Above the Line

Above the line promotion is any form of advertising that is a rented space that is paid for, such as billboards, adshels, televsion, radio etc. They are used to promote the brand and its awareness- even if people do not buy anything from a brand due to the advert- they will know its name and begin to recognise it.

I will be focusing more on the outdoor promotions such as the billboards, adshels, buses and taxis, etc. These kinds of promotion have the advantage of the target audience can not switch them off, or turn the page- they are there in the persons everyday environment so can be taken in without a person even being fully aware of it. The disadvantage with this kind of promotion is that it is very expensive compared with the more budget-friendly below the line promotions such as guerilla marketing, word of mouth or internet promotions.

Our tutor Louise mentioned we check out http://www.clearchannel.co.uk/ as they rent out billboard spaces and adshells, etc.

Here are some of my favourite examples from their image galleries:

Adshels:

In all honesty- I was not entirely sure what an Adshel was until I started this project (for a marketing student, shocking I know!), but they are basically just the spaces on the sides of bus stops, in train/tube stations, airports, carparks, supermarkets and shopping centres. The spaces on bus shelters are the highest costing as they are particularly good spaces as people have to stop and wait at them and are therefore more likely to look and take noice of the actual advert- rather than passing it by with just a glance. I love the repitition down the street of the Billy Elliot one above, as I feel this would help to make the advert stick in peoples minds- rather than being forgotten about 30 seconds after seeing it.

                                                                                                      Clinique

                                                                                                        Diesel

                                                                                                     Fanta Still

                                                                         KitKat Senses

                                                                              Prada

                                                                        Tiffany & co.

T-Mobile

Billboards:

                                                                                                   Jet Andrex

                                                                          Australia

                                                                                                          KFC 

                                                                         MacDonalds

                                                                                              o2

                                                                            Vodafone

Wispa

 The billboards above are basic examples of sizes 48 sheets and 96 sheet billboards. However, you can be more creative an go outside the lines if you want:

 Nike did a Mount Rushmore style display with sport stars such as Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand replacign the american presidents.

 Rihannah had a more simple display but she used glittering shimmer discs (GSD's). They are circular mirror discs, individually mounted and positioned on a pre-spaced bespoke backing board.

The wind stimulates the discs to sparkle gently with the resultant organic movement of reflected light providing eye-catching standout and impact to the build. These builds can be complimented with additional sequenced LED lighting technology to provide enhanced effects.

This 2D Simpsons cutout is really attention grabbing and makes a high impact.

It is compulsory on our brief that we create a billboard and an adshell, however we must create one other advertisement of our choice. Here are some initial ideas I have again found on clear channel:

Golden Squares:

Mini Adshell:

 Wrap Around Bus Shelters:

 I think these are good starting points for ideas for what I will use as my third form of advertising. I think the Golden square and mini adshell is too similar to the compulsory forms that I have to do so I will probably do one more like the wrap around style. However, I will be looking for more interesting and unusual things to wrap my advert round rather than just a bus shelter to make my third advert a little different.