Recent News

Westfield London to host giant digital advertising screens
 (30-10-2008)

Luxury and tech brands sign up for digital advertising innovation

CBS Outdoor signs first digital advertisers at Westfield London
 (28-10-2008)

Tiffany & Co, Yves Saint Laurent, Mulberry, Samsung and T-Mobile are among the launch advertisers who have signed up with CBS Outdoor to captivate the estimated 20 million consumers a year who will be visiting Westfield London, which opens its doors on Thursday 30 October.

CBS Outdoor wins at the 2008 Fresh Awards
 (09-10-2008)

CBS Outdoor has recently won 5 awards at the 2008 Fresh Awards, held on 9th October in Manchester.

CBS Outdoor launches new giant bus ad medium
 (09-09-2008)

CBS Outdoor has launched a new large-format bus advertising opportunity for clients keen to use the high-impact nature of exterior bus advertising to captivate consumers on the move.

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Creative Guidelines

Guiding principles for creating effective posters

  • Simplicity is key for most posters
    One great idea, on-brief and delivered with eye-catching clarity. 90% of all posters are observed for a matter of seconds whilst the viewer is in motion and potentially distracted by whatever else may be occurring nearby.
  • Don’t try to say too much
    On most formats around eight words of copy should be the absolute maximum (the exception being in high dwell-time locations such as cross-track or interior panels).
  • Use bold, legible typefaces
    Posters do not work like print ads. In most cases, consumers on the move do not have the time or inclination to study and digest a complex message.
  • Bold, contrasting colours work best
    Some combinations work better than others, red on green is difficult to read, black on yellow much easier. Try it out and see how it looks on paper.
  • Proximity affects legibility
    Take into account the distance at which the poster will be viewed. How does your design look from the other side of the room - and how does it look as you walk briskly past it?
  • Dwell-time influences how posters are observed
    Take into account the time for which the poster will be observed. This may vary from 3 seconds to 30 minutes depending on the location in which it is to be displayed. Clearly each of these extremes will benefit from a different treatment.
  • Familiarity breeds retention
    Strong iconic images and familiar characters attract the eye and generate memorability.
  • Originality attracts attention
    Breaking any or all of the above rules may create an eye-catching design - but it could be a risky business!

Proven effectiveness

Awareness and recall tracking of campaigns is, at best, a surrogate measure of advertising effectiveness. However, it can provide an indication of how creativity and design may influence overall performance.

We have used our Brands First ongoing tracking to do this. A range of bus campaigns were researched across the country to investigate the correlation between memorability and creative design. Factors such as clarity, branding, and ability to inform were plotted against brand and campaign memorability.

As the example chart below shows, a clear correlation was observed. Each dot represents an actual bus campaign. The further to the right the dot appears the clearer the ad was felt to be by the 600 research respondents, the further up the more memorable the campaign was. The line illustrates the trend. Clear evidence that clarity drives memorability.

For more information on this, and other similar research-based studies into the links between creativity and effectiveness contact the VOICE team on 020 7482 3000.

Source: CBS Outdoor Brands First - 600 respondents nationally
Colour wheel

Colour combinations

The human eye processes the wavelength variations of different colours in different ways, and this can result in optical distortion that can make some colour combinations hard to read. This is best illustrated by the colour wheel below:

Alternating colours, such as blue and yellow, produce the best combinations since they exhibit good contrast. Black contrasts well with any light colour, just as white does with dark colours. Adjacent colours, such as blue and green, make especially poor combinations since their contrast is similar.

As a result, different combinations of font colour and background vary in terms of how easy they are to read. In tests, the following combinations all performed differently. Number one performed best, number 18 worst.

Coloured fonts

Choice of fonts

Source: OAA