ClearChannel tests light-emitting diode billboards in the Orlando market

June 27, 2007


When Saturn of Orlando's marketing director advertised on a standard billboard, she had to wait a month before a requested new ad actually materialized alongside the highway. Creating and installing the new vinyl ad cost $500 to $750 for each board.But when Sabrina Case began advertising on an electronic billboard on U.S. Highway 17-92 in Longwood in late February, she simply e-mailed her new ad to the sign's owner -- and saw the results on the drive home later that day."I called at 3 o'clock, and by drive time it was changed," Case recalled recently.

Saturn of Orlando is one of several businesses that have already taken advantage of the first light-emitting diode billboards to pop up in Central Florida. In addition to the one in Longwood, ClearChannel Outdoor earlier this month installed 14-by-48-foot billboards on Interstate 4 near Fairbanks Avenue and on State Road 408 near Kirkman Road.Unlike standard billboards, LED boards use light-emitting diodes to display information and images -- the digital technology used in alarm clocks, traffic lights and giant screens in sports stadiums. That means ads can change instantly, which gives advertisers flexibility in outdoor advertising they can't get on standard billboards."You can do Egg McMuffins in the morning and Big Macs at noon," said Katy Bachman, a senior editor at Mediaweek magazine.LED boards multiply profit for billboard companies because they sell the same space to more customers, Bachman said. Ads for different services replace each other every eight seconds, while standard billboards often advertise the same product round-the-clock for a month, said Craig Swygert, president of ClearChannel Outdoor's Orlando division.Bachman said the digital boards -- which already have debuted in St. Petersburg, Tampa, Tallahassee, Lakeland and Destin -- cost two or three times as much as conventional billboards. But they can really pay off for the owner.She cited numbers from an October 2006 conference call between analysts and ClearChannel Outdoor executives. Seven standard billboards in Cleveland, ClearChannel Outdoor's first "digital" billboard market, returned $380,000 in revenue from July 2004 to July 2005. In July 2005, the standard billboards were converted to digital. The new billboards generated $3.5 million from January 2006 to December 2006, according to company projections.In exchange for some event tickets, the Central Florida Sports Commission is getting ad time on the local LED billboards for its Central Florida Mascot Games, a three-day "competition" involving sports-team mascots from across the country.The commission began changing its message regularly last week to reflect updates in the list of mascots planning to attend, President John Saboor said. Once the games start Thursday, the boards will change to reflect the results of the tournament until it ends Saturday, he said.But you won't see any mascots dancing or doing flips on the billboards. Orange County, for one, prohibits flashing or sparkling lights on billboards, while state law limits the frequency of changes in a sign's images, said Mitch Gordon, the county's zoning manager. "They can't have anything distracting, flashing lights, or any kind of animation," he said.Saturn did not renew its three-month contract with ClearChannel Outdoor when it ended May 27 because the company's national advertising agency decided instead to advertise on about 15 static ClearChannel billboards in Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties, Sabrina Case said.But she also said the short display time for each ad on the digital board -- eight seconds -- was a "major consideration" in Saturn's decision not to renew. Although Case said she considers LED advertising "cost-effective," she said a display time of 10 to 15 seconds would make it a more attractive vehicle for her sales message."I wouldn't have as much competition at a stoplight," she said.

Source Orlando Sentinel June 27, 2007