Let’s not sugarcoat it: billboards
are dead. Out-of-home (OOH) advertising isn’t just on life support—it’s gasping its final breath while marketers try to convince themselves it’s still relevant. It’s not.
If you think otherwise, you’re either delusional, too deep in the ad budget to admit it, or you just love the
smell of your own logo.
And then there’s Anna Bager of the OAAA, who skipped out on The ADOTAT Show to dodge the tough questions.
Instead, she opted for the warm embrace of another sow, where the only questions asked are, “How much are you paying for this sponsorship?”
It’s the kind of move that screams, “We’re confident in our
product—just not enough to defend it.” Nothing like hiding behind your pals when the industry is crumbling around you. Whatever PR company reccomended this to her, should be fired.
Billboards: The Ultimate Vanity Purchase
Let’s be real: billboards aren’t about reaching customers. They’re about giving CMOs the warm fuzzies as they drive past their own work. It’s like writing your
name in giant letters on the fridge and telling everyone you invented magnets. The goal isn’t ROI; it’s pure ego. “Look, Mom, my brand’s on a billboard!” Great. Now tell us how that helped the bottom line. Spoiler alert: It didn’t.
We’ve hit a point where billboards are less about
marketing and more about vanity. Sure, you can point to a few cases where a clever campaign went viral, but for every memorable ad, there are a hundred that simply vanish into the ether. If billboards are supposed to be the gold standard of visibility, why does no one remember what they saw five minutes later? Because they don’t work.
The billboard industry thrives on fake metrics, puffed-up numbers that sound impressive but crumble under scrutiny. Take "impressions," the king of empty promises. They’ll tell you millions of people might have passed by your ad, but did those people actually see it? Did they care? Did they even glance up from their phones
while stuck in traffic? Of course, they didn’t. It's a metric built on assumptions, not reality. Unlike digital impressions, which offer clear data on who viewed and engaged with an ad, billboard impressions are the advertising equivalent of “my dog ate my homework.”
Then there’s the
laughable claim of “dwell time” and “foot traffic attribution.” Billboard companies want you to believe that every driver stuck on the freeway is staring lovingly at their vinyl masterpiece or that store visits magically spike because of an ad down the street. No one has the data to back that up—it’s all vague geofencing correlations and hope. And let’s not forget the engagement fantasy.
Outside of the Sphere in Vegas (which is the exception, not the rule), no one’s taking photos of billboards or sharing them online. Digital ads, by contrast, provide verifiable clicks, shares, and conversions.
The lies are obvious; it’s time the OOH industry stopped acting like “trust us” is a business model. Instead they just take your media buyer to expensive lunches, trips to BeetTV retreats and then take your hard working money. Fire your media buyer. No, really.
Seven Out of Ten Ads Aren’t Working
You’d think an industry facing this level of failure might pause for some self-reflection, but no. Instead, OOH advertising doubles down on its tired strategies. Research shows seven out of 10 OOH ads fail to make an impact. Seven. Out. Of. Ten. That’s not a hiccup; it’s systemic incompetence. Yet, the same old routine plays out:
Carpet Bomb the CMO’s Commute: The strategy here is simple—flood the roads around your office so the boss can see their logo while sipping their overpriced latte. Forget about metrics, effectiveness, or the customer. This is all about internal politics and padding your annual review.
Sales Teams Running on Empty: Need to plan your next OOH campaign? Good luck. Half the sales reps in this industry are MIA until noon, and when they finally call back, they offer vague promises and random postcodes with zero insight into actual audience data. If this is how campaigns are planned, it’s no wonder they fail.
And let’s not pretend the flashy tech fixes these problems. Slapping some AI onto an ancient medium doesn’t make it revolutionary—it just makes it an overpriced dinosaur with a Wi-Fi signal.
The High Cost of Zero ROI
Billboards are
expensive. Like, insanely expensive. We’re talking $4,000 a month for a single location or $5,000 for a batch of vinyl signs that do little more than clutter up the landscape. That money could buy you targeted digital ads, content marketing campaigns, or even a small army of TikTok influencers. But no, let’s spend it on a giant rectangle no one cares about.
The kicker? This isn’t a new problem. Even in their supposed “golden age,” billboards were more about perception than performance. These days, brands are wising up. Startups that once saw billboards as a rite of passage are realizing they’re more like a tax on naïveté. If your marketing budget is tight, the last thing you should do is waste it on something that can’t even prove its worth.
OOH’s Desperate Tech
Pivot
Ah, yes, the industry’s favorite buzzword: innovation. We’ve been hearing for years about how OOH is “reinventing itself” with AI-powered displays, real-time targeting, and “real-world cookies.” Sounds fancy, right? Except none of it fixes the fundamental problem: billboards are an outdated medium trying to play catch-up in a digital-first world.
Here’s the reality: all the AI and targeting in the world can’t make up for a medium that’s fundamentally one-sided. No one actually believes this exists -- because it doesn't.
Billboards scream at people without offering any real engagement.
It’s like shouting into a crowded room and hoping someone tweets about it.
Meanwhile, digital platforms offer precision targeting, real-time analytics, and the ability to adapt on the fly. OOH’s “innovations” feel like a Hail Mary from an industry that knows it’s losing. And they are losing, billions a year in irrelevence.
Why Brands Need to Move On
It’s time to stop pretending billboards are a viable marketing tool. They’re not. They’re a relic of a time when “awareness” was enough and “data” was a nice-to-have. Today, brands need more. They need results. They need to know their dollars are driving clicks, conversions, and customer loyalty—not just a fleeting moment of “Oh look, there’s our ad.”
Billboards aren’t evolving. They’re clinging to nostalgia, hoping no one notices the emperor has no clothes. And as long as the OOH industry keeps prioritizing vanity over value, it’ll continue its slow march toward irrelevance.
Billboards are like the last refuge for trashy businesses that can’t hack it in the digital age. They’re the home of personal injury lawyers grinning like used car salesmen, payday loan sharks promising “fast cash,” and those seedy motels advertising $39 a night—and probably $500 in regrets. These aren’t brands trying
to build customer loyalty; they’re vultures banking on impulse decisions and bad days. You’re not their audience; you’re their next meal ticket.
Let’s be real: billboards attract businesses that don’t care about engagement or conversions because they’re not selling value—they’re selling
desperation. Need bail money? Broken taillight lawsuit? A tattoo you’ll regret by Tuesday? They’ve got a billboard for that. It’s loud, obnoxious, and impossible to ignore, just like the industries they cater to. Meanwhile, brands that care about actual results have left this medium in the dust, opting for targeted ads that track real ROI—not vague promises of “visibility.”
Final Thoughts
Here’s the brutal truth: billboards are dead. They’ve been dead for years. The only people keeping them on life support are the ones too invested in their own egos to admit they made a mistake. As for the OAAA? Skipping tough interviews and cozying up to paid media won’t change the facts. The industry needs a wake-up call, not another round of back-patting. Until then, the rest of us will be over here investing in strategies that actually
work.
