sidelanes.com

I used to work at an ad agency where the rule of thumb for text on a billboard was; No more than 7 words. Sometimes you’d get a few more words than that when the client had something they absolutely had to say, 9-10 words, fine.

When I came across these billboards on the side of the Interstate I just had to wonder who was the mastermind behind this. Is this the result of an unassertive graphic designer or an excessively pushy client? I wondered what was the back-story to this scenario.

The wordcount is 25 not including contact info and logo

Let’s say for the sake of a back story that it was the client who had something they absolutely had to say. The designer did their best to cut the text down to size but the most they could get was a couple words here and there. The billboard goes up with dozens more words than anyone can possibly read while driving by at 65+ mph and their advertising budget is spent on something completely worthless.

I mean you can’t really expect someone to stop and pull over their car to read your novel of text on the side of the road, can you? Do you really think someone would give you that sort of attention? Who in their right mind would pay any attention to this? Who in their right mind would take a picture and… post it on the… Internet?

Hmmmm, with that in mind I took it a step further and masterminded my own campaign of billboards for Sidelanes.com.

My Billboard

My billboard again (In case you want to have another look)

Keep a lookout, you’ll see these popping up all around the Salt Lake Valley.