Electronic billboards enliven outdoor advertising<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Outdoor advertising has been around for a long
\ntime, especially in the capital city, but this medium of
\ncommunication did not take off until five years ago when agencies
\nbegan to pay it more attention.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian Association of Advertising Agencies estimated
\nspending on outdoor ads in 1994 at US$88 million, more than three
\ntimes as large as the $24.65 million spent in 1993.<\/p>\n
As a percentage of total ad spending in the country, outdoor
\nadvertising's share is still less than 10 percent. The steady
\nincrease is an encouraging trend.<\/p>\n
Now outdoor ads can be seen on buses, bus shelters, taxi cabs
\nand large balloons, in addition to the conventional billboards,
\nneon signs and poster ads.<\/p>\n
"The outdoor advertising media have now become more
\ncompetitive and their quality has improved as well," said Rima
\nSzukri, an executive of the JWT AdForce, one of Indonesia's
\nlargest agencies.<\/p>\n
Outdoor advertising has the necessary impact and also serves
\nas a reminder by reinforcing the campaigns advertisers have put
\nmade through media, such as the print media and television, Rima
\nadded.<\/p>\n
More recently, the city skyline has been enlivened with a more
\ninnovative concept of outdoor advertising -- computer-controlled,
\nelectronic display boards.<\/p>\n
"Yes I have noticed them and I think the prospect of the
\nelectronic display boards is quite promising in view of their
\nwide exposure to motorists who have to struggle with traffic
\njams," Rama added.<\/p>\n
Rama foresaw the opportunities for outdoor advertising as
\nalmost limitless, especially with the emergence of such high-tech
\nbillboards as the electronic display boards.<\/p>\n
There are now three electronic display boards in the capital
\ncity, located on top of the Atrium shopping complex in the Senen
\ntriangle area and at along the Blora and Majapahit roads.<\/p>\n
Choi Byoung Soo, President of PT Indo Led Evastar, which
\ninstalled the three-dimension, light emitting diodes (LED)
\nelectronic display board in the Senen triangle area, concurred
\nthat the high-tech medium will become increasingly popular for
\noutdoor advertising.<\/p>\n
"The users can create the characters, patterns in advance,
\nusing a personal computer, then send the data to the memory on
\nthe interface board of the electronic display board," Choi said
\nin citing the practical use of such billboards.<\/p>\n
Led Evastar<\/p>\n
PT Indo Led Evastar, is a joint venture between an Indonesian
\ncompany and Bong Oh Electronics Industrial Co.Ltd., the largest
\nmanufacturer of light emitting diode (LED) display boards in
\nSouth Korea.<\/p>\n
In fact, Choi added, LED display boards made by his company
\nhave a wide variety of types, sizes and functions to fit the
\napplications and installation locations.<\/p>\n
"Our LED display boards can also be used in financial
\ninstitutions such as stock exchanges, commercial outlets such as
\ndepartment stores, airport terminals, bus and railway stations,
\nsports stadiums and various other public places which require
\nregular public information bulletins," he said.<\/p>\n
A staff member of a big advertising company in South Jakarta,
\nwho wanted to remain anonymous said, however, that although
\ncomputerization is a novelty, she still prefers old fashioned
\nbillboards.<\/p>\n
"The problem with computerized boards is that from the visual
\neffect is not too effective, because all the signs move too fast.
\nSo people cannot see our ad clearly and wholly, from a 30 second
\ncommercial maybe we can catch only three seconds of it," she told
\nThe Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
But Larry Pintak, Managing Director of TriComm Strategic
\nCommunications did not agree.<\/p>\n
"Billboards can be extremely effective in Jakarta because of
\nthe traffic jams; people who sit in cars cannot escape them,"
\nsaid Pintak.<\/p>\n
Effective<\/p>\n
He said billboards are especially effective for advertising
\nconsumer products such as cigarettes and food.<\/p>\n
Billboards are relatively more expensive than television
\ncommercials and other forms of indoor advertisements.<\/p>\n
"And, for billboards, a producer should make a long-term
\ncommitment, while for advertising on TV there is no such
\nrequirement," Pintak said.<\/p>\n
He said one advantage of billboards is that they reach
\neveryone, therefore they are good for mass products. But for
\nproducts which are not categorized as mass products, such as
\nbrand-named products like Cartier, a targeted-market magazine
\nwill be more effective.<\/p>\n
"They can advertise, for example, in the internal magazine of
\nthe Mercantile Club," Pintak told the Post.<\/p>\n
Competition<\/p>\n
However, Pintak said a competition between outdoor and indoor
\nadvertisements does exist because producers have to budget where
\nthey will put their adds.<\/p>\n
"But, again it depends on the kind of the products ... in some
\nproducts they are overlap, in others there are some differences,"
\nsaid Pintak.<\/p>\n
Major advertisers have never put money into one media alone,
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
The more exposure the better the result, that is the reason
\nadvertisers usually put their commercials in accumulative media.<\/p>\n
Douglas Khoo, media adviser of Indo-Ad, said basically there
\nis no competition between indoor and outdoor advertisements
\nbecause there are different purposes on the part of advertisers.<\/p>\n
"It depends on what objective you want to achieve," Khoo said.<\/p>\n
Outdoor advertising, such as billboards, is very good for
\nreaching people who are mobile,like those in cars or buses. But
\nbecause they are mobile, billboards should expose only simple and
\nreadable message. The brand names and pictures of the products
\ncan be put on the billboards, but more details about the product
\ncannot be put there.<\/p>\n
"The exposure of billboards is very short. Cars passing along
\nJl. Sudirman, for example, run at 60 to 80 kilometers per hour,
\nso there is only three to five seconds to see the billboard.
\nTherefore messages should be very simple," he said, adding that
\nthe effect will be stronger to those passing the street
\nregularly.<\/p>\n
Billboards, he said, help advertisers to enlarge their image
\nabout a product because of their gigantic scale.<\/p>\n
But because of its static character, a billboard cannot be
\neffective for products which sell their images.<\/p>\n
"It is good only for brand name exposure and visualization,
\nfor imagery, ads in TV will do better," Khoo said.<\/p>\n
To install a billboard is also not as simple as it may seem
\nbecause good maintenance is required.<\/p>\n
"Because of the weather, maintenance can be difficult," he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Billboards can be used as well as complimentary media.<\/p>\n
"If your potential area for example is South Jakarta, you can
\ninstall a billboard there as a complimentary extension to your ad
\nput in other media," Khoo said, adding that basically there is no
\nbad media, but everything depends more on the objective want to
\nbe achieved.<\/p>\n
He said for cigarette producers, billboards can be a medium
\nwhere they can expose the pack of their cigarettes since it is
\nforbidden to show the pack on TV commercials.<\/p>\n
Computerized electronic billboards, Khoo added, may have a
\nbetter future if the graphics can be improved, for example by
\nputting in more color and changing the dot-lines characters.<\/p>\n
"That is precisely the technological advantage our LED display
\nboards are offering. We supply LED dot-matrix units in various
\nsizes," Choi said.<\/p>\n
Choi added that LED displays also feature long service lives,
\nexcellent reliability, strong luminance, fine color and rapid
\nresponse. (als\/vin)<\/p>",
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