Advertisers like the reach, zoning administrators weigh community impact.
By Drew Pierson • dpierson@gannett.com • November 28, 2008
As the votes were tallied for the presidential election Nov. 4, Americans followed the race in more ways than ever before: TVs, PDAs, computers — and billboards.
The digital billboard boom has hit the Shreveport-Bossier City area, giving advertisers new ways to reach their audience. But just as technology has changed, so too must the response from zoning administrators, who regulate the signs.
"They do (present challenges), because it's like a big television screen up there," Sam Marsiglia, director of the Bossier City-Parish Metropolitan Planning Commission, said referring to digital billboards. "They present challenges with their proximity to residential neighborhoods and Barksdale Air Force Base."
Nationally, only a fraction of the 450,000 billboard faces (one structure can have multiple faces) are digital, and there are only a few dozen digital billboards in the area.
Lamar Advertising, the largest outdoor advertiser in Louisiana and the Shreveport-Bossier City area, owns 21 digital billboards out of 1,436 faces in the area, up from only six digital boards in 2006, and none before that.
"From what we're hearing our customers have been very pleased with it," said Joe Kane, general manager and vice president of Lamar's Shreveport office. "The general public seems pleased. We haven't had any complaints; we've positioned them at stoplights for the maximum amount of dwell time. One of our customers called it 'stoplight entertainment.' From an advertising point of view, it's great because it gives everyone a great amount of flexibility."
Federal law does not allow billboards to have moving or animated pictures, and state law does not allow for billboard advertisements to change more than once every eight seconds, which is usually the time for an advertisement on Lamar's digital billboards.
Eight-second intervals would allow for seven advertisements per minute; however, in Shreveport, Lamar keeps the seventh slot on most of its billboards open for emergency announcements, like Amber Alerts for missing children, or Crime Stoppers messages, something local law enforcement agencies said was invaluable.
"Any kind of exposure about an Amber Alert or anything else — the more people who see it, the better off you are," said Cpl. Bill Goodin, a spokesman for the Shreveport Police Department. "A lot of time the results are difficult to quantify. I could see how someone would ask, 'How could you say a billboard caused a reduction in crime?' But I think it's obviously a useful tool."
But just as digital billboards present opportunities for some, they also can present challenges to others. Though digital billboards often scatter less light in the air compared to traditional billboards lit with spotlights, residents frequently complain the digital billboards are still too bright.
"We've had complaints; we've had two or three complaints within the last week about that new billboard on Benton Road by the overpass (south of Texas Street), but they work real well with us in toning it down."
Marsiglia said most complaints were resolved quickly when billboard owners reduced their light. Kane said Lamar had learned to dim digital boards near residences at night, as well to avoid using colors like white and yellow.
Currently, the Bossier City planning commission is reworking its billboard ordinance to require all billboards — including digital — to be no closer than 200 feet to residences.
Residences aren't the only ones with problems regarding digital billboards. Barksdale Air Force Base also has asked Bossier City to not allow any new digital billboards in its planes' northern approach zone, coming south near Interstate 20 and I-220 toward the base. Base officials have conveyed concerns to Marsigilia and his staff that incoming pilots might confuse the bright lights with landing signals, and the city has indicated it will do so.
Marsigilia said barring certain exceptions, such as with Barksdale, if properly regulated digital billboards could be a good look for a community.
"I like it," Marsiglia said. "I think it looks clean. The issue is what the levels are ... and how strict we regulate them."
Kane agreed.
"We have found across the country ... more and more communities are embracing the technology, and accepting it and approving it in their communities," Kane said.
