Answer:
Outdoor advertising represents the oldest medium. We have already seen in the historical background that outdoor advertising existed as early as 5,000 years ago in Babylon, Greece and Egypt. Painted advertising dates at least to Pompeii, where decorated walls promoted merchandise. Outdoor advertising is one of the more permeating communications and it is almost impossible for anyone living in a civilized society anywhere in this world not to have been exposed to it in one form or the other.
Outdoor advertising is usually used as a supportive medium by most national advertisers and includes billboards, hoarding, posters, wall paintings, and transit advertising, etc. Outdoor advertising can generate considerable reach and frequency levels at a fraction of the cost of mainstream media and is most successful when it is used to accomplish narrowly defined communication objectives, such as:
- To generate immediate brand name recognition when introducing a new product and complement other forms of advertising.
- To remind customers who are already in the market-place about established and recognised brands of the marketer.
Outdoor advertising has become a useful medium with the increase in the number of automobiles and improved road network. Roadside and market area billboards are increasingly in demand by advertisers, particularly on the prime locations. The original poster used to be a sheet of paper measuring 28 inches by 41 inches called “one sheet.” A number of these could be combined to create larger ones to fit different frames. The most popular is the 24-sheet poster, which has a copy area of 104 inches by 234 inches. In recent years, posters of larger size are gaining increasing acceptance, having a copy area of 115 inches by 259 inches, or bleed posters measuring 125 inches by 272 inches. Poster panels can be illuminated or non-illuminated (also called regular posters). Illuminated posters are fairly common in metros and large cities with sufficient night traffic.
Printing technology has made rapid strides and posters of almost any size can be printed, but hand-painted boards are still high in demand as they can stand severe weather conditions in exposed areas longer than printed sheets of paper. Advertisers have the option of changing their copy more than once a year at their own expense.
There are only a few who sell outdoor location nationwide. Selvel and Advertiser are two well- known names of this industry. Other agencies in this field are Aren, Solus, MP Publicity, Sinefine, and Asian, etc. Selvel offers more than 20,000 hoardings nationwide and nearly 75% of these are permanent. In India, the outdoor advertising businesses are mainly local in nature. These individual firms operate in a limited area, each one of them owning a limited number of posters and painted display locations in different cities, towns, and the roadsides. The rates are based on contracted time, such as weeks, months, or year and vary between 5,000 to upwards of 200,000.
