market GLP-1s  — the revolutionary class of drugs like Ozempic — which have been more widely associated with women.

Taking on Weight Stigma: Oprah Winfrey, a prominent figure in the conversation about dieting and weight bias, tackled the rise of weight loss drugs in a new prime-time special . In December, she shared that she was taking a medication to manage her weight.

Beyond Weight Loss: Wegovy is now approved for a new use: reducing the risk of heart attacks , strokes and cardiovascular-related death in adults who have heart disease and are overweight

Pregnancy: Doctors say they are seeing more women try weight-loss medications in the hopes of having a healthy pregnancy. But little is known about the impact of those drugs on a fetus .

Muscle Loss: As drugs like Ozempic become increasingly popular for weight loss, more doctors and patients are looking for ways to counteract the muscle loss that can happen on these medications. Companies are racing to meet that demand .

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The Moscow Metro Museum of Art: 10 Must-See Stations

There are few times one can claim having been on the subway all afternoon and loving it, but the Moscow Metro provides just that opportunity.  While many cities boast famous public transport systems—New York’s subway, London’s underground, San Salvador’s chicken buses—few warrant hours of exploration.  Moscow is different: Take one ride on the Metro, and you’ll find out that this network of railways can be so much more than point A to B drudgery.

The Metro began operating in 1935 with just thirteen stations, covering less than seven miles, but it has since grown into the world’s third busiest transit system ( Tokyo is first ), spanning about 200 miles and offering over 180 stops along the way.  The construction of the Metro began under Joseph Stalin’s command, and being one of the USSR’s most ambitious building projects, the iron-fisted leader instructed designers to create a place full of svet (radiance) and svetloe budushchee (a radiant future), a palace for the people and a tribute to the Mother nation.

Consequently, the Metro is among the most memorable attractions in Moscow.  The stations provide a unique collection of public art, comparable to anything the city’s galleries have to offer and providing a sense of the Soviet era, which is absent from the State National History Museum.  Even better, touring the Metro delivers palpable, experiential moments, which many of us don’t get standing in front of painting or a case of coins.

Though tours are available , discovering the Moscow Metro on your own provides a much more comprehensive, truer experience, something much less sterile than following a guide.  What better place is there to see the “real” Moscow than on mass transit: A few hours will expose you to characters and caricatures you’ll be hard-pressed to find dining near the Bolshoi Theater.  You become part of the attraction, hear it in the screech of the train, feel it as hurried commuters brush by: The Metro sucks you beneath the city and churns you into the mix.

With the recommendations of our born-and-bred Muscovite students, my wife Emma and I have just taken a self-guided tour of what some locals consider the top ten stations of the Moscow Metro. What most satisfied me about our Metro tour was the sense of adventure .  I loved following our route on the maps of the wagon walls as we circled the city, plotting out the course to the subsequent stops; having the weird sensation of being underground for nearly four hours; and discovering the next cavern of treasures, playing Indiana Jones for the afternoon, piecing together fragments of Russia’s mysterious history.  It’s the ultimate interactive museum.

Top Ten Stations (In order of appearance)

Kievskaya station.

Kievskaya Station went public in March of 1937, the rails between it and Park Kultury Station being the first to cross the Moscow River.  Kievskaya is full of mosaics depicting aristocratic scenes of Russian life, with great cameo appearances by Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin.  Each work has a Cyrillic title/explanation etched in the marble beneath it; however, if your Russian is rusty, you can just appreciate seeing familiar revolutionary dates like 1905 ( the Russian Revolution ) and 1917 ( the October Revolution ).

Mayakovskaya Station

Mayakovskaya Station ranks in my top three most notable Metro stations. Mayakovskaya just feels right, done Art Deco but no sense of gaudiness or pretention.  The arches are adorned with rounded chrome piping and create feeling of being in a jukebox, but the roof’s expansive mosaics of the sky are the real showstopper.  Subjects cleverly range from looking up at a high jumper, workers atop a building, spires of Orthodox cathedrals, to nimble aircraft humming by, a fleet of prop planes spelling out CCCP in the bluest of skies.

Novoslobodskaya Station

Novoslobodskaya is the Metro’s unique stained glass station.  Each column has its own distinctive panels of colorful glass, most of them with a floral theme, some of them capturing the odd sailor, musician, artist, gardener, or stenographer in action.  The glass is framed in Art Deco metalwork, and there is the lovely aspect of discovering panels in the less frequented haunches of the hall (on the trackside, between the incoming staircases).  Novosblod is, I’ve been told, the favorite amongst out-of-town visitors.

Komsomolskaya Station

Komsomolskaya Station is one of palatial grandeur.  It seems both magnificent and obligatory, like the presidential palace of a colonial city.  The yellow ceiling has leafy, white concrete garland and a series of golden military mosaics accenting the tile mosaics of glorified Russian life.  Switching lines here, the hallway has an Alice-in-Wonderland feel, impossibly long with decorative tile walls, culminating in a very old station left in a remarkable state of disrepair, offering a really tangible glimpse behind the palace walls.

Dostoevskaya Station

Dostoevskaya is a tribute to the late, great hero of Russian literature .  The station at first glance seems bare and unimpressive, a stark marble platform without a whiff of reassembled chips of tile.  However, two columns have eerie stone inlay collages of scenes from Dostoevsky’s work, including The Idiot , The Brothers Karamazov , and Crime and Punishment.   Then, standing at the center of the platform, the marble creates a kaleidoscope of reflections.  At the entrance, there is a large, inlay portrait of the author.

Chkalovskaya Station

Chkalovskaya does space Art Deco style (yet again).  Chrome borders all.  Passageways with curvy overhangs create the illusion of walking through the belly of a chic, new-age spacecraft.  There are two (kos)mosaics, one at each end, with planetary subjects.  Transferring here brings you above ground, where some rather elaborate metalwork is on display.  By name similarity only, I’d expected Komsolskaya Station to deliver some kosmonaut décor; instead, it was Chkalovskaya that took us up to the space station.

Elektrozavodskaya Station

Elektrozavodskaya is full of marble reliefs of workers, men and women, laboring through the different stages of industry.  The superhuman figures are round with muscles, Hollywood fit, and seemingly undeterred by each Herculean task they respectively perform.  The station is chocked with brass, from hammer and sickle light fixtures to beautiful, angular framework up the innards of the columns.  The station’s art pieces are less clever or extravagant than others, but identifying the different stages of industry is entertaining.

Baumanskaya Statio

Baumanskaya Station is the only stop that wasn’t suggested by the students.  Pulling in, the network of statues was just too enticing: Out of half-circle depressions in the platform’s columns, the USSR’s proud and powerful labor force again flaunts its success.  Pilots, blacksmiths, politicians, and artists have all congregated, posing amongst more Art Deco framing.  At the far end, a massive Soviet flag dons the face of Lenin and banners for ’05, ’17, and ‘45.  Standing in front of the flag, you can play with the echoing roof.

Ploshchad Revolutsii Station

Novokuznetskaya Station

Novokuznetskaya Station finishes off this tour, more or less, where it started: beautiful mosaics.  This station recalls the skyward-facing pieces from Mayakovskaya (Station #2), only with a little larger pictures in a more cramped, very trafficked area.  Due to a line of street lamps in the center of the platform, it has the atmosphere of a bustling market.  The more inventive sky scenes include a man on a ladder, women picking fruit, and a tank-dozer being craned in.  The station’s also has a handsome black-and-white stone mural.

Here is a map and a brief description of our route:

Start at (1)Kievskaya on the “ring line” (look for the squares at the bottom of the platform signs to help you navigate—the ring line is #5, brown line) and go north to Belorusskaya, make a quick switch to the Dark Green/#2 line, and go south one stop to (2)Mayakovskaya.  Backtrack to the ring line—Brown/#5—and continue north, getting off at (3)Novosblodskaya and (4)Komsolskaya.  At Komsolskaya Station, transfer to the Red/#1 line, go south for two stops to Chistye Prudy, and get on the Light Green/#10 line going north.  Take a look at (5)Dostoevskaya Station on the northern segment of Light Green/#10 line then change directions and head south to (6)Chkalovskaya, which offers a transfer to the Dark Blue/#3 line, going west, away from the city center.  Have a look (7)Elektroskaya Station before backtracking into the center of Moscow, stopping off at (8)Baumskaya, getting off the Dark Blue/#3 line at (9)Ploschad Revolyutsii.  Change to the Dark Green/#2 line and go south one stop to see (10)Novokuznetskaya Station.

Check out our new Moscow Indie Travel Guide , book a flight to Moscow and read 10 Bars with Views Worth Blowing the Budget For

Jonathon Engels, formerly a patron saint of misadventure, has been stumbling his way across cultural borders since 2005 and is currently volunteering in the mountains outside of Antigua, Guatemala.  For more of his work, visit his website and blog .

Photo credits:   SergeyRod , all others courtesy of the author and may not be used without permission