How Do Aerial Billboards Work?
Several years ago my family and I drove through Canada on business. I was immediately struck by the absence of billboards along the roads. At first it was pleasantly pristine. But after a while, I found I missed the information they gave as I traveled.
Of course, most billboards are huge signs pasted to a support on some rented piece of property like a farmer’s field. The more traveled the highway, the better. The billboard awaits people traveling the road to get its message across. Now imagine this billboard flying off the stand and into the air over a huge crowd of people. That is the essence of aerial billboard advertising.
Aerial billboards have several differences from standard roadside billboards. First, while the roadside billboard is stationary and awaits the moving people, aerial billboards are moving while the people are stationary. Second, the roadside billboard may be read by some traveling by, but the aerial billboard will be read by virtually everyone over whom it is flown. The roadside billboard will probably take a long time to be read by 100,000 people, while the aerial billboard could be read by that many in a matter of minutes.
The aerial billboard is not a banner though a streaming banner is sometimes dragged behind the billboard to give an additional message. Most aerial billboards are made of nylon. Some are dyed with a sun inhibitor for protection while others are painted. Aerial billboards could be as large as 50 feet tall and 100 feet long! The message they display may be the name of a product, a photo, a logo, or just about any message you see on a roadside billboard.
This huge billboard is supported in the front by a lead pole and weighted on the bottom so it stays upright. A bridle is attached to the lead pole and that attached to a 250 feet rope. The pilot gets airborne, then circles around and tries to hook a loop of rope attached to two poles. This loop is fastened to the tow rope. The hook is attached to the bottom of the plane. As the pilot passes over the banner and catches it, he immediately banks upward, causing the billboard to be pulled upward, away from the ground.
Of course, billboard advertising like this is dependent on the weather. Heavy winds could make it impossible for a small plane to pull such a resistance. Sometimes the banner cannot be added to the back of the billboard because of the drag. When the flight is over, the pilot is able to fly low and drop the billboard safely to the ground where it will be retrieved and stored for future use.
The only real difference between an aerial banner and an aerial billboard is the size and shape of the message trailing behind the plane. Clients might include restaurants, products, special events, people with congratulatory messages, wedding proposals, directions, information like a web page to get further details, special sales, businesses, movie ads, and so on. In other words, billboards display just about any brief message someone wants to get to the public quickly.
The good news is that the cost of a billboard or banner ad is a lot less than some TV or printed ads. Generally, companies charge from $2500 up to design and prepare the billboard itself. The charge to pull the billboard is usually $400 to $500 an hour. If it is done right, companies using this method of aerial advertising can be confident that the billboard will bring in revenue equal to several times this cost. It is an investment.
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