What if you could announce your product, service, or website to thousands of people at the same time, and most of them actually remember it! That is the dream come true for those who are willing to invest in aerial advertising services. How do you do that? A company or individual simply hires a firm to design and print the huge ad. Then a plane is hired to pull the ad over a populated outdoor event. Statistics show more than half of those present will remember the message of the banner.
Aerial advertising has proven effective during fairs, firework shows, concerts, ball games, rush hour traffic, parades, water shows, races – just about anywhere an outside gathering of people may be found. It has been used by national companies and by local establishments to get more people to remember their company’s name. It has also been used to present birthday wishes and even as a way to propose!
Basically there are three different types of messages which aerial advertising companies offer. The first and most popular message is the flying billboard. This could be as large as 4000 square feet and often has the same content as a roadside billboard would have. The message is brief, informative, and catchy. Many contain websites and if the domain is easy to remember, people can learn more about the product when they get home. Secondly, aerial banners are long streamers with a message such as, “Special sale at Loretta’s this week,” or “Happy Birthday, Tom. We love you!” These can reach 100 feet or more in length. Third, some services allow these two to be combined using a billboard followed by a trailer (short banner) that gives more information. A restaurant may put its name and logo on the billboard with an address on the trailer, for example.
Some might wonder about the danger of a low flying single engine plane over a populated area. The present Federal Aviation Regulations require operators of aerial advertising to avoid flying directly over stadiums, beaches and such like. A minimum separation of 1000 feet over land and 500 feet over water is required. This puts the aircraft parallel to the waterline on the offshore side of the beach or directly outside the perimeter of arenas, stadiums, and racetracks over land. In spite of these limits, in all cases the ads are still quite visible.
When companies consider the number of people reached, the reusable nature of the banner, and how memorable this way of spreading their message is, an increasing number are concluding that airplane banner towing is the way to go.