The Billboard Always has Two Faces

On the 7:01 a.m express train to Grand Central recently, I found myself to be a customer. A customer of my favorite subject: financial PR.

I was sitting across from a series of well-placed billboard ads from lender CommonBond. The ad said:

Wonder if there's a better way to get where you're going? Save over $14,000 when you refinance your student loans.

I must say: I sure felt compelled to learn more. And I'm 15 years removed from law school and have thankfully put to bed my student debt.

What caused this reaction?

Firstly, it was the message of simple, awesome opportunity that didn’t exist for me nearly a decade ago – a loan that works for me vs. the bank. Second, though the ad was explicitly designed for a more recent grad, professionals like me could see themselves in the story told.

In financial PR, we have this opportunity with our work – what you’ve previously heard me describe as making finance different. In this instance, to make explicit and implicit audiences react (positively) to a message.

As we think about, create, and deliver the ends of our communications – whether it be the next newspaper placement, the timely Tweet, the headline speaker, the artful logo or the billboard – we should not take lightly our chance to woo audiences we both intended and didn’t necessarily intend to engage.  

To paraphrase CommonBond, there is a better way to get where we need to go. From the get-go, remind yourself that the customer of your message never boils to one. There are always two (or more) faces who can see themselves in your ad. So shape your message for the peripheral audience – even while blatantly hitting your target.  

While CommonBond’s customer for their ad was probably a 25-year-old MBA with mega student loans, a story was there to inspire me too – and did.