“Do Billboards Work?”

You’ve probably driven by a billboard with the message “Do Billboards Work? This One Just Did.” You’ve seen it, but have you ever analyzed the message? It implies that once a driver looks at the billboard, it’s achieved success. When advertisers are pitching a billboard to a prospective client, they’ll talk about how many eyeballs pass a particular billboard each day. But is that the right definition of success? If I have a new product (for example, a smartphone) that I advertise on the billboard, has my ad been successful if a lot of people see it? Not really. It’s only successful if some of those people actually buy the phone. In the same way, I think the “this one just did” message is incorrect. I’ve seen lots of those billboards, but I’ve never paid for an ad on one. What’s the point? Have you ever judged the “success” of an event by how many people showed up rather than how many lives were changed? Or evaluated the evangelism of your church by how friendly its members are (to each other)? Of course, measurement and evaluation are huge challenges in ministry and non-profit organizations. The billboard highlights another related issue. When you’ve seen the “do billboards work?” message, have you ever reflected on the false standard of success that they are using? Probably not. In the same way, we often take a metric that is developed by someone else and accept it without any critical thinking. One last thought. There’s a certain irony in these billboards. The billboard company puts them up when it doesn’t have other paying advertisers. In other words, the presence of a billboard with this message seems to contradict the idea that billboards work. I wonder if that also has an application for you and me. Think about that the next time you see a billboard. It’s easy to receive my blogs by email. Just sign-up on Feedburner by clicking here.]]>