Billboard Breaks Rules, Takes Advantage of Situation
Going against every rule regarding type size and the appropriate number of words a billboard should carry, LA's KNZ 1070 has acknowledged the fact that traffic is so bad, normal rules regarding billboard readability don't apply. Since the city's commute is often fraught with crawling speeds and periods of dead stop, KNZ 1070 figured people had plenty of time to read a billboard filled with long copy so that's exactly what they did.
The billboard copy takes drivers inside the head of an outspoken and very talkative individual. The kind of person that chats you up on a five-hour airline flight across the country. After drivers take the time to read this individual's opinions and observations, they are left with a choice. Stay informed with the KNX 1070 traffic report or continue to read the ramblings of their new traffic buddy. We think the choice is clear. And we like when norms are broken. See full sized images here and here.
Comments
Jim Garaventi did the "stuck-in-trafic, long-copy-billboard" concept about, oh, ten years ago.
Like I've always said before, there are no new ideas.
True. But there are ten-year-old ideas.
Oh my God, it's in the voice of Kevin Spacey's character from The Usual Suspects (...great; now I'm going to have phrases like, "I was in a barbershop quartet in Skokie, Illinois," going through my head for the rest of the afternoon.)
This billboard goes against the norm of usual billboard. Anything against a norm is catchy. Sure I can live with that. But I think I’d rather have what was written on the billboard as a radio ad. On radio, the copy could possibly have more impact once spoken by a hyper-talkative, ‘I’ll talk about anything I want and listen to me’ type of individual live.
Besides, I think not all people who had read the whole copy on the billboard would easily digest the meaning, especially if they are either irritated, or tired, or is focused in front of them, due to the heavy traffic, which is the only event one could read the billboard.
Chedie, you make a good point. Radio integration could be cool. However, I think that it definitely works as a billboard.
I live in LA and just drove by one of the boards. Sure enough, it's in a high-traffic area and my eyes were glued to it.
What agency did this?
Sorry, Chedie, I am afraid I must disagree. This idea wouldn't work nearly as well as a radio commercial. If you are stuck in traffic, you can always change the channel or turn off the radio. But that billboard will still be there. The only problem is that, as Bob pointed out, this idea has already been done. Despite what some may say, originality should still count for something - especially when this campaign will inevitably be entered in every award show from here to Outer Mongolia.
By the way, Michael, I believe the billboard is by WongDoody. (And even if it wasn't, I just like saying WongDoody. Sounds so smutty. WongDoody, WongDoody, WongDoody. Hee hee hee.)