Every March the beaches of the south, especially Florida and Texas, are flooded with students who feel they well deserve a break from the books. An estimated 2.5 to 3 million will be basking in the sun this year. They have money to spend now, and a potential to spend another $125-$130 billion dollars during the year. Where they spend that money will depend on how effective advertising is directed at them.
One of the most effective forms of advertising to these students is arial banner or billboard advertising. Aerial advertising is well known. A company or individual pays an aerial ad company to both make and pull behind a plane a banner containing their message. The banner could be as long as 70 feet and will usually contain contact information such as a phone number or webpage. (Billboards are simply highway billboards flown overhead.) Most merchants subscribe to a flight duration of one to two hours. Each pass allows about 17 seconds of viewing time. How many times could they potentially read your ad during an hour of passes? By the time an hour is up, your message will be imprinted in their brains.
Students are relaxing and mentally open during spring break week. They have money to spend during this week of vacation. As they lie on the beach, the drone of a plane catches their attention. They look up and see your ad pulled behind the plane. You have just risen to the top of the competition for whatever you are advertising to them.
The aerial ads could offer something they may want to buy when they get back to college. On the other hand, many of the ads are for items they will need immediately, like ads for restaurants or clothing. Here is a wonderful chance to impact one of the largest gatherings of impulsive buyers during the whole year.
Many advertisers are cutting back now because the economy is in shambles and unemployment is high. Yet, here is the opportunity that should not be overlooked. The spring break students aren’t thinking about the economy or even the future. They just want to have some fun, regardless of the cost. One tourism expert from Florida calls them “recession-proof” because the students consider it a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and you can’t put a price tag on that!
Electronic communication makes it even better. One merchant says he has his phone number on the banner and, almost immediately, he is being texted with orders. Others use G3 networks to connect to the Internet for orders. The banner is quickly paid for and profits come rolling in.
Aerial ads have another advantage: they are timeless. You will pay the full cost for the banner ad this year. When it is over, the banner can be stored and used again next year. Or, with some products, you could fly it over another beach or sporting event. The banners are well made and will last a long time.
Many are pessimistic about advertising while the economy is low. But wise businesses will want to take advantage of the spring break students and, those who do, will probably make a sizeable profit through aerial advertising.
AirSign has been providing attention grabbing aerial ads through their aerial advertising services around hot vacation destinations since 1996. Call them at 888-645-3442 and ask them to fly your message. It will not be forgotten.
Have you ever been at a large gathering somewhere, like a sporting event or a beach, and seen an airplane fly by pulling an announcement or an advertisement of some type? These ads or messages are called aerial advertising , and have proven to be an effective way to get a message out to a large group quickly.
Getting this banner into the air is no easy trick. If it were attached to the plane before take off, then it could be damaged dragging it along the runway. This would also cause drag, making take off more difficult.
It takes a plan, good quality materials, and a skillful pilot to make this happen. First, the airplane takes off without the aerial banner, but with a device called a “grapnel hook.” This is attached to the tail of the plane but the hook end is hanging in the pilot’s window.
Once the airplane is airborne, the pilot releases the hook from his window and lets it fall. The hook falls below the plane and is ready for the next part. Meanwhile, on the ground the banner is folded up, but it has a lead pole attached to the front. A harness is attached to that and a pick up rope to that. Finally a loop of rope connected to the lead rope is draped between two poles about five or six feet off the ground.
Now the plane with the hook below flies low over the area where the banner’s loop of rope is stretched between the poles. He is hoping to snag the loop with his hook, pulling the banner into the sky. At the moment he reaches the pick up area, he throttles the engine and pulls back on the stick, and the plane soars upward at a steep angle. The hook drags over the loop snagging it. This pulls the banner off the ground and into the sky without dragging it on the ground. And what if his hook misses? He will circle around and try again.
How do they keep the banner straight and not acting like a spiraling kite? The bottom of the banner is weighted so that it is always down. The end of it also has tiny parachutes that keep it stretched out. Banners could be up to fifty letters long and when you consider the letters are seven feet tall, that is a long banner to pull! It takes skill and practice to do it just right.
When the pilot has completed his mission over the designated area, he will fly the banner back to the drop off place, fly low again, and, release the hook so the banner falls to the ground unharmed. This way it is reusable if that is appropriate.
Larger planes are able to actually pull the banner with them on takeoff without damaging it, but most single engine prop planes use the plan outlined above to get the banner into the air.
All this may seem like a lot of trouble, but the result is worth the effort. Thousands will see the banner, both at the event and on the way to and from it. The message will get out and people will be influenced by the message. But not all aerial advertising companies are alike. Some simply take an order and contract it out. Since 1996, AirSign has been leading the industry by taking personal care of their customers using the best pilots, sharpest looking planes, and providing accountability for their work through free GPS tracking. Give them a call and find out what they can do for you!
What is an aerial ad? It is simply a long banner containing a message that is then flown over a crowd to convey that message randomly to them. Aerial banner advertising is a very popular way to tell of new stores or restaurants, to remind people of established businesses, or to promote political candidates. Banner ads have been proven effective as a relatively low cost high impact means of advertising. The message is virtually uncontested as it grabs the attention of a large audience and repeats the message many times as the plane flies over the crowd. The cost per contact is unparalleled in the retail world of advertising.
These factors are all equal: the ad has a captured audience, no competition, the plane drawing attention to the message, and repetition. All the messages are also brief. The fly-by time is only 17 seconds. What factors make a good banner ad?
Several factors make up a good banner ad. The advertiser has a goal in mind and the brief message must reach that goal. The message must be catchy, readable, attractive, and it must be easy to remember. Your job then is to plan a message that at once conveys what you want to say in few words and is easy to remember.
Here is a poem that has helped many people plan: There are six honest serving men Who taught me all I knew. Their names are what and when and why And how and where and who. Note that some of the six question words above will not need to be answered on the banner. Sometimes too much information is needed to include on a banner so the banner merely tells of a phone number or web address where more information is available.
Short messages are harder to write than long ones. A well worded slogan or ad is worth all the effort you put into creating it.
