“In the end, a beautiful looking board and a photo of that is the best salesperson we have.”
by Amber Larkins, OOH Today
A lot of work goes into bringing a billboard to life. It is an investment for media owners, brands, and agencies. Are media owners investing in the visibility of their boards to ensure continued revenue generation? Overgrown vegetation and trees can obstruct billboards along highways. This can lead to visibility issues, lost impressions, and potentially the loss of a client.
“If the client sees it first, it’s not a good look for anyone in the industry,” said Mike Goodrich, Print Production Director at PJX Media.
“If the client sees it first, it’s not a good look for anyone in the industry,”
Goodrich has been in the industry for over 15 years, and with PJX Media for nearly seven. Though plants grow much more quickly in spring and summer, this year, the problem seems more pronounced in some markets.
“When we run this media, everyone puts so much care into it, from the media team planning it to the creative being designed,” Goodrich said. “A lot of money and hard work went into it and then some of these photos come through with a tree or a bush in front of the board. Something needs to be done.”
Sometimes, media owners do not provide true approach photos as PoP. They might send photos taken almost perpendicular to the board which do not show how drivers see the unit as they approach it, misleading clients about visibility. It’s crucial to get a picture of the billboard from a distance, showing the approach.
Sometimes, there is no approach shot, and because of the billboard’s environment, you cannot see it until you are close to it. There are cases, though, where the objects blocking the billboard are trees and brush that could be trimmed back.
“If we get a close-up photo as an approach, we will check for issues,” Goodrich said. This helps track and address problems before they become client complaints.
It’s also important to recognize that overgrowth isn’t always the media owner’s fault; cities sometimes require gardening permits that can take months to get.
One of the reasons why it’s so important for advertisers and agencies to “ride the boards”, is that by the time the campaign flight starts it is already too late. By the time the production team finds out about the problem, the client might already know. At that point, the only recourse is “make goods.”
“Make goods” could involve trimming the trees, giving the advertiser time on a digital board, or moving the vinyl to a unit nearby. But this extra work requires effort from many agency departments, including production, media, and contracting – making sure the client is aware, tracking when vegetation will get cut, making sure new photos are taken, potentially contracting new units, and reporting all of this back to the client and the media owner, as well as patience from the client.
In some cases, trimming the trees isn’t enough or isn’t possible, which can lead to canceled contracts and lost revenue. Other “make goods”, like offering alternative inventory, sometimes fail due to lack of suitable units nearby.
Regular trimming is likely more cost-effective than last-minute fixes. Media owners should check their boards more frequently during warmer months when plants are growing rapidly.
“This work would be unnecessary if media owners had a budget and a schedule every year for tree trimming,” Goodrich said. He believes that taking board visibility into greater consideration benefits all sides of the industry. “Maybe it takes a year to get a plan together, work with the city, but eventually you’re going to get a plan and a schedule where you can cut several times a year.”
Agencies should insist on recent proof of performance (PoP) when checking boards. Brands should accept offers to ride the boards. But keep in mind that vegetation can grow significantly during a four-week campaign flight. After heavy rain, trees and brush can rapidly become problematic.
To maintain our reputation as a trusted medium, we must plan annually for necessary vegetation cuts. No one in the OOH industry enjoys dealing with make goods, extra photos, and canceled contracts due to overgrown vegetation when scheduled cuts could prevent these issues.
“In the end, a beautiful looking board and a photo of that is the best salesperson we have,” Goodrich said.
Let’s plan for regular cuts, perhaps three times a year, to ensure billboards are always seen as intended.