What a Beautiful Disaster: What Damages the Image of Outdoor Advertising (Part 2)
There's not much we can do if Mr. Henio, who owns a car repair shop, decides to build himself a sign advertising his services. Why not, he's actually allowed to – provided he carries out the investment in accordance with the law. In the vast majority of cases, Mr. Henio doesn't know that such a thing needs to be organized legally – but that's a topic for separate consideration. Mr. Henio will usually put up the advertisement cheaply and, in his opinion, well. And everything is usually fine until slightly worse conditions arrive, for example, when the wind blows stronger, then you'll be looking for the wind (i.e., the advertisement) in the field.
Let's leave Mr. Henio aside, though, because Mr. Henio is actually outside the OOH industry, although unfortunately his actions negatively affect the industry's image.
But there are two other troubling cases I want to write about.
The first concerns a similar operating mechanism that Mr. Henio represents, with the difference that the contractors of such advertisements are companies that deal professionally with outdoor advertising or rather – who think they deal with it professionally. In cities, on roads between them, structures are built that are then offered to Clients. Sometimes such an offer may look attractive price-wise, but you always need to consider why, and whether it's really profitable.
The second case is somewhat different.
The initiative comes from the Client, who says: Dear company, please put up an advertisement for me for a month, two, or maybe even longer, but attention – what matters to me most is that it's cheap.
And here we come to the absurdity we've been struggling with since the introduction of the public procurement law, which paralyzes public investments and promotes mediocrity at every step.
It doesn't have to be good – it has to be cheap.
These three cases are probably characterized by several common things: poor aesthetics, low quality, low requirements, perhaps also price. However, I want to draw attention to another, more important one.
A boundary has been crossed that must not be crossed.
That boundary is SAFETY.