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Part Five Developing the Integrated Marketing Communications Program
Belch: Advertising and
Promotion, Sixth Edition
Exhibit 13-1 Outdoor
advertising goes beyond
two dimensions
Exhibit 13-2 Inflatables
bring new meaning to
outdoor advertising
V. Developing the
Integrated Marketing
Communications Program
13. Support Media © The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2003
industry. The increase in the number of women in the work force has led to more advertising
of products targeted to this segment, and the increases in the number of vehicles
on the road and the number of miles driven have led to increased expenditures by gas
companies and food and lodging providers.
A major reason for the continued success of outdoor is its ability to remain innovative
through technology. As Exhibit 13-1 shows, billboards are no longer limited to
standard sizes and two dimensions; 3-D forms and extensions are now used to attract
attention. Electronic billboards and inflatables, like the one in Exhibit 13-2 that was
used to promote Power Rangers, have also opened new markets. You probably have
been exposed to either signboards or electronic billboards at sports stadiums, in supermarkets,
in the campus bookstore and dining halls, in shopping malls, on the freeways,
or on the sides of buildings, from neon signs on skyscrapers in New York City to Mail
Pouch Tobacco signs painted on the sides of barns in the Midwest. This is truly a pervasive
medium (Exhibit 13-3).
Outdoor advertising does have its critics. Ever since Lady Bird Johnson tried to rid
the interstate highways of billboard advertising during her husband’s presidency with
the Highway Beautification Act of 1965, there has been controversy regarding its use.
As previously noted, legislation has passed in 46 states banning the advertising of cigarettes
on billboards. In addition, a number of cities and states have considered
extending the ban to alcoholic beverages. 2 Consumers themselves seem to have mixed
emotions about the medium. In a Maritz AmeriPoll asking consumers about their
opinions of billboards, 62 percent of the respondents said they thought billboards
should not be banned, while 52 percent said they should be strictly regulated. When
asked if billboards were entertaining, 80 percent of those surveyed said no, and when
asked if billboards could be beautiful, only 27 percent said yes. 3
Media buyers have not completely adopted outdoor, partially because of image
problems and because of the belief that it is difficult to buy. (Approximately 80 per-