(July 2022) When Thomas Marketing Services client New England Hydroponics opened its 5th location in Sanford, Maine, its 3rd since we became NEH’s marketing firm in 2017, and 1st outside Massachusetts, it faced a dilemma: outdoor/billboards were outlawed in Maine years ago. So one of the most proven effective media for the category was not an option.
But as we like to say: there is always an answer. So we started exploring board avails in MA and southern NH, finally settling on an illuminated board located on a secondary, but highly travelled route going toward Sanford from NH.
While it’s always hard to track results of out-of-home advertising, within a day of its posting, an older couple came into the store telling us they “saw the billboard in Somerset” and made a small purchase, but promised “we’ll be back – we run a hydroponics farm in NH and are thrilled to know you’re here.”
By any measure that’s good start. Tom Lanen, TMSC principal and Creative Director wrote and created imaging and art for the billboard; he also wrote the bad ‘dad pun’ headline for this post. Hydrobuilder Holdings Marketing placed the media. It will run 6 months.
