Billboards: "To Market, To Market" 1942 General Outdoor Advertising Company

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On billboards and outdoor advertising. Produced by Jam Handy. Mostly narrated, but includes a silent sequence of billboards in color at the end.

Originally a public domain film, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and one-pass brightness-contrast-color correction & mild video noise reduction applied.

The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard

Wikipedia license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertisements to passing pedestrians and drivers. Typically showing witty slogans and distinctive visuals, billboards are highly visible in the top designated market areas.

The largest ordinary-sized billboards are located primarily on major highways, expressways or principal arterials, and command high-density consumer exposure (mostly to vehicular traffic). These afford greatest visibility due not only to their size, but because they allow creative "customizing" through extensions and embellishments.

Posters are the other common form of billboard advertising, located mostly along primary and secondary arterial roads. Posters are a smaller format and are viewed principally by residents and commuter traffic, with some pedestrian exposure...

The Traffic Audit Bureau for Media Measurement Inc. (TAB) was established in 1933 as a non-profit organization whose historical mission has been to audit the circulation of out-of-home media in the United States. TAB's role has expanded to lead and support other major out of home industry research initiatives. Governed by a tripartite board composed of advertisers, agencies and media companies, the TAB acts as an independent auditor for traffic circulation in accordance to guidelines established by its board of directors...

https://oaaa.org/AboutOOH/OOHBasics/HistoryofOOH.aspx

In 1900, a standardized billboard structure was established in America, and ushered in a boom in national billboard campaigns. Confident that the same ad would fit billboards from coast to coast, big advertisers like Palmolive, Kellogg, and Coca-Cola began mass-producing billboards as part of a national marketing effort.

By 1912, standardized services were available to national advertisers in nearly every major urban center...

In 1925 the Poster Advertising Association and the Painted Outdoor Advertising Association joined to become the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA) combining the interests of posters and bulletins into one association.

In 1925 the first major merger of outdoor advertising assets took place. The Fulton Group and the Cusack Co. combined to become the General Outdoor Advertising Company (GOA).

In the mid-twenties, the first outdoor advertising company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

In February 1934, the industry established the Traffic Audit Bureau or Media Measurement (TAB) to provide advertisers with third party data about outdoor advertising audiences.

In 1942, OAAA introduces the OBIE Awards. The Coca-Cola “Yes Girl” design wins the first Best of Show Award...