BKC Solutions Corner

Every healthy company advertises. Some rely solely on word of mouth ads. Others glut the reader with information. Advertising is expensive and it requires great planning to use these dollars wisely. Simply put, sometimes a few words can go a long way.

Airplane banner towing takes a short message a long way. An airplane flies over a crowd of people with a banner or billboard streaming behind. The message is concise, the competition gone, and the readability impeccable. The simplicity in turn means less cost and greater effectiveness.

Banner ads have the advantage of being quick to produce. Since they are, at most, one sentence, the time needed to make the idea fly is greatly reduced. Typos are rare and no coupons much be managed.

The concise message of a banner ad is designed to give only enough information to interest the customer. Further facts are available to those truly interested. Thus, the company is not paying for wasted printed materials.

The one drawback of aerial billboards and banner ads is that everything hinges on the impact of that short message. It has been said that to talk an hour, a speaker can wing it; to talk for ten minutes takes planning. This is true of banner ads also.  The message should be sharp and easy to read. It should do its best to convey to the audience what is being sold, provided, or conveyed in a way that will be remembered without effort.

Contrast this to traditional advertising which uses a multitude of words to convey facts and figures designed to attract a customer to their product. Though such ads are expensive, there is no guarantee that the ad will even be read. Yes, this information needs to be conveyed, but why pay to get it to a multitude of uninterested people?

There is something about a banner flying behind a plane that demands attention. People hear the hum of the engine and look up. During the 17 seconds the banner is visible, they may read the message several times. If it returned, it will probably cause them to recall the message. By the time they get home, the sight of a plane will probably bring the message to mind once again. This recall is virtually free advertising. Yes, the information in a printed ad is often needed. In such a case, the banner ad can be used in conjunction with a printed ad, multiplying its effectiveness.

No one can doubt that an airplane banner is effective. Studies prove that. Banner advertisers pay to get their message to a large group without competition, and many will remember that message long after it has disappeared over the horizon.