Guide to Designing a Good Airplane Banner
You have probably been to a sporting event or beach and seen a plane fly overhead pulling a banner. This is an aerial banner ad and is designed to convey the message randomly to thousands of people. Such banner ads are very popular and are used to remind people of established businesses, to tell of new stores or restaurants, to promote political candidates, even to convey proposals for marriage or birthday wishes.
Those effectively using aerial banners are not wasting their money. It has proven to be a relatively low cost high impact means of advertising. The message immediately grabs the attention of a large audience by its uniqueness and the drone of the plane, and is repeated many times as the plane flies over the crowd. It is a great way to get a message to a local audience.
These factors are all equal: the ad has a captured audience, no competition, the plane drawing attention to the message, and repetition. These are built into the method of advertising. All the messages are also brief. The fly-by time is only 17 seconds. Yet some aerial ads are clearly more effective than others to persuade an audience to consider what it says. What factors make a good banner ad?
Several factors make up a good banner ad. The advertiser has a goal in mind and the brief message must reach that goal. The message must be catchy, readable, attractive, and it must be easy to remember. The printer will take care of the readability, usually using seven foot letters. They will also have suggestions on making it attractive. Your job then is to plan a message that at once conveys what you want to say in few words and is easy to remember.
For decades this little poem has helped people plan an effective ad: There are six honest serving men Who taught me all I knew. Their names are what and when and why And how and where and who. So your first task is to write down everything you really want the audience to learn from your ad. Be specific and concise. Some of the six question words above will not apply to your situation. For example, you may not need to tell them why they should visit your establishment, at least, not yet. But the questions what, when, and where are usually important. The ad may simply tell your name and a website where more information is available that will answer other questions.
Once you have written down everything the audience simply must know, then began wording it in a concise way so that the most important information is emphasized. It would be nice to include addresses, phone numbers, web page addresses for a restaurant, but the banner simply doesn’t allow space to say it all, nor will people remember that much. Perhaps just the name and the corner the restaurant is on would be best.
Now that your full message is concise, ask yourself, “Is it easy to remember?” Why is this important? People at a beach or sporting event are normally not going to be prepared to take notes. After all, you ad is a brief diversion from their main purpose in being there. It is good to test your idea on others to see if they think it will be remembered. Take your time to make it catchy. It will be worth the effort.
Once you have followed these steps, it is time to get in touch with an airplane advertising company and get it printed and into the air. It won’t take long before your well planned message will be read by thousands and the result in sales will soon follow.
Tags: aerial advertising, aerial banners, airplane advertising, airplane banners