Messages with Impact: Creativity in Traditional Outdoor Advertising Platforms in Castellón (Spain) and Warrington (UK)

Introduction Outdoor advertising is currently undergoing a transformation as both the variety and popularity of digital platforms increases. This will inevitably involve significant changes in both the conception and production of advertising materials designed for digital platforms, including ‘smartboards’. Notwithstanding the technological advantages of outdoor digital advertising platforms (such as the means to incorporate motion) in attracting the attention of audiences, as a consequence of the cost of this technology as well as logistical restrictions and strategic obstacles, it is expected that not all outdoor advertising supports will be digitalized. As explained by Creative Director David Thompson of Telling Stories:

advertising materials often do not adequately exploit its unique properties (Esteo, 2003:11) to contribute to this 'single, coherent message', but are instead adapted (with varying degrees of effectiveness) from other media vehicles (e.g. stills from television commercials, or images from magazine or newspaper advertisements). As a consequence, it may be that the visual and communicative power of outdoor advertising is undermined and therefore does not adequately fulfil its role within the Promotion Mix. Figure 4: An example of UK outdoor advertising that exploits the unique characteristics of the medium In the following, we will briefly summarise the factors that must be considered if designers (and their sponsors) are to exploit and maximise the communicative power of outdoor advertising.
Based on the study undertaken by Rey (2007), the factors to be considered are: i. The unique characteristics and features of outdoor advertising ii. The appearance of the materials (including the relationship of text to image, the use of colour, the use of typography, size and location) iii. The use of language iv. Message style

The Unique Characteristics/Features of Outdoor Advertising
The most significant characteristic of outdoor advertising is its capacity to deliver a targeted message to target markets in specific geographic areas (spatial reach) (Lichtenthala et. al. 2006, Bhargava & Donthu, 1999, Kaufman, 1989 and to raise awareness very rapidly (Belch & Belch, 1998, Bhargava & Donthu, 1999 In addition, "your audience can't zap, discard or even click away from it'' and this medium also differs in that it targets a 'market in motion' and thus requires a special technique of presentation. (Lichtenthala et. al., 2005:237-238) The Appearance of the Materials

Relationship of text to image
In the majority of outdoor advertising materials, visuals predominate. Yet, as Rey has established, the 'message' conveyed by the image must be clearly and easily understandable to minimise misinterpretation. A picture is worth a thousand words; therefore, the image must be of good quality and must clearly transmit the desired message (Breva, 2008:69). On a scale of comprehension, photographs are the easiest images to interpret, followed by drawings and lastly by paintings. (Rey, 2007:226-231).

Colour
Given the brevity of the time frame in which outdoor advertising has to attract sufficient attention in order to convey its message, bright or primary colours have a greater impact when used against a light or neutral background. (Rey, 2007:.226-231). Colour is a powerful factor in the impact of the advertisement, and the use of bright, contrasting colours increases its legibility and encourages the TA to associate the product with the desired feelings and/or emotions (Breva, 2008:69).

Typography
An essential consideration in the use of text is that it operates on two levels simultaneously: as a source of 'logical' information (subject to the influence of the 'tone of voice' used) decoded by the left hemisphere, and as an element of the visual design (as determined by the choice of typeface used as well as its positioningboth relative and absolutewithin the frame).
Gestalt psychology proposes that the brain is holistic with self-organising tendencies […] capable of organising and structuring individual elements, shapes or forms into a coherent, organised whole. Although the individual elements may contain some meaning, the coherent whole will have a greater meaning than the sum of the parts. This satisfies the human brain's need to find, or impose, meaning to situations. (Jackson, 2008:66) advertising must require minimal time to read to make sense of the accompanying image. The AEPE recommend the use of a maximum of ten words and Business Wire recommends a maximum of seven (Business Wire, 2002 a, b, c) as that is the most that can be read in the time available in the street (Breva, 2008:69). Text should therefore be restricted to one clear and simple concept that extends and reinforces the message by correcting any ambiguity that may arise based on the image alone. The choice of typeface must therefore not only enable the text to be read quickly and easily (Breva, 2008:69), but reflect and support the nature of the message and the tone of voice through which it is to be conveyed to the TA. Like Hegarty, Bernstein (2004) emphasises the necessity of simple messages and designs by making it "as simple as a traffic sign".

Message Style
Based

Methodology
At the outset of this project, the following definition of 'outdoor advertising' was agreed: [Those] set up outdoors, in the street, in such a way that they are encountered by their audience [in] areas of public use (streets, road communications, vehicles and public transport installations, sports grounds, etc.). Pacheco (2000:21) To provide both advertisers (sponsors) and creatives with a set of guidelines to maximise the effectiveness of both traditional materials and non-digital platforms, this project investigated: The supports investigated in this project have been divided into three categories: 1. Billboards and single posts 2. Bus shelters & 6-sheets 3. Advertisements affixed to buses.
The decision was made to investigate these types of supports as they are the most common in both towns, and therefore offered a basis on which to compare the majority of outdoor advertisements in both towns.
The data collected was then analysed in terms of the following factors: 1. Type of support/platform (billboards and single posts, bus shelters & 6-sheets, advertisements affixed to buses) in order to determine the prevalence of each The analysis of the supports was done horizontally because we were interested in analyzing creativity in the media in general terms and not in analyzing supports, which will be the subject of future research.
The collected data was interpreted using Horizontal Analysis. The collected examples were genuine tool of the fieldwork, which is valid for the final conclusion, is the total formed by the sum of all the fields analyzed of the various supports. Each field analyzed of each support acquires all its power for this research when it is placed, analyzed and summed to the same field of another support, and so on until we analyze seven fields for the three group of supports included in this study (billboards and single post, shelters and 6 sheets and buses).
The work was carried out in three phases:

Phase 2:
 To determine the type of advertisers (local, national or international) that use outdoor advertising in the two towns.
 Identify the creative techniques/strategies employed in the design of the materials used in each of the two towns based on similarities and/or differences (in terms of the relationship of text to image, the use of colour and the type of message, and the role/importance of each in conveying the message).

Phase 3:
Draw conclusions based on the data collected.
In order to identify differences in the uses of outdoor advertising in the two towns (Castellón, Spain) and Warrington, UK), data was collected by documenting ( To determine whether there are differences in the creative tactics used in Spain and in the UK, the researchers identified the following objectives for the project: 1. To conduct a review of theories of 'creativity' relevant to outdoor advertising, including the unique properties or characteristics of outdoor advertising 2. To identify and compare what types of advertisers (sponsors) use outdoor media in the two towns, and for what kind of products and services.
3. To identify and compare the type of campaign (local, national or international) for which this medium is used in the two towns.
4. To identify and compare the creative techniques/strategies used in outdoor advertising materials in the two towns.

5.
To establish a basis on which to identify any correlations between 2, 3 and 4 (above) 6. To identify the reason(s) for any differences between these two cultures based on the use of these creative techniques/strategies in the design of materials for their respective audiences.

Results and Findings
The following tables provide the results of the horizontal analysis of the data.

Support type 3: Posters on buses 3.2% 22%
The results of this study show that, while billboards, single posts and single posts are more widely used in Castellón than in Warrington, whereas bus shelters and the use of posters on buses are more widely used in Warrington than in Castellón

Location of advertisements Castellón Warrington
City centre 20% 83% their laws about outdoors, that's the main reason for the different figures. It is not a contradiction, these data only shows the difference between the structure of both cities and their laws.
In Castellón, the primary audience for outdoor advertising are drivers rather than pedestrians.
Accordingly, it can be seen that the majority of outdoor advertisements are located outside of the town centre, whereas the majority of OPPIS supports are located within town centres. Bus shelters are distributed throughout bothwith a higher proportion located outside of both town centres.
Support 3 (buses) were not included in the analysis of this criteria due to the (obvious) fact that they move between the two.

14.7% 47%
It was found that, in Castellón, this medium is used primarily by local advertisers (56.8% of all the supports analyzed), followed by international advertisers (28.4%) and national advertisers (14.7%). In Warrington, national advertisers are the highest users of outdoor advertising (47%), followed by local advertisers (29.4%) and international advertisers (23.5%). The percentage of outdoor advertising employed by international advertisers in both towns is similar. In the outdoor advertisement in both towns, it was found that text is more commonly used in conjunction with photography than (non-photographic) illustration. As explained in a previous section, due to the unique characteristics of this advertising medium, there is a consensus that its effectiveness depends on the effective use of visual design Rey (2007). It is interesting to note therefore that, while visual design is indeed the dominant feature of a majority (77.9%) of outdoor advertisements in Warrington, nearly half (43.2%) of outdoor advertisements in Castellón are dominated by text. We will return to this factor in our Conclusions. Finally, in both towns, the most common style of message was found to be direct or factual messagesone which normally requires much more than the seven to ten words most authorities agree is optimal for this medium.

Conclusions
Based on the data from these two towns (Castellón and Warrington), it would appear that the way in which outdoor materials are designed corresponds more consistently with the accepted theories in Warrington than in Castellón. This conclusion was also reached with the results obtained; for example, in relation to the use of text and image, as confirmed in the theory on creation for this media, image must prevail over text. Advertisers in Castellón use a much greater proportion of text than is recommended by the authorities cited.
As this medium is used primarily by local advertisers in Castellón, anecdotal evidence gathered by the researchers indicates that, in many instances, the advertising designs are produced by the sponsors themselves. It is believed that this may explain the proportion of designs based primarily on text, despite the consensus by academics and professional practitioners alike that the success of such materials depends on the effective use of visual design. While the cost of contracting the services of professional advertising and design agencies may well be a factor in this situation, the authors submit that such savings may be economically short-sighted and have adverse effects on the long-term viability of the small, local businesses which, in Castellón, constitute the largest sponsors (56.8%) of outdoor advertising. Subsequent research is therefore indicated into the comparative success of those local sponsors in Spain who use advertising/design agencies versus those who do not.