The Takeaway
Flying V Group ran a two-sided sign between Phoenix and Tempe with several ad variations tied to the Arizona Cardinals draft. The board itself delivered 350 blips and 9,268 estimated impressions. The social pickup was far bigger. Coverage from AZCentral, USA Today, 12 News, and MSN pushed reach past five million online impressions and led directly to a year-long contract with one of the agency’s largest clients.
Why Flying V Group Turned to Billboard Advertising
Flying V Group is a digital marketing agency headquartered in Southern California with an office in Phoenix, Arizona. The team helps clients grow through website work, SEO, PPC, and social media. Most of their own new business had come through digital channels.
The team wanted to run an out-of-home flight that would start conversations about the agency in a way the agency would notice. That meant a creative idea, timed to a moment people were already talking about, and a board where their target market would see it.
How Flying V Group Built Its Billboard Campaign
The Arizona Cardinals’ first-overall pick in the April draft was already national news. Flying V Group ran a creative that hitched to it.
- Boards selected: One two-sided digital sign between Phoenix and Tempe, in the market where the draft story mattered most.
- Creative approach: Several ad variations, including “Draft Kyler”, “Draft Murray”, “5’10” > 3-13”, and “Life’s Too Short. Kyler’s Not.” Each pointed to draftkyler.com, draftmurray.com, or flyingvgroup.com.
- Landing pages: Each URL routed to a page that reframed the pitch in the agency’s voice: “Flying V Group, like Kyler, is small but mighty.”
- Budget approach: A $100 flight, at an average cost of $0.33 per blip, ran across two campaigns.
The Creative
The idea did most of the work. A local team, a national story, and a landing page that made the argument for the agency once you got there. Blip’s billboard design guidelines explain how to build creative that reads at highway speed.
What Flying V Group’s Billboard Campaign Delivered
The board itself delivered 350 blips and 9,268 estimated impressions. The story went further than that. AZCentral, USA Today, 12 News, and MSN.com covered the campaign, along with a wide range of social responses. Flying V Group reported more than 5 million online impressions from the $100 budget, once coverage was included.
The direct business outcome was a year-long agency contract from one of the agency’s largest clients, who cited the campaign as the reason: “This is the kind of out-of-the-box thinking that I need for my business.” It is a specific, hard-to-repeat case, and it shows what a small out-of-home budget can trigger when the idea is worth talking about.
Some people may say that billboards are outdated, too expensive, and don’t allow you to fine-tune your demographic. Being a digital marketing agency, you would think we would agree, but with the power of viral social media trends and the affordability of Blip we were able to reach over 5 million online impressions with a $100 Blip campaign budget.
Brennan Smith, Partner at Flying V Group
Why This Billboard Campaign Worked
- A live news moment: The draft was already the story. The board attached the agency to it.
- One market, right city: The board sat where the story mattered, not across the country.
- Multiple creatives: Small variations gave social media more to share.
- A landing page that closed the loop: Anyone who searched found a page that turned the joke into a pitch.
What Marketing Agency Owners Can Take From This Campaign
Agencies looking at marketing billboards can use these ideas as a template:
- Hitch to a live story: A creative tied to a real moment in the local news is easier to share than a general brand board.
- Buy one board that matters: One two-sided sign in the right city beats a spread across cheaper markets when the story is local.
- Build the landing page first: The board is the hook. The landing page decides who becomes a lead.
- Design for social reshares: Marketing billboards that get photographed and shared do more work off the board than on it.
Run an Agency Campaign Like Flying V Group’s
Choose one board in the market where your story lives, tie the creative to a moment your audience already cares about, and point the traffic to a page that closes.
Frequently Asked Questions About Flying V Group’s Billboard Campaign
How many billboards did Flying V Group use?
One two-sided digital sign between Phoenix and Tempe ran across two campaigns.
How much did the campaign cost?
The Blip flight ran on a $100 budget at an average cost of $0.33 per blip. The published earned reach exceeded 5 million online impressions when press and social pickup were included.
What results did the agency see?
Coverage from AZCentral, USA Today, 12 News, and MSN, and a year-long contract with one of the agency’s largest clients.
Do marketing billboards work for creative campaigns like this?
Marketing billboards work when the creative is tied to something the local audience is already talking about. The board becomes the hook, and social does the rest.
How quickly can a marketing billboard campaign go live?
Choose the boards, upload the artwork, and set the budget. Submit the campaign for review, then start displaying after approval.