Want Traffic? Make an Obnoxious Scene

Whether online or out-of-home, traffic drives sales. The big emphasis on traffic can make people do things they really shouldn’t, as we’ve previously outlined. We also know that these days, traffic is very often acquired through the shockingly obnoxious.

Here’s a specific example from a couple of days ago. I was at the mall with my family a couple of weekends ago and I couldn’t help but notice some of the digital ads on display. Some were tasteful, but the ones that most readily drew my attention were 1) overly loud and 2) looked like they were meant to induce and epileptic grand mal. The loudness was coupled with a highly illuminated display with such rapid scene changes it was enough to drive a person crazy. But, it drew in the eyes, so I suppose it had the desired effect.

We get asked a great deal about the technology, but much less about the content. Which is a shame because content is what separates the converting screens from those that collect dust.

I’m an advocate of driving traffic as long as it’s done in a legal and ethical way, but sometimes you have to weigh the possibility that the overly obnoxious sign may draw eyeballs, but deter sales. The data is not yet conclusive (probably because we haven’t yet collected any on this front), but there is certainly a threshold.