I have just returned from a quick trip to Mexico–two days in Mexico City and two days in the delightful and far smaller Valle de Bravo. The contrast I observed between these locations led me to reflect on the importance of outdoor media in driving brand preference in Mexico and elsewhere.

Once you get over the shock of being in the vast sprawl of Greater Mexico City, the apparently perpetually gridlocked home to nearly 20 million people, you find many things to enjoy. On this trip, I got to see the Museo Nacional de Antropología, the venue for our celebration of the tenth anniversary of Millward Brown Mexico. The museum is well worth a visit for its amazing architecture and contents, and it made a fantastic backdrop for our affair.

Traveling around Mexico City, one cannot escape seeing a vast array of outdoor advertising of all types and sizes. From my hotel room I could see a vast billboard for Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice. Covering one side of a high rise, the display proclaimed “Sabe Bien, desintoxica mejor” (which translates, roughly, to: Tastes good, purifies better). Just outside the Millward Brown office, one side of a smaller building was covered with a three-panel ad for the BMW Mini, which announced “Y la cuidad arderá” (translation: And the city burns). And then, of course, there were the more standard “48 sheet” posters for a whole host of brands, both local and international, and a plethora of branded awnings and signs. The whole city is well and truly branded.

As we headed for the popular weekend getaway of Valle de Bravo, most of the traffic seemed to come with us–the quaint streets were clogged with fancy cars from the big city as well as old Volkswagen Beatles and rundown farm trucks–but we did seem to leave much of the large-scale outdoor advertising behind. In Valle de Bravo, the local taquerias and cafes still had the painted signs for beers, but the giant posters were replaced with something just as noticeable in the ancient streets: delivery trucks.

Over the two days I was in Valle de Bravo, I saw many delivery vehicles, all painted up with brand logos and messages, dropping off products to small corner stores and food outlets. In Mexico City, the same types of vehicles had been present, but there they’d been dwarfed by the city surroundings and the much larger display ads. In the traditional small-town setting of Valle de Bravo, the impact of these “mobile” ads was far greater.

The most prominent brand by far was Coca-Cola. It seemed like everywhere I turned, I saw a truck painted with the red and white logo. (No doubt this sort of presence explains why over 50 percent of Mexicans agree the brand is part of their national culture). But many other big brands, including Sabritas snacks, Bimbo bread, Boing! fruit juices and, of course, Corona beer. also took advantage of the opportunity to advertise as they delivered supplies in these narrow streets.

 

 

I have written before on the deleterious effects of ad clutter (as in this post). By looking across countries, as well within individual countries over time, we have proven that clutter undermines the effectiveness of TV advertising.But it wasn’t until my four days in Mexico last week that I really understood that clutter can be a detriment to outdoor advertising as well. In Valle de Bravo, the delivery trucks were immediately noticeable, but in the crowded context of Mexico City, it took a billboard the size of a building to have a similar impact. The experience has left me wondering if the same is true of all media, or if there are some that can avoid the effect of clutter overload. I would love to hear your thoughts on the topic.

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