1. Proper location: all most successful screens are located on city main streets, on busy intersections; screens must be well seen from various points of approach.
2. Proper selection of the screen size: size must be determined considering the average distance from which information could be seen and read.
3. Proper selection of commercials: not everything fit for TV will show well on the outdoor screen.
Many people erroneously believe that an outdoor screen is similar to a TV and select common video commercials for large outdoor displays. However, they forget that commercials differ a lot. One may find wonderful commercials with large dynamically changing images. Such are some advertising clips of feature films, like “Romeo and Juliet”, “Gone in 60 Seconds”, “The Lake of Fear”, or commercials specially created for viewing on large screens, like Pall Mall cigarette slogan “Add fire to your night!” The reason maybe that producers hope to impress the audience with foreground images since the screens in cinema theaters are quite large. Moreover, the effect on viewers of awesome foreground image is believed to be lasting.
There exist numerous TV commercials that can be shown on large outdoor screens without any adjustments or editing (e.g. Nescafe and J7 Juice commercials etc.). However, our TV screens abound in commercials that are more fit for newspapers and magazines. These clips typically carry excessive minor details, inscriptions in small font, or long printed messages. No doubt, such pictures are good for unhurried viewing in a newspaper or magazine, but the message gets lost on a TV screen; in fact such commercials annoy viewers and become counterproductive. Naturally, if such commercial is chosen for the outdoor electronic screen, it should be thoroughly redone and re-edited.
Outdoor screens are extremely effective in showing dynamic advertising where none is expected. However it is wrong to ignore some peculiarities of outdoor advertising. The distance to passers-by or drivers is large, the changing light during the day may significantly affect the unsuitable picture, weather conditions affect perception, excessively fast-changing foreground and background images may create a flicker effect, etc. Not to forget that perception in the street and at home in a comfortable armchair is different.
However, an experienced professional can easily correct the situation. It is possible to incorporate special graphic methods to effectively utilize peculiarities of large outdoor screens:
· Avoid small details, small font letters and indistinct background images.
· Use bright saturated colors, avoid blurry pastel colors that can be negatively affected by direct sunlight or in gloomy and rainy weather.
· Use sharply delineated images, contrast must change during the day depending on the level of brightness outside.
To better understand peculiarities of video commercials on outdoor screens you can conduct a simple test. Put some attractive picture with some printed text on the screen of your computer and then get as far away as you can from the screen (maybe to the end of the room). You will immediately notice what remains visible and what disappears from the screen. So, considering this home test you can edit the image to make it more effective.
Creating a good well-visible commercial is only one factor in effective utilization of large outdoor screens. What is the use of creating a masterpiece that will remain unnoticed? Your commercial must be seen by the maximum number of people. Therefore, one of the main parameters to keep in mind is the overall display area. Therefore, the price of outdoor advertising installations (screens, billboards, roof constructions, etc.) depends on their total square area.
From the technical point of view other parameters may also affect the price. But professional advertisers know that it all boils down to advertising efficiency. That is why outdoor screens are becoming more and more popular in spite of their greater cost. The return on investment in electronic screens is significantly higher than in other advertising outdoor installations.
The advertising efficiency is calculated by the number of people who watch the screen. Thus, we come to the location parameter and display square area. The experience of advertizing agencies in North America, Russia and other countries demonstrate that the efficiency drastically increases when the area of screens exceeds 7x5 meters. In Japan first outdoor screens were all small. Recently all these installations were replaced by electronic screens with area not less than 70-100 square meters.