Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Fort Wayne goes digital: billboard provides new option for advertisers

Last month, I posted about the outdoor advertising industry's increased investment in digital billboards. The technology has been in Indiana for some time, but to date it's been unavailable locally. Earlier this month, however, Fort Wayne's first digital billboard went up on State Road 14/Illinois Road, courtesy of Adams Outdoor Advertising.

The new board provides a new, interesting option for advertisers, but it's not for everyone. If you need to make frequent changes to your message (if you want to tout low prices on specific products, or if you want to feature time-sensitive events, for example), it's a good choice because you can change the creative frequently and easily. However, if you use outdoor for image/branding, it doesn't make as much sense since your message is only up for seconds at a time and since digital billboard space usually costs a lot more than traditional billboard/poster placement.


All I've seen on the board so far is self-promo for Adams, but I'm sure that will change soon. If you happen to be on 14 and you see any new messages pop up, send me an e-mail or add a comment with your thoughts.

2 comments:

Justin Clupper said...

I watched the billboard go up the day before the Business Expo as I ran around buying the last minute items. I've seen some Walmart ads...but that was it.

Interestingly enough, Digital Billboards were up in Muncie before FW. And they've only been up in Indy for about a year.

Any thoughts on why Muncie over the Fort?

Anthony Juliano said...

Thanks for the comment, Justin. I not sure, but I'm guessing that Muncie has less restrictive ordinances. And even though I like outdoor as an advertising options, I'm glad that Fort Wayne has some restraint in what's allowed.