Autumn is closer than most of us would like to think, with kids returning to school and so much talk already turning to football. And when we think of football, and the excitement of a close game, we're likely to think of the Goodyear blimp hovering by the stadium, in view of the TV cameras, as one of the great iconic advertising venues of all time.
But blimp advertising is not just Goodyear, or for that matter MetLife and Outback Steakhouse, other major blimp advertisers, and it's no longer just those huge, multi-million-dollar helium ships.
These days there are all sorts of options for advertisers, even the smallest, and all sorts of venues for floating blimp ads beyond the football stadiums, including indoors.
Among large blimps, some are now equipped with LED screens that allow advertisers to rotate messages that can be seen a night.
But there are also much smaller blimps, measuring no more than a dozen feet in length, that can be tethered to the ground, as well as radio-controlled blimps that can be used at sports games, trade shows and other events, inside as well as out.
To find out how to get your client’s message in the sky on blimps, read on.
This is one in a Media Life series on buying the new out-of-home venues. They appear weekly.
Fast Facts
What
Advertising on blimps at high-visibility events.
Who
There are many companies across North America that offer advertising blimps for sale or rent. For this article Media Life spoke with Aerial Products in DeLand, Fla., the Lightship Group in Orlando and Mobile Airships in Brantford, Ontario, outside Toronto.
How it works
For advertisers who intend to make blimp advertising an ongoing thing, it may make sense to buy a blimp. For the standard tethered blimp, for use on-site or at events, starting prices range from $480 for a 13-foot blimp to $1,000 for a 20-foot model from Aerial Products.
Aerial Products CEO Kevin Hess says the key concern in blimp advertising is visibility. Will the message be visible to the target audience?
“The first thing we ask is from how far away does a person have to be able to see the blimp and the message on it?” he says.
In addition to tethered blimps, there are remote-control models.
Mobile Airships offers 20-foot, 30-foot and 50-foot remote-controlled blimps. Prices start at $10,875 plus artwork for the 20-foot model, which is electric, to slightly over $20,000 for the 30-foot model, which is gasoline-powered, to $50,000 for the 50-footer, also gas-powered.
When it comes to creative, Mobile Airships president Dan Speers says to keep it simple. “It’s the old adage, less is more,” he says. “You can’t expect people to start writing down phone numbers."
There are smaller remote-controlled models that can also be used indoors at trade shows, allowing the advertiser to position his or her message at key spots on a convention center floor, such as near the podium during key speeches.
They can be used to drop prizes or coupons to spectators below.
Canada’s Mobile Airships' models range in size up to 20 feet, and they are powered by electric motors, not gasoline, so they don't generate fumes.
The company also rents blimps and can provide an operator if needed.
Blimps of various sizes can be rented at a number of sports venues as well. Typically, the team purchases the blimp and then sells the ad space on it.
For advertisers looking to rent a large blimp for a major event, there are now full-sized blimps, much like the famed Goodyear airship, but with LED screens up to 30-by-70-feet in size for ad messages. Not only are the messages large, they can be seen at night, which makes them ideal for night games.
The screens can display anything that can be displayed on a computer screen, including commercials, animation, music videos, instant replays and even live TV.
Provided by Lightship Group, the minimum buy for the LED blimps is 12 months at a cost of $4 million to $6 million.
Many advertisers use large blimps in conjunction with media on the ground, such as posters or street teams.
Markets
Full-sized video blimps can fly anywhere that air traffic isn’t restricted. Tethered and remote controlled blimps are available in any market.
Numbers
Smaller 6-foot blimps require about 30 cubic feet of helium. Larger 20-foot models call for more than 400 cubic feet.
Prices vary, but one helium provider in New York rents 260-cubic-foot helium tanks for just under $200.
How it is measured
Gate counts at ticketed events like sporting events and concerts are used to estimate impressions. Convention and trade show attendance numbers are also used.
For full-size blimps highway traffic information and TV viewership data for large sporting events are also sometimes used.
What product categories do well
For larger blimps with video screens, tourism and entertainment have been the top two categories. Depending on the event and venue, product categories on smaller blimps range from financial to beer to retail and restaurants.
Demographic
Audiences can be targeted by event and location.
Making the buy
Aerial Products: Lead time is usually around three weeks, but it could be up to four weeks for 30-foot models.
Mobile Airships: Lead time can be as little as a week for standard blimps but longer for customized shapes and artwork.
The Lightship Group: Lead time is three months, and it depends on availability. Custom blimps can be built in six months.
Who’s already on blimps
Ameriquest, Revlon, FujiFilm, Pepsi, Applebees, Miller beer, Volkswagen, Best Buy, Coors and Sprint.
What they’re saying
“For trade shows, exit surveys that have been done show that radio-controlled blimps regularly come to the top of the list as things remembered by attendees. Predicting how many images or impressions a blimp may receive is hard to measure, but we just know that everyone will be looking up at the blimp because people are fascinated with things that fly.” –
Mobile Airships president Dan Speers
Web site info
Aerial Products at http://www.aerialproducts.com
The Lightship Group at http://www.lightships.com
Mobile Airships at http://www.blimpguys.com
