Steps for Designing a Memorable Aerial Banner Ad
You have probably been to a sporting event or beach and seen a plane fly overhead pulling a banner. This is an aerial banner ad and is designed to convey the message randomly to thousands of people. Such banner ads are very popular and are used to remind people of established businesses, to tell of new stores or restaurants, to promote political candidates, even to convey proposals for marriage or birthday wishes.
Those effectively using banner towing are not wasting their money. It has proven to be a relatively low cost high impact means of advertising. The message immediately grabs the attention of a large audience by its uniqueness and the drone of the plane, and is repeated many times as the plane flies over the crowd. It is a great way to get a message to a local audience.
These factors are all equal: the ad has a captured audience, no competition, the plane drawing attention to the message, and repetition. These are built into the method of advertising. All the messages are also brief. The fly-by time is only 17 seconds. Yet some aerial ads are clearly more effective than others to persuade an audience to consider what it says. What factors make a good banner ad?
A good banner ad must have several factors. The brief message must reach the goal the advertiser has in mind. The message must be readable, it must be catchy, it must be attractive, and it must be easy to remember. Most banner ads are written in seven foot letters so readability is not a problem. The printers will have suggestions on making it attractive. Your job then is to plan a message that both conveys what you want, and is easy to remember.
Here is a poem that has helped many people plan: There are six honest serving men Who taught me all I knew. Their names are what and when and why And how and where and who. So first you should write down everything you feel is important enough to include in the ad. You must be concise. Notice that some of the six question words above will not need to be answered on the banner. For example, they don’t need to know how you operate. But the questions what, when, and where are needed to get people to visit you. Sometimes too much information is needed to include on a banner so the banner merely tells of a phone number or web address where more information is available.
Once you finish your list of must know information, then work on the wording until you are satisfied it is the best possible. Short messages are harder to write than long ones. It would be nice to tell the captivated audience all about yourself but the banner simply wouldn’t allow that, nor would the people remember it. Perhaps best would be to tell them just enough to get them interested in learning more.
Once you have whittled the message down to as few words as possible, ask yourself, “If I read this on a beach or sporting event, would I remember what it said?” That is important because few people are going to write it down at the time they see it. After all, they are not there to get information about your services. You are borrowing from another event’s attention. Test your idea on others to see if they think it will be remembered. A few well chosen words can go a long way.
When you have the message perfected, then it is time to call a banner towing company who can guide you through the process of getting it printed and into the sky. The effort you put into making it just what you want will soon begin to turn into cash.