Unreadable Billboard Copy

Posted by Carroll Trosclair Jun 27, 2008

Some organizations seem to be wasting money on billboards these days, some by writing too much copy, some by trying to be too clever and some by violating basic graphic rules. Writing great billboard ad copy is not easy, but following a few elementary guidelines will at least produce readable advertising.

We saw numerous violations of those guidelines while driving across a couple of states recently.

Clever But Unredable Copy

One billboard said: "Not dumped yet?" That got our attention, but even driving at a legal 70 miles per hour on the Interstate, we were unable to read the rest of the story, including the name of the advertiser. We doubt those drivers passing us at 80 mph could read it either. Reading speed does not necessarily match driving speed.

Another board said: "The ‘T’ stands for luxury." We assume the advertiser’s name started with a "T" but we were not able to read it.

In both of these cases, the clever headlines were in large readable type. But the rest of the messages, including the advertisers’ names, were too small to be read in the few seconds we were able to devote to the billboard.

Those are common problems. There are so many billboards out there now that they compete for the few seconds that we can (or should) shift our eyes off the road in all that fast-moving traffic.

Keep It Short, Big and Simple

Even when traffic was slower and less adventurous, ad experts recommended billboard copy be limited to seven words. Many advertisers ignore that rule these days.

Suggestion: Keep the copy short. Keep it big, especially the name. Keep the graphics simple.

Billboard companies can provide help in designing readable boards. Clients can help themselves by listening to their advice.

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