When Bigger is Not Always Better

This blog post offers a little insight and is a response to recent news events in the mobile billboard media category. With many companies, it often seems like bigger is better… but is that really the case? We’re always hearing that your business should “grow bigger” and “grow faster”. “Get out of your comfort zone, and expand!” is often common business advice.

But is this right? Well, the answer is complicated. The answer really is “it depends”. It depends on what is sacrificed with growth. Often business owners bite off more than they can chew, just for the sake of growth and the anticipated profits. I propose a symbiotic co-existence between the smaller and larger players in the mobile billboard landscape. There’s room for everyone. For instance, it was announced a few days back that Streetblimps was "acquired” by Do It Outdoors. My gut reaction is “congratulations, you're a great fit” Douglas Frantin, CEO of Streetblimps has built an impressive company over the past few of decades. As well, Do It Outdoors has proven themselves as a major fixture within the mobile billboard industry.

Is expansion always a good thing for the media buyers? Yes, in terms that they may make a larger media buy through one company that reaches multiple markets. But, often with expansion comes a negative aspect. Would an ad campaign (implemented through the larger billboard company) receive the proper care and commitment?

Before I jump into some of the pitfalls of working with larger media vendors (through the eyes of media buyers), let’s first examine some things that a smaller and more nimble mobile billboard company such as Billboards2Go offers, such as:

1. Personal and direct interaction between the VP of the company (me) and our clients, assuring each media campaign is run with the utmost professionalism and accountability. There’s less bureaucracy in my company and, with less people, the owners and founders are closer to the action, resulting in quicker decision-making, streamlined process and faster results. Simply put – we get stuff done!
2. A smaller mobile billboard fleet (in our case) is better maintained. When all of your sheep come back to the barn at night (metaphorically) you can implement a more vigorous maintenance schedule, therefor keeping your billboard trucks in tip-top shape.  Billboard2GO has a dedicated fleet management specialist working full time in our own depot in Linden New Jersey, assuring that our billboards units will perform as needed on every campaign. 
3. Since we are not the biggest players in the business, we can offer a more customized approach to our final product. Our competition typically offers a static printed banner loosely fit within a bulky sign frame, with very limited custom options.  Billboards2GO on the other hand, offers the skills of their prop-shop craftspeople to design and fabricate 2-D extensions, Pop-offs, 3-D elements, lighting effects, moving parts, and more.  We also operate custom-built mobile billboards that feature elevating sign frames. Each of our units can raise the FOUR-SIDED, full-bleed, 10’ x 22’ sign to 18 feet high. So, in this case “Bigger Is Better” We offer the “biggest” visual experience in the mobile billboard category!
   
4. Integrity! Integrity has been the backbone of our business model since 1999. We entered the mobile billboard business to uplift its image. How do we do so? By having a strict philosophy about what is advertised on our equipment. Back ‘in the day” when this industry was evolving many of our competitors advertised for shady businesses (to say the least) My partners and I promised ourselves that if we would be embarrassed to show an ad to our children than we would not run it. Since then, we follow a policy to not run ads that we believe may be inappropriate such as, tobacco products, adult-entertainment, boycotts, doxxing, and other shady-looking businesses.

On the other hand, the larger mobile billboard companies have such an incredible overhead they need to run through ad campaigns (and clients) as quickly (and in many cases ineffectively) as possible. Little thought may be attributed to integrity or accountability of the campaign. As I was once told by a friendly competitor "it doesn't matter what kind of sloppy job we do. If we lose the customer, there’s plenty more where they came from”. Well, that was a shocking revelation to me. We at Billboards2GO implement the opposite strategy. We believe it’s much easier to run an exemplary mobile billboard campaign and retain a client than it is soliciting for new ones. Many of our clients have given us repeat business for over a decade. The simple reason is, we go above and beyond for our clients. 

So, the next time someone says bigger is better, think of Billboards2GO, we’re the “smaller” mobile billboard company with the “biggest” mobile billboards!

The NJ Lottery wins big with Billboards2Go.com

WHEN A PLAIN RECTANGLE IS JUST NOT ENOUGH… CALL US!
The NJ LOTTERY wanted to go the “XTRA” mile to promote the added benefits of playing the “Jersey Cash 5 Xtra” lottery game. To do so, their marketing agency (Brushfire Inc) reached out to Billboards2Go.com to customize and operate several mobile billboard units, covering the state of New Jersey. The agency’s objective was to promote the new game features and support the many retail outlets that sell NJ Lottery games. A handful of high-profile retail chains benefited from the mobile billboard campaign exposure. Specific retailers, such as 7-Eleven, ShopRite, Wawa, QuickChek and others were destination stops during the month long tour of New Jersey.

WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH XTRA?
The following are a few of newly added features of the game, according to NJ Lottery: “Every day of the week, you've got a chance to win a rolling jackpot with Jersey Cash 5 XTRA. The estimated jackpot starts at $75,000 and grows with each drawing until it gets hit! Add XTRA to improve your odds and multiply non-jackpot prizes up to 5X!Now with the increased benefits, NJ Lottery players will have the opportunity to increase their non-jackpot prizes by up to five times on the long-time favorite game.”

Since its inception in 1970, the NJ Lottery has dedicated nearly $24 billion to programs and institutions that benefit millions of New Jersey residents. The Departments of Agriculture, Education, Human Services, Military and Veterans Affairs and Higher Education Services receive support from Lottery generated revenue.

THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX/RECTANGLE

On this project (as with many others) the advertising agency wanted more bang for their ad buck. The quickest and most cost effective way was to add a simple embellishment to the main design with an extension on the top of the billboard frames. The small and relatively inexpensive addition was certainly a big hit! When production was completed and shown to the agency, they were quite impressed with the results of their design idea. The “Jersey Big” promotion with a giant tomato theme was the perfect opportunity to introduce a pop-off section to the board.

Similar to Jersey Cash 5 Xtra design, we recommend that all of our clients think outside the rectangle to increase their ad's exposure effectiveness. Our mobile billboard advertising units offer a huge “artists canvas” to help create an eye-catching visual impact. The addition of an extension or embellishment to your billboard sign will add an air of excitement to your promotion. Simply put, extensions draw more attention to your billboard advertising. Our custom embellishments offer unique creative opportunities that grab the attention of drivers and pedestrians way beyond a standard static display.

Increasingly, creative agencies look forward to the ability to break the plane of the top and sides to engage deeper with the consumers. These basic production techniques will add extra impact and memorability to the message. At our Linden New Jersey based prop shop, we can produce custom 2D, 3D, LED lighting effects and even moving objects! Share your ideas with Russell Miller, our company's Graphics and Production Manager and he will guide you through every step of the process. To reach out to Russell, please send an email to graphics@billboards2go.com

SIMPLE AND COST EFFECTIVE
The cost to add a little extra flare to your mobile billboard design is a lot less expensive than you may imagine. Billboards2Go.com Prop Shop uses the latest creative and production technology to help keep production costs down and improve product turnaround times. “Our ultimate objective is to help our clients achieve their marketing goals. Their success is our success” says, Andrew Miller VP of Billboards2Go.com 

In short, Billboards2Go.com strove to make the Jersey Big campaign bigger than ever! For over 17 years Billboards2Go.com has been dedicated to delivering advertising excitement and creating a unique and memorable connection with its audience.

Impressions are not that impressive!

After being racked across the coals, advertisers are afraid to spend their ad budgets on underperforming or nonexistent media… and who can blame them? The Fortune Magazine article I linked to on the bottom of this blog post specifically references a multi-billion-dollar fraud perpetrated against savvy and not too savvy online media buyers. Not only does it hurt legitimate media outlets but also has far reaching repercussions throughout the ad media industry. The article declares, half or more paid online display advertisements that ad networks, media buyers, and ad agencies have knowingly been selling to clients over the years have never appeared in front of the eye-balls of live human beings. That is a shocking claim (but believable) considering the difficulty to offer realistic and solid proof of performance measurements.

Digital marketers may tell their clients that "impression" is ad slang for one person seeing an advertisement one time, but that statement is far from accurate. Online advertising is based on an "impression"— without the impression, then an advertisement cannot be viewed or clicked or provoke any other engagement. But, impressions may be manipulated in many ways from high-tech hacker algorithms creating a convoluted spider web of phony traffic to other tricky methods of deception such as "cookie-stuffing”, “fake clicks” and “fake websites”.

Ad media clients have been putting their faith (and large budgets) into a media that has been proven to be a wild guess. It’s almost as if there is a conspiracy of self inflicted denial. No one wants to admit there is a problem. Certainly, the ad agencies that rely on the revenue stream among the multitudes of web sites promoting thier space want to believe all is well in cyberdom. As the author of the linked article concluded “As long as a see-no-evil attitude will persist, half of the $50-billion digital marketing industry will remain fraudulent.

It’s time to wake up and smell the pixels. Online advertising is not what it’s touted to be. Although there is plenty of legitimate traffic, if you add up for all the fraud, you are paying a heck of a lot more per “impression” than you were lead to believe. “So much for making advertising more efficient and accountable.”

So what does this have to do with Billboards2Go.com? I will answer that with a simple declaration: “OOH media buyers please be aware that Billboards2Go.com offers a 100% proof-of-performance guarantee on every one of our mobile billboard advertising campaigns.” For over 15 years, Billboards2Go.com has excelled in quality proof-of-performance for our clients. From partnering with a major telcom provider for GPS Satellite Tracking of our many mobile billboard units to photographic proof in the client’s market, there is no doubt we are offering the best service available. Our mobile billboards are real, they're huge, and with about 500 square feet of ad space per unit, they make an awesome impression. They may be used for targeting specific events, zip codes, major shopping areas, other high-traffic venues and more.

If you are exhausted from wasting your ad budgets on underperforming media, please contact me immediately for a free consultation on what a Billboards2Go.com mobile billboard campaign can do to increase your bottom line. That's just how we roll. 

Please Visit Us at www.Billboards2Go.com

RE: http://fortune.com/2015/07/01/online-advertising-fraud/

Billboards2Go.com New Look

Billboards2Go.com has been in the mobile billboard business for over 15 years supplying high-quality mobile billboard ad campaigns. Every so often, you need to revamp your image before it goes stale. On that note, we upgraded our company logo (with a slight tweaking) and redesigned the company web site. Now it is truly “responsive” with all digital devices from PCs to smart phones. Our new site is easier to navigate and streamlined to make the overall experience that much more professional. So, please visit us soon and let us know how you like it. Thanks!

MOBILE BILLBOARDS THAT POP!

A quick note for all advertising “idea” people that are looking for a creative method to promote your clients’ brands: Now Billboards2Go.com is your One-Stop Resource for 3-dimensional signage fabrication for our fleet of Mobile Billboards Advertising Trucks.

As the OOH media industry is stepping up its game in innovation, Billboards2go.com is leading the way for the mobile billboard category. With over 15 years of quality mobile billboard experience targeting the east coast, no other company will give you more bang for your buck!

3-Dimensional billboards are an emerging new medium that has evolved from the traditional media of 2-dimensional billboards. 3D billboard construction used to be a time consuming and expensive endeavor, but with the amazing technological advances in recent years, the process has become significantly more convenient and affordable, allowing advertisers to take advantage of this creative new medium.

The appeal of 3D mobile billboards is the compelling visual message that leaves a lasting impression. It allows for a form of creativity and artistic expression that no other medium offers. A 3D mobile billboard is essentially a moving piece of art that delivers a message that creates an immediate and lasting impact on the audience. Additionally, Mobile Billboards will not be ignored and can get quality exposure (during prime time) at multiple location, delivering a diverse audience for the advertiser.

Billboards2Go.com offers traditional high-res printed banners, simple 2-D extensions to elaborate 3-D elements with moving parts and LED lighting effects. Like anything else, the bigger the budget the more expressive and impressive the outcome of the project will be. However, you will be amazed at what we can do with smaller budgets. With your creative input and our in-house production staff, we can collaborate on a design that will turn heads and greatly improve your bottom line. For further information on our creative process, please contact Russell, my company’s Production Manager at graphics@billboards2go.com. Thanks!

The 2015 Celebrate Israel Parade in New York City

Chalk up another successful event for Billboards2Go.com from this past Sunday. By utilizing two state-of-the-art mobile billboard units (moonlighting as parade floats) my company’s clients received a lot of “bang for their buck.” Not only does our mobile billboard’s huge sign space make a terrific canvas for a parade message, the quick production turnaround and reasonable rate is a much smarter alternative to the more complex, time consuming and costly traditional parade float.

About the Event:  From its humble beginnings, back in 1965 (traveling down Riverside Drive in New York City) grew a huge tribute marching up Fifth Avenue’s prominent parade route. According to this year’s figures, the Celebrate Israel Parade drew a crowd in the hundreds of thousands with thirty thousand participants. It was a sea of U.S. and Israeli flags, colorful balloons, marching bands, decorated floats and thousands of students grouped with vibrant matching tee-shirts, veterans and VIPs, such as Mayor Bill de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo, all transforming Fifth Avenue’s typical bumper-to-bumper car traffic into a venue of joyful celebration.

I would like to take this blog opportunity to thank my clients for choosing Billboards2Go.com to represent their message at the event. StandWithUs.com and JDate.com are two highly regarded organizations with a strong belief that Israel is a nation that is a force for good in the world.

I personally believe Israel often gets a bad rap in the media and elsewhere. But if folks do their research, they will see Israel in a more positive light. Israeli-developed technologies range from cell phones and computers to the latest breakthrough medical procedures used every day around the world. Israel provides humanitarian assistance reaching many needy countries that require immediate critical aid. When it comes to disaster response, Israel has used its vast experience to assist countries impacted by natural disasters, terrorism, disease or war. Bar none, Israel is known for “making the desert bloom.” Israel has pioneered and shared its extensive agricultural techniques with the world. In addition, Israel contributes to a cleaner planet with cutting-edge renewable energy and water technologies. As nations struggle to make the best use of their resources, Israel’s technologies promise to improve the health and living standards of hundreds of millions across the globe.

Currently, the United States and Israel are close friends and allies. The continued strength of the U.S.-Israel alliance is rooted in the shared values of the two nations. So, if any nation deserves a day of celebration… Israel is the perfect candidate and the Celebrate Israel Parade up Fifth Ave was a wonderful tribute, which Billboards2Go.com was a proud participant!

Mobile Billboards Make Impressive Parade Floats!

What does JDate.com and StandWithUs.com have in common? Well, besides the apparent dedication to Jewish causes, they both will be represented at the “Celebrate Israel Parade” in New York City by Billboards2Go.com. Not only does the company’s mobile billboards make mean lean targeted advertising machines, they also double as quick, convenient, affordable and creative parade floats.

On May 31, 2015, the Celebrate Israel Parade will be traveling down Fifth Avenue from 57th Street to 74th Street (11am-4pm) The Parade will be on FOX MY9 from 12 to 2pm. It will also be live streamed on www.CelebrateIsraelny.org from 12 to 3pm. Quoted directly from their website: “This year’s 2015 Theme — “Israel Imagines.” The founders of Israel had a dream. They imagined a vibrant, independent and Jewish state that would not only be a haven for Jews from all over the world, but also one that would incorporate the best characteristics of its citizens: brains and brawn, creativity, determination, fairness and imagination – a state whose greatest natural resource is its people who could imagine that future – one that would benefit the whole world! Today’s Israel is a result of that dream. We invite you to use your imagination and creativity to highlight some of the things that Israel imagined and continues to imagine – some that have come to fruition and some still to be achieved.”

For a cost effective solution for representation in a parade, a mobile billboard makes sense on many levels. For one, it is quick to implement. Our basic standard turnaround is as little as 10 days. It is visually impressive with about 500 square feet of message space. In terms of presentation, Billboards2Go.com’s production team adds decorative tinsel to the lower section of the mobile billboard giving it the official parade float look. As for the printed banners, the creative may be anything the client needs from a simple message to a complex full color, high-resolution design. It's relatively quick and easy to print a 10' x 22' banner. For the more adventurous clients, (with a larger budget and more time) Billboards2Go.com production department offers 2-D and 3-D embellishments including moving parts and LED lighting effects.

We are a trusted media vendor to many major brands as well as countless small businesses within the NY/NJ/CT/PA markets. We are a mobile billboard company you may rely on. To learn more about our proof-of-performance and other unique features of our quality advertising media service, please visit our web site atwww.Billboards2Go.com. Hope to see you at the parade!