It’s more than just a windy city, it’s a place where tech excellence and relevant billboard advertising flourish. Seattle is the largest city in the State of Washington, with a population of over 700,000 residents, and a major business hub with strong ties to the technological world. In Seattle, the average wage of a tech employee has surpassed $110,000 which makes them the top 10% earners in America. The Designated Market Area (DMA) of Seattle-Tacoma represents more than 16 countries across the Northwest of the U.S. Seattle is cosmopolitan and trendy, and residents have a median household income of $64,000. It has had an exponential growth over the last 15 years, especially within the Asian and Hispanic communities.
On top of their impressive economic resume, The DMA of Seattle-Tacoma uses billboards to help speak to their demographics of tech employees, among other residents. Fluent in the outdoor and digital, graphic advertising departments, Seattle continues to project messages that uplift their tech-savvy consumers.
The headquarters for large businesses such as Amazon, Starbucks, Costco, and Microsoft are within this metropolitan area. It is known as the “City of Goodwill”, and there’s a city flag that goes along with that sentiment. Various markets in Seattle are growing just like the city itself, making it a world-class city with a lot to offer to residents, tourists, and businesses. Let’s talk about some of the best destinations to advertise in Seattle, what some advertising companies are already doing, as well as see how their transit system incorporates billboards.
HotSpots for Advertising
Seattle is home to numerous Fortune 500 companies, as well as five professional sports teams, making it a very attractive destination for businesspeople, sports fans and outdoor enthusiasts alike. With a 49 minute average travel time to work, there are plenty of opportunities to get your message in front of your target audience.
Seattle’s landscape provides attractive destinations for people on-the-go, and it’s an increasingly popular area for distilleries and wineries. From the work/play opportunities of Downtown Seattle to the bohemian, offbeat style of Fremont, the Seattle community welcomes all walks of life and prides itself as one of the most progressive cities in the U.S. when it comes to environmental awareness.
The busy I-5 highway runs through the center of the city, and the I-90 ends at Century Link Field, where Seattle’s NFL plays. Billboards can be found near Park Place along 1st Avenue, or close to Seattle Center along 5th Avenue or Mercer Street. These billboards help establish the consumer nation of Seattle.
Mobile billboards give businesses the opportunity to bring their message with them anywhere. This medium is perfect for launches, parades, festivals, and special events. It’s a great way to stand out from the crowd by driving home key branding and messaging in a captivating and mobile way.
What does vibrant Seattle say about billboards and out of home advertising? Four things jumped out at me:
- attracts new, hot brands like Amazon and Microsoft
- is building a new category, promoting legal cannabis
- has been promoting brands for more than a century
- supports public transit
Brooklyn Outdoor
Don’t let the name fool you- we’re not venturing to New York right now. One of the most influential outdoor advertising companies in Seattle is Brooklyn Outdoor, which specializes in static billboards, digital billboards, and wallscapes. Wallscapes are a form of outdoor advertising that involve larger than life banners on the sides of buildings, most prominent in populous downtown sectors. Brooklyn Outdoor advertises in places such as Pike Place Market, seeing the opportunity to target to many tourists. As an extension to wallscapes, Brooklyn Outdoor brings experiential, conceptual events to the heart of Seattle through well thought out marketing and PR knowledge. They are pretty much full service in the OOH advertising market of Seattle.
Although their main offices are in New York and Los Angeles, Brooklyn Outdoor has made a name for itself marketing in Seattle. Their bulletins and digital billboards are perfect for creating exposure in the Seattle DMA. According to studies posted on their website, they found that digital ads are 55% engaging for consumers, and as many as 89% of commuters travelling past a digital billboard are able to recall it if seen within the month.
Seattle Advertising
A digital agency called Seattle Advertising is truly sweeping up visual design opportunities in the city. They create unprecedented graphic statements that take an unpolished, unfinished, homemade ad and make it into a professional website piece. However not penetrating the outdoor market of OOH advertising, Seattle Advertising creates digital experiences that are interested in tapping into mobile and social advertising, video marketing, and video production. They see high value in mastering the online demographics of Seattle through acute digital design and media performance.
Mobile Billboards in Seattle
Other than wallscaping and digital advertising initiatives, Seattle uses mobile billboards to connect with their communities. A company by the name of Eye Catching Media specializes in LED mobile billboards that serve flexibility, GPS tracking reports, product sampling, and excellent lighting and sound system set-ups that benefit a consumer’s advertising experience. Eye Catching Media was started by two professional advertisers in Seattle who saw a great opportunity to provide more quality outdoor advertising to areas in need of a little spark. Their mobility and eye-catching designs are what truly make them a recognized outdoor advertising company. They saw that with their mobile billboards used to advertise a beer, the beer sales advertised on motion displays increased by 107% compared to advertising only with static billboards where sales increased by 56%. Eye Catching Media is also prominent in mobile billboard advertising in the booming Los Angeles population.
King County Metro
Seattle’s mass transit system, King County Metro, is an effective outdoor advertising machine. With 61.2 percent of all residents over the age of 25 holding a bachelor’s degree, it’s suitable to target to these highly-educated markets of people. And, how best to target them? On their way to their good jobs, of course. B2B companies have the ability to leverage with Seattle Metro and cultivate a big return on their ad spend. If commuters are immersed in business oriented products on their daily travels, then there’s a strong potential for large returns.
In a 2017 study, it was found that 36.8% of commutes in the Seattle area were on buses, and, since then, they’ve received the highest per-capita funding than any other bus system in America. With an 8 percent increase in ridership with King County Metro over the last decade, it’s only natural that tech companies, as well as other brands, are displaying their station dominations and bus wraps with Seattle Metro.
In conclusion, after looking at the hotspots to advertise in Seattle, the advertising companies they respect, and King County Metro’s ad demographic, it’s poignant that Seattle is a booming tech destination of outdoor and digital advertising speaks to the smarts of its people.
