Copywriting Lessons on the Road

On road trips, I love reading billboards, shop signs and signboards. Recently, I came across an amusing billboard on the highway from Delhi to Chandigarh. It simply said: 

CLEAN, HYGIENIC TOILET

AC restaurant and hotel

Veg & non-veg food

It grabbed my attention immediately. For starters, it reminded me that I did, in fact, have to visit the washroom. I also thought it was hilarious how they advertised a toilet, and the fact that there was a restaurant around it was a mere afterthought. 

I felt there was a lot to unpack from the way the ad was constructed. Let’s see the lessons this teaches us, shall we?

1. Find out exactly what the target audience wants. The more specific the need it addresses, the better the ad. In this case, the restaurant owners figured out what their visitors were looking for: clean places to relieve themselves after a few hours of driving. So, they made it their biggest selling point and used it to drive more travellers in. More people visiting = more people eating. Win win. 
2. The headline is everything. Notice how they understood the biggest problem area people faced, i.e., the lack of clean washrooms on long road trips. The headline here acts as the hook that pulls people in. That’s the set-up; the solution. That’s their grandest offering. The promise of a clean, safe washroom is reason enough for people to stop. The fact that it is also an air-conditioned restaurant comes second, though it’s still worth mentioning.
3. Location, location, location. By location, I mean the environment the ad is placed in. Can you imagine the same ad working absolutely anywhere else? It’ll be ridiculous to place that in the middle of a commercial area, like a shopping mall. A gigantic board about a toilet can put people off and garner unnecessary sniggers. But here, the context is different. The reality is different. What becomes important for copywriters is to write ads that suit the mood of the platform they are on (and this, of course, includes digital channels as well).

The copy doesn’t scream cleverness, but it does simplicity. It worked for me. And sometimes it’s the well-meaning, simple messages that do the trick. Don’t you agree?