The Money in Billboard Ad’s
I was reading this article in BD Africa with special interest because it’s on the advertising industry in Kenya and it’s move towards trying to incorporate technology as a way of measuring the effectiveness of these ad’s. According to the article:
“Consumer market research firm Synovate has launched a new tool that measures the impact and value of outdoor advertising aiming to help media buyers determine the effectiveness of their messages in the marketplace. With the help of GPS technology, Synovate has mapped all outdoor advertisements countrywide and used the volume of human traffic at every location to determine the impact of every posting”.
However, a different quoted source said the following of this new technology:
“Mr George Lutta, the managing director of Media Initiative East Africa, described the instrument as amounting to a new way of getting media buyers to pay more for research. “Most of this information is available at the ministries of Transport and Local Government. Why should advertisers pay for it?”
So, while the Lutta guy is right about this information being freely accessible at government offices, isn’t it also freely accessible from google maps and/or google earth?
I’ve told you guys before that I use google to track my ad revenue’s. And when you sign up with google, they give you a little code, which you can place on your site to track your ad revenues. Now, this little piece of code (which is free by the way) – tells you everything you need to know about whether your ad’s are working or not.
It tells you what location your clicks are coming from, what keywords they used to find your site, if someone clicks on an ad, did they actually go on to purchase something from your site (and this is the most important part: it’s not just about how many people are seeing the site, it’s about whether they are actually buying anything i.e. whether your ad’s are actually converting into sales.
So, what exactly is Synovate saying they are going to do? tell you how many people drive by Mbagathi way everyday? Then what? And so what if 100,000 people drive by? Knowing that is not the most important thing. The most important thing is figuring out how many of those 100,000 people actually end up purchasing the product advertised.
Yes, it’s good to know how many people are driving by a particular location because that will tell you where to place your ad’s, but you also need to know whether that ad is converting into sales and how would you do that with this system?
This is why advertising in the west is moving online. It’s because the software available today gives you very accurate metrics about the effectiveness of your campaign. For example, if you spend $100 dollars on an ad campaign and that ad only brings you $60 dollars in revenue, you’ll know it’s not working very well and you’d make adjustments.
But let me ask you a question: when you are stuck in traffic, do you look at those billboard ad’s? and have you every bought anything based on what you saw on a billboard?
It’s the same problem facebook is having. How many of you guys who are on facebook ever click on the ad’s? Do you even notice them?
** Anyway, these billboards are not going away because they’ve become a cash cow for many individuals and we all know how it works:
Let’s say I work for East African Breweries and I work in the sales department. i.e. I am in charge of advertising. So, what I would do, is call up a good friend of mine and tell her to set up an advertising agency. Then, I’d re-direct all of EAB’s business to her agency. My friend would then bill EAB for the ad’s they’ve created and we’d split the pickings.
And you can’t stop advertising if you’re a business.
ke,
Sounds like another pyramid scheme type of deal. You know it baffles me how easily Kenyans can be fooled by people who have credentials.
Damn….!!
Billboards work in same cases. But there is no way of measuring their effectiveness.
noni: Billboards work in same cases.
In what cases?
Isn’t visual advertising some sort of psychological device? I once read that it works subconsciously. I don’t know how true this is but it may perhaps explain why billboards and other forms of visual advertising work.
Don’t we have anyone in here in advertising????
I remember I went to see Moi once at his house in Kabarak Gardens (in a group) and he advised us to go into advertising because there were very few Kenyans in it at the time……..
Billboards ads are no different from TV and radio ads. I’d think Billboards ads would be effective in promoting a brand while search related ads for are more like classifieds where the ad is pushing to buy.
kei O: Did u lsten to moi? And did u ask the idiot why he was raping the country?
I wud stick my show up his backside if I could… giving away the mau forest to his arse-lickers…
CT
Those things did not matter to me at the time. Mind you I was very young….
We had a delicious meal and then he gave us a “substantial” amount of cash! We shared it among ourselves and really went out on the town. I remember I used some of the money to go to Ukunda (South Coast) for a short break. Ahhhhhh …. those were the days.
Funny enough, Moi is a very good guy on a one to one basis. He gave us very sound advice – but we did not listen to him. All we wanted was the money to go and enjoy!
I like Moi I must confess – he is really misunderstood.
Kei O: Misunderstood? How?
Do you live in Kenya (I do).
Did you live in Kenya during moi’s days (I did).
Did i suffer under moi’s rule (I did).
CT
I believe he meant well for the country. I give him credit for holding the country together. The ethnic blocs were not so pronounced as they are now. I swear we thought ourselves as Kenyans not as Kales, Jango’s or walalos etc.
Moi was a good leader – lets be fair.
- It has also been suggested that Christians who drink wine should do it in the fact that numerous awards are not few and far between a third or more bottles of Merlot and Riesling arm wrestle or a glass of White Zinfandel enter a chugging contest. 2002 cakebread cabernet
ejZ60t zuxuqnowpmhz, [url=http://tivrngkmzthv.com/]tivrngkmzthv[/url], [link=http://jfrwdusrosrs.com/]jfrwdusrosrs[/link], http://hbrieumewljh.com/