The history of billboards – large street billboards – goes back a century. The first billboards appeared in the U.S. in the 1920s and were created, as a rule, by the owners themselves or their assistants. In our time, it is engaged special advertising agencies and they sometimes can come up with very interesting and unusual ways to make a billboard. We bring to your attention seven interesting facts about billboards.

The world’s first flavored billboard

Sometimes, the creativity of advertisers and marketers simply does not fit in the rectangular framework of an ordinary billboard. Billboards can be three-dimensional, or some parts of the advertising message can protrude beyond its limits. But creatives from Bloom, an American grocery store chain, did the most interesting thing. They created “the world’s first scented billboard. It did emit aromas of black pepper and charcoal, which was supposed to evoke associations with freshly fried steak to the passengers of passing cars on the NC 150 highway. It was the piece of steak on the fork that was depicted on the billboard itself. True, the billboard didn’t smell all the time: it exuded aromas from 7-10 a.m. to 4-17 p.m. from May to June 2010.

The world’s first musical billboard

In May 2014, Beck’s Beer created a billboard with the ability to play sound. Not only could you listen to music on this billboard, but you could also perform it! The billboard used conductive ink connected to sensors and speakers, which made it produce a certain sound when the poster was touched. The company claimed that it – the world’s first billboard on which you can play music, but two years before that, in 2012, the advertising agency Agency Republic has released an interactive music poster Spotify Powered. However, the poster is not a billboard, so we’ll leave the primacy to Beck’s Beer.

Multi-part billboard ads

Billboards get more attention and create intrigue when the advertising message is placed on multiple billboards, one behind the other. This works especially well on deserted interstates, where drivers tend to be bored and have nothing to look at. Creative creates ads for, say, five billboards with text such as:

“The world’s best razors.
You’re about to meet them.
“It’s going to be incredible.
“They’re already waiting for you
On the shelves of so-and-so.”

The lettering on each of the billboards works to attract and capture attention, as anyone wants to get a complete picture of what’s being offered. It is very likely that the driver will look closely at the billboards until he reaches the final billboard, which reveals the intrigue.

Billboards on barns.

In the first half of the 20th century, American creatives from the Mail Pouch chewing tobacco company made an interesting offer to farmers whose houses or other buildings, such as barns, stood near the highway. Representatives of the company promised to paint the buildings in any color the owners wished, and in return they were allowed to write an advertisement on the wall or walls of the barns and houses that faced the road.

It worked: the ad attracted a lot of attention, and no special structures had to be created to place it. Although the signs have not been updated since the end of the advertising campaign, many farmers have never repainted their buildings and the large Mail Pouch signs are still on them.

The Hollywood sign is also a billboard
The famous “HOLLYWOOD” sign in the Hollywood Hills is also a billboard. It was created as an advertisement for local real estate during the active development of Los Angeles in 1923 and the inscription (it was longer then: “HOLLYWOODLAND”) was supposed to be posted for a year and a half. But the creatives liked the residents and visitors so much that they decided to keep the sign until they got tired of it. Still not bored of it!

Mobile billboards

Of particular interest are billboards that can be moved. They allow the advertiser to place their message directly where it will look most appropriate. For example, advertising of refreshments at a summer festival may “move”, appearing in places where congregate most people.

Also, this format gives the opportunity to play with the way the billboard moves: they can be carried by bicycles, carried by people, carried by horses, and once was spotted advertising billboard, moving … on the dog sled. But the most common option is placement on vans or trailers.

Useful Billboards

Billboards can be multi-purpose – and very useful! For example, they can not only show ads, but also illuminate the street. Sometimes telecommunication antennas are placed on billboards, thus avoiding the construction of special (not very aesthetic) towers. Wiring and antennas are hidden inside the structure so as not to interfere with the viewing of advertising and not to spoil the appearance of the billboard itself.