This behavioral science principle can make your billboard go viral, here’s how

Is billboard advertising still relevant today? Yes, all because of costly signaling. This behavioral science principle states that expensive signals indicate higher quality or status.

Although a broader concept about human behavior, costly signaling absolutely applies to advertising. What, after all, is the value of a social media ad? While highly effective, social ads are cheap, so everyone can buy them and crowd the space. But a billboard? That takes some real money.

So, let’s dive into how the costly signaling applies specifically to billboard advertising. Then, I’ll share some top viral billboard examples.

What is costly signaling?

Costly signaling theory is the idea that the higher cost you put into something, the more other people will value it.

Sounds simple right? Well, I do have two caveats. The first is that costly signaling reflects perceived cost. People still need to interpret and assign value to signaled information. Secondly, the signal of cost in these cases is reliable because only individuals who can afford to send the signal possess the signaled quality.

To put it in marketing terms, costly signaling means that the more resources you put into sharing your message, the higher people will rate it. Goes beyond money and includes time, effort, pain, or any sort of expense spent to make the message more persuasive.

I think advertising executive Rory Sutherland puts it perfectly: “The meaning and significance attached to something is in direct proportion to the expense with which it is communicated.”

Costly Signaling Example

Costly signaling goes beyond textbooks and can be seen in the real world. A 2013 study titled “Extreme Rituals Promote Prosocially” analyzed how expenses can increase religious donations.

The study took place in Mauritius during the Hindu festival of Thaipusam. The researchers wanted to see if the effort and pain the worshipers put into their ritual affected the amount they donated to the local temple.

Researchers studied two types of rituals:

Those who watched the low-ordeal singing group gave just 80 rupees as a donation, while those who watched the high-ordeal rituals gave 65% more, 132 rupees on average. In this case, observing pain made people value the ritual more.

I like to visualize costly signaling as a positive vector in which the two elements are directly proportional: higher cost = greater meaning.

This is why asking your partner to marry you at a McDonald’s drive-thru is unlikely to succeed. Asking them after a 10-course tasting menu at a 3-star restaurant will have a higher chance of success.

Although you’re the same person asking the same question, the latter situation is likely to go better for you because of the higher perceived cost and effort. In other words, it’s more meaningful.

Billboards and Costly Signaling

I believe advertisers can take the finding from behavioral science and apply it to their billboards. That’s especially true for costly signaling. So, I conducted a silly yet simple experiment to find out.

I showed 200 British people a fake ad for my podcast, Nudge. Half of the participants in my experiment saw just the ad. The remaining 50% saw the same ad superimposed onto a billboard.

Now, a billboard signals expense. To some less than attentive viewers, they may believe I paid to display that billboard myself. Or perhaps they thought that this survey was the prerequisite to creating the billboard. Either way, the billboard signaled more expense than the ad alone.

Did the billboard variant make people more likely to listen to my podcast? Yes. It made Brits 61% more likely to tune in.

Now, rather than just creating a billboard, marketers can sink more expense into the billboard with novel designs. That novelty will showcase a higher expense, boosting perceived value even more. I’ll share a few standout examples below.

Viral Billboard Examples

1. Netflix

How should Netflix advertise 1,000 new shows? Netflix could communicate the message on a simple building-side billboard, but that would miss the chance to highlight the effort.

So, instead, they created a sprawling, oversized billboard on a giant mural. It listed dozens of shows, which should make viewers value the ad and Netflix more highly.

Why This Works

Simply buying billboard space is not enough. You need to capitalize on that space (and your spend) to revolutionize it. I find the list of shows a powerful way of showing — not telling — what Netflix has to offer. In my opinion, they did a phenomenal job of demonstrating value through their expense.

2. Dracula

Back in 2021, I attended a New Year’s Eve party in South London. Across the road, I saw an ad for a new BBC show. The billboard had dozens of knives stabbed into the poster. A light lit the knives at night, casting a Dracula-shaped shadow across the ad.

The billboard was an incredible piece of art, visible only at night, and must have taken a great deal of effort to create. This expense stuck with me, and I’ve never forgotten this ad, even after a booze-filled evening.

Why This Works

This billboard is unique, clever, and artistic. It is absolutely arresting and communicates the effort of the creative designer behind it. How can a viewer’s curiosity not be piqued?

Going viral entails being unforgettable, so taking billboard design to the next level is a sure way to succeed.

3. Specsavers

“Should have gone to Specsavers” is the humorous slogan for this well-known optician.

All of Specsavers’ ads play on the idea that those with dodgy eyesight need a checkup. But, rather than simply stating their slogan, they use costly, mistake-ridden billboards to emphasize their slogan.

Why This Works

This billboard is eye-catching because it looks wrong. Then, you read it and have a good laugh. Its humor cleverly captures the reason why someone might need a new pair of glasses. I think that makes it unforgettable.

If you can “embody” what you’re selling through your billboard, your message will stick better, and people will value your effort more.

Science Tells Us the Cost Is Worth It

We value billboards more when we see the expense taken to create them. Don’t get me wrong, creating a viral billboard involves a lot of creativity, but behavioral science reveals a common thread behind many of them. The higher the expense, the greater the chance of virality.

My biggest takeaway is that the cost is worth it. When people perceive the cost of an ad, they will not only value it more but also be more likely to spend more in response. If they perceive something as cheap and low-effort, they will respond in kind.

So, invest in creative design and go big with your billboard spend, and you will see a higher return on your investment.