Bus Ads Are Far From Fancy Photos
November 9th, 2009 by Erik Paul under Business, Design, Photography. No Comments.
I feel like I say this a lot so please forgive me if you’ve heard this before… I started my career in outdoor advertising (billboards, buses, malls, walls, etc.) and have seen the amazing power potential outdoor advertising harnesses. I believe outdoor (also referred to as out-of-home media) is an effective advertising medium (when the creative is designed properly and placed in a smart location). On a side note, as a designer, I like to show my work whenever possible for obvious reasons: to expand my portfolio to obtain new clients and gain confidence in existing ones. I also like to present my work in a way that is flattering to what I have designed. It is somewhat contradictory to create something I am proud of, then show it off in a manner that is somewhat demeaning to the entire process. Well, this brings me back to my point… as much as I feel outdoor advertising is an effective medium for advertising, it is also one of the hardest mediums to present well as a portfolio piece if not photographed nicely (or able to be photographed nicely). Billboards aren’t so challenging, they don’t move and if I can find a legal spot to park, voila, I can get a nice photo (depending on the weather… Washington has a tendency to add gray skies and wet overtones to shots taken 7-8 months out of the year). However, when I try to take a photo of an ad on an in-service bus (hopefully a clean bus), I feel like I’m an ambulance chaser, basically going wherever the bus goes just to get a decent shot… I’m sure it’s quite the site and frustrating to the driver behind me. In a long, drawn-out way, I’m trying to explain why photos of bus ads, or even billboards in my portfolio, might not be nicely shot photos (you may even call them crummy). As seen in the photos of this post, they certainly were far from fancy, but give you an idea of how these recent bus ads I designed for Little Creek Casino Resort rode on the bus side and back. Snapshots aside, if you are interested in advertising on buses, or outdoor in general, please contact me… and let’s get started today!
