History & Advertising Companies

Billboards have been recognised and widely used as a form of mass advertising since the 1800s, noted for their quick, simple and often humorous messages that are required to make an impression on the driver as they are possibly driving past at speed. As technology has progressed so has the ways in which companies are reaching out to their demographics, improvements have been made to the advertising agencies, such as the digitalisation of billboards, making them much more versatile and accessible, being able to show more than one campaign in the same space for example. There are a number of Billboard operators that I will be photographing, which are very established internationally, here is some research I have done into these companies:

JCDecaux UK:

• Established in Lyon during 1964.
• No 1 in Europe for Billboards (180,590 Panels).
• No 1 supplier of Rail, Road, Retail & Airport advertising media in the UK.
• Present in 3,700 cities with over 10,000 inhabitants.
• Employs 12,300 people.
• 2014 revenue of £2.40m.

Clear Channel UK:

• Formed as More O'Ferral in 1936.
• 640 employees in 14 UK locations.
• Partners with WWF & committed to the environment.
• 'The Cromination' (Six Panels on Cromwell Rd heading into London) became available in 2010.
• 4,000 billboards in locations of over 25,000 population.

Primesight:

• Formed in 1984.
• Pioneered backlit billboards in 2005.
• Best Small Company Award 2014/15.
• Creative out of Home Award 2015 - Best Integrated Campaign - Lucozade Energy ‘Find Your Flow’.
• 21 frames at London Waterloo.

Jurassic World / JCDecaux Special Billboard.

The stock imagery on the websites show the locations of some of their billboards, mainly with long exposures, which I think I'll stay away from, as I want to document the environments surrounding the billboards.

Clear Channel's 'Cromination' / Cromwell Rd, London.