While traveling east on the Pennsylvania Turnpike towards New Jersey the other day, I passed a couple of billboards that really caught my eye. They looked like a page from a school notebook, and in simple, clear lettering had pithy observations about the economy.

I wanted to know who placed them, so I did a bit of Googling. According to this Reno Gazette-Journal article, the billboard campaign is “funded by an anonymous East Coast donor who was depressed about how the country was reacting to the economy’s tailspin.” CNN reports that there are about 2,000 Recession 101 billboards nationwide. Of course, there’s a Twitter feed for Recession 101, too. Here’s a gallery of a dozen Recession 101 messages.

Takeaway for marketers: If you’re working on outdoor billboards, simplicity rules. Simple and eye-catching design plus a few well-chosen words able to be easily read while someone speeds by at 75 miles per hour are what you need to get your message across.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 1st, 2009 at 9:14 am and is filed under Marketing Stuff, Marketing Takeaways, This 'n' That.