Walk down any street in any city, and if you find a construction site you're just as likely to find the plywood walls surrounding the site covered with posters for everything from movies and plays to ads for canned soup. These are called wild postings, perhaps from their origin over a century ago, when circuses began putting them up to announce their arrival. 
    Over the past 20 years wild postings have evolved from posters slapped up in the dead of night, often without regard for zoning restrictions and site ownership, to carefully choreographed campaigns posted on custom-built displays.
    The new campaigns often attempt to capture the feel of the old wild postings.  Poster sizes, materials and placement are designed to replicate the erstwhile slapdash promotions.  
    To find out how it all works, read on.
    This is one in a Media Life series on how to buy the new out-of-home venues.  They appear weekly.

Fast Facts:

What:
    Smaller-than-billboard-size paper posters that are plastered on temporary barriers and other surfaces at construction sites. 

Who:
    There are several media companies placing wild postings. Here are two that handle campaigns on a national level:

• Wilkins Media, headquartered in Atlanta.

• Marketing Adventures in Redondo Beach, Calif.

How it works:
    Creative is usually provided by the advertiser. 
    Short and sweet works best, as well as lots of color, says Marketing Adventures President Bruce Friedlander, “just like with any outdoor.”
    Photographs are sometimes used in ad copy.
    Advertisers frequently include their web addresses, sometimes on postings that simply display the company logo.
    Whether to display the posters repetitiously in rows or blocks is a design factor. 
    “The impact is better when there are several in a row,” says Kim Barnard, a media supervisor with Wilkins.  “Keep the creative simple, bunch them together, and it pretty much jumps out at you.”
    National brands most commonly utilize wild postings, but some regional and local advertisers also use them.
    The advertising goal can be branding or promoting an event or new product.  
    Larger markets typically offer space designed and reserved for wild postings. Some properties are built specifically to display wild postings, and some construction timelines are extended to accommodate longer ad campaigns. Waiting periods for prime locations, especially in the New York market, can be several months.
    Many mid-size markets still operate guerrilla-style. 
    “In markets like Cleveland they may post on the side of a building, and there may or may not be a formal agreement with the owner,” Barnard says.  “If they run into a problem they’ll get an agreement or re-post at another location.” 
    Wild postings are often available where other media, like billboards, are not.
     “That’s the beauty of wild posting,” Friedlander says.  “It draws eyes to where they may not see other outdoor.” 
    Media companies work with advertisers on creative and marketing.  Wild posting companies like N.P.A. (National Promotions & Advertising) in Los Angeles are then contracted with to install and later remove the posters.
    In large markets where zoning restrictions are in place, the wild posting company takes care of securing permits.
        Exclusivity would be difficult to accomplish with wild postings. Specific locations, such as a certain intersection in Manhattan or Los Angeles, are too narrowly defined for a guaranteed buy.
     “There might be 90 to 120 locations in a market,” Barnard says. “You can’t cherry pick, but you can get pretty specific with posting instructions, even though they can’t guarantee you’ll get them. It depends on how many advertisers are up that week.” 
    Barnard works closely with the posting companies to target the locations that her advertisers request.  She also advises advertisers to try to reserve locations that are side by side to create a block of posters.
    Wild postings aren’t well accepted in all major markets. Pedestrian-friendly cities are the best locations.
    Posting locations within markets change frequently because of the temporary nature of construction projects.
    Short runs, usually one to two weeks, are typical for wild postings.   
    There are no seasonal factors in posting paper because of the short duration of the campaigns. Postings are often displayed beneath under-hangs or ledges to avoid weather damage.
    Nonetheless, the paper posters are replaced each week or two, even when the run is longer, because of normal wear and tear.
    Another reason for brief posting periods is the ripoff factor.  They are easily removed. When necessary, the posting companies re-post during the campaign.
    Wild postings are occasionally used as a stand-alone medium and work best when posted in large numbers at several locations. Friedlander recommends a month-long showing for stand-alones, rather than the standard one to two weeks.
    Wild postings are most often used as an element in larger outdoor or mixed-media campaigns.  
    Some advertisers use this opportunity to tie creative into the street setting or larger campaigns using the same or similar color schemes, slogans or teasers. 
    “Your wild postings can relate to other ads you see on the street or on TV,” Friedlander says. “It works best if tied to similar artwork or as a smaller version of something that already exists. The colors will catch eyes as they go by.”
    They’re also used as teaser ads, posted with a message or question that’s answered on a nearby billboard or in the next rotation of postings.  Similar color schemes and logos link the elements of the campaign.
    Posters are pasted on fences, scaffoldings, walls and barricades erected at construction sites, as well as on partially completed buildings and at renovation sites.  Building larger fencing or scaffolding that’s required for a construction site in order to accommodate larger wild postings is becoming common. 
    In some locations marquees or walls are constructed specifically for wild posting. 
     “They’re low to the ground, fitted out with facings like a billboard,” Friedlander says.  “They still look guerrilla.” 
    In some large urban locations building renovation or construction is started and then put on hold to accommodate lucrative wild posting campaigns.
   Poster sizes vary from 24 by 36 inches to 28 by 40 inches, to 32 by 45 inches to 45 by 45 inches. Posters can be posted horizontally or vertically.
    According to Marketing Adventures’ Friedlander, the 24 by 36 inch posters offer the most versatility.
     “They’re my personal preference because you want to put as many in an area as you can to have the biggest impact.  You can paste up blocks of four.  The smaller ones conform to all different sizes and shapes of space.”
    Pasted up randomly, the posters are most effective when displayed in clusters. 
    Billboard-size displays are sometimes posted, especially at West Coast locations. But they tend to run into more zoning restrictions.
    When giant wild postings are displayed they are made of weather- and graffiti-resistant material and generally are up for several weeks or months.

Markets:
    Wild postings are available in the top 50 markets.
    In major metro areas the postings tend to be tightly regulated by local zoning rules and by site owners.  The postings aren’t prohibited but prior permission and payment are generally required.
    In mid-sized markets postings are often pasted up at construction sites without prior permission and then moved if a problem arises.
    The size of the market doesn’t necessarily reflect the success of wild postings.  For instance, the posters don’t do well in Dallas but are popular in San Francisco, a smaller market.  The quantity of foot traffic is considered to be a factor.
    Wild postings tend to do best in large urban markets that have pedestrian traffic. They’re now a staple in areas like Times Square. 
    Suburban and upscale residential areas usually don’t tolerate wild postings.

Numbers:
    How measured? Like most of the new out-of-home venues, circulation can’t be measured by traditional methods like traffic counts.  Because of their size it’s estimated that wild postings don’t reach as many drivers and passengers as billboards do, but due to location they reach more pedestrians.
    “You have to believe in the medium and go for it,” Barnard says. “We did a lot of research to see how effective they are. What we’ve found is that our clients are very happy with them.”
    Wilkins requires proof-of-performance reports from the poster placement companies for each campaign.  The booklet format report gives locations and numbers within markets.

Research:
    What product categories do well? Entertainment events, specifically circuses, were some of the first advertisers to use wild postings a century ago.  Then movies brought them back into vogue in Los Angeles in the mid-seventies when studios sought a fresh approach to advertising their premieres.
    The idea quickly spread eastward.  Today entertainment still tops advertisers on wild postings promoting concerts, movie releases, new CDs, special events, and yes, still announcing that the circus is coming to town.
    Clothing, electronics, finance companies, computers, internet, automobile dealers, retail and restaurants also appear on wild postings.
    Even dot.coms are investing in wild postings while they’re withdrawing from other advertising campaigns during their recent market downturn.
    All categories, except tobacco, should do well on wild postings, Friedlander says.
    “I haven’t seen cat litter yet,” he says.  “But who knows?  Maybe tomorrow.”

Demographics:
    Geographic targeting is possible on a broad basis.  For instance, an advertiser can request posting within a financial or retail district.
    Factor in pedestrian traffic, advises Barnard.  “For instance, music clients will use postings in areas where people are walking to catch night life.” 

Making the buy:
Wilkins Media: Lead time is ideally one month from the receipt of creative to posting.
    Production can be handled by the advertiser or by Wilkins.  Production costs are separate. Poster size, quantity and markets are factors that affect pricing.
    Manhattan is the most expensive market, followed by Los Angeles, which is typical of out-of-home in general.
    Manhattan prices range from $8,000 to $20,000 for a two-week run of 2,500 posters placed in 90 to 120 locations, to $16,000 to $40,000 for four weeks.
    Cleveland costs $2,000 to $5,000 for a two-week run with 375 posters placed in 20 to 30 locations.  The price goes up to $3,500 to $9,000 for 625 pieces placed in 20 to 40 locations for four weeks. 
    Horizontal postings cost an additional 25 percent.

Marketing Adventures: Lead time involves two factors: production time and space availability.  Three weeks is standard from the point creative is in hand until posting.  The time frame is longer, obviously, if markets aren’t  immediately available.  Almost any market can be guaranteed with two months lead time, Friedlander says.
    Factors that affect pricing are markets, quantity and poster size. For 1,500 24 by 36 inch posters placed for two weeks in Manhattan the cost would be around $8,000, while the same run in Cleveland would cost $1,800. 
    Production and installation costs are included.

What’s unique:
    Wild postings originated in the Nineteenth century, faded in and out during the Twentieth, and have been revived on a larger-than-ever scale in the Twenty-first. 

Who’s already on wild postings:
    Wetfeet.com, OfficeMax.com, Major League Baseball, Infogrames, Calvin Klein, American Express, Gap and Microsoft.

What they’re saying:
    “It looks urban. It looks guerrilla. Really, in most cases, the places you see these things posted – facades, scaffolding – are rented from the landlord.  They’re very legit, but it looks like they’re not.” – Bruce Friedlander, Marketing Adventures president

Web site info:
Wilkins Media Company at www.wilkins-media.com
Marketing Adventures at www.adsoutdoor.com 

-Kathy Prentice writes about out-of-home advertising  for Media Life, penning her stories from the resort town of Traverse City, in the upper reaches of Michigan.

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