A concert experience isn’t just felt during the performance itself. The marketing, branding, and extra takeaways make up the whole sensation. Some may believe active social media and digital advertising is all it takes to attract a crowd to a musical performance, but it’s unclear whether that promotional material will stick and lead people to show up. Of course it’s important for musical artists and their marketing team to tap into the usefulness of online conversation, but it’s equally necessary to find an interesting outlet to promote outdoors. Particularly with artists wanting to sellout their shows, digital engagement may not be enough to get the reach. This is where mobile billboards can help out.
Publicizing a concert is crucial in order to get crowds hyped up. An ad in NOW Magazine is great, but it’s only a start. A potential ticket buyer experience should start before the concert goes live. A valuable moment with a band can be shared through effective mobile billboards. This outdoor promotion hits many locations further spreading the word with face-to-screen interaction. Let’s talk about the ways mobile billboards can be used to create a pre show experience, a few mobile billboard providers that take part in this, and how mobile billboards dominated the CMA music festival in Nashville, as an example.
How Mobile Billboards Create Experience
Think of mobile billboards as another tour bus for a band. But this type of tour bus is one that you can actually interact with because of its transparency in an outdoor environment. For a larger concert with a bigger venue, or music festival, mobile billboards can specifically outline the dates and venue in a static fashion, or they can incorporate strong visuals and past video footage on a digital screen. Displaying video content on a mobile billboard is helpful in promotion because, especially with musicians, fans want to see the energy of their shows prior to purchasing a ticket. It’s found that 80% of people who visit a concert’s ticket sales page won’t purchase on their first visit, so luring them in with special footage creates more of a definite impression instead of a hesitation.
Digital mobile billboards are typically equipped with a sound system, so pre-recorded music can blare from the outdoor advertising machine to gain people’s immediate interest. Because of their LED lighting and sharp graphics, digital mobile billboards are the perfect excuse for musicians and their marketing team to make when advertising an outdoor experience. Along with videos, concert date, and venue information, mobile billboards can use retargeting strategies to attract the right audiences for the concert. Mobile billboards are tracked and, through location and consumer data, can be positioned in areas where music lovers frequent. Especially useful for smaller bands with not as great of a reach, retargeting capabilities on mobile billboards can get their shows noticed in many spots for full coverage.
Another way mobile billboards can create experience for potential concert goers is by creating a pop-up event that offers targeted people a takeaway product. This is most common when a concert venue or musical artist has a partnership with another company, or a sponsorship by a larger brand name. Mobile billboards can deliver another incentive for people to attend an upcoming show by introducing them to free merchandise or an intriguing contest. Early tickets can also be distributed through a mobile billboard pop-up event.
Mobile Billboard Companies on Board with Concerts
Coast 2 Coast Mobile Media is a mobile billboard provider that travels from Atlanta to Los Angeles serving eye-catching ad displays. One of their unique selling propositions in terms of catering to concert advertising is that their mobile billboards include an on-board entertainment system that is able to broadcast video footage and share music through their exterior speakers. Their interactive Billboard on Wheels already acts as a moving concert. On top of that, to further drive ticket sales for musical clients, their bluetooth proximity feature and beacon enabler delivers text messages about special links or offers to people within 50 meters of the ad. This personal link can be the ticket bands are looking for to boost sales.
Billboard Adz in Los Angeles are forthcoming on promoting new artists, new albums, independent artists, established artists, concerts, and more through their fleet of mobile billboards. They offer double-sided high-resolution LED screens that are perfect for promoting live music in LA. Billboard Adz will promote artists and their concerts the day of, or many weeks in advance. Their mobile billboards are flexible and able to serve as promotion material for artists residing in LA or artists visiting for their shows.
Pepsi & Dollar General Takeover in Nashville’s CMA Festival
As a means to promote Pepsi & Dollar General rather than promote concerts, but still spearheading the movement of this “music city”, Do It Outdoors created mobile billboards in Nashville that nodded to the city’s culture of music. While explicitly advertising the Pepsi product, these mobile billboards were strategically targeted on roads near or around the CMA Fest venue, which is a four day country music festival. This mobile billboard campaign ran for two weeks, using four professional drivers, and helped bring forth 87,680 CMA Fest attendees. The high visibility of these mobile billboards helped remind people of Nashville that they could still enjoy the taste of Pepsi and be a part of music culture at the same time.
In short, yes, mobile billboards are an effective way to promote concerts and lead people to buy tickets for artists they love or artists they’re not as familiar with. After seeing how their digital screens can be designed to cause concert hype, where pop-up events may be useful, two existing companies that advertise for concerts, and Nashville’s mobile billboards during CMA Fest, it’s clear that music and sales can benefit from the sight and experience of a mobile billboard.
