• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, January 22, 2009

CBS Outdoor is launching a Web site--WannaBillboard.com--offering a library of ready-to-use creative that advertisers can customize to their brands, then swiftly hit the streets with.

For example, an auto body shop in Minneapolis can insert its name, logo and address on a prepared billboard--artwork and all--that promises: "We'll primp your ride." Or a Phoenix funeral parlor can do the same with the message: "Don't drink and drive! We can wait."

WannaBillboard.com is slated to officially debut the week of Feb. 23, looking to appeal to local and regional advertisers that do not have creative at the ready. Advertisers in some 50 categories--from auto body shops to Halloween stores to gyms--can select from the wealth of potential billboards.

For each line of business, several ads are available for customization. For example, local golf courses can select from five offerings, including one asking consumers to "Swing By."

When WannaBillboard.com--which has been in beta since last summer--goes live in several weeks, it will allow advertisers to view maps and select locations for their ads. Placements are available in the dozens of markets that CBS Outdoor serves--on traditional billboards, but also bus shelters, commuter-train platforms and phone kiosks.

The WannaBillboard system is not fully automated. After marketers select a favored ad, they are directed to contact a CBS Outdoor sales rep to move forward on the buy.

"We do still believe in the human touch," said Jodi Senese, CBS Outdoor's executive vice president of marketing. "It's important to have someone guide you through it."

The WannaBillboard platform is a first in the out-of-home industry in the U.S. A similar Signposter.com operates in the U.K. WannaBillboard has similarities with Spot Runner--which operates online in the local TV space and also allows a marketer to select from a run of already prepared ads.

With both, the goal is to attract small businesses that don't have agencies and may be under the impression that campaigns are too expensive or not accessible to them. CBS Outdoor does not charge advertisers to use the creative it offers, while Spot Runner charges $499 and up for one of its produced spots.

While all deals vary, one large-market media buyer said that "owning" a billboard on a major highway in a top-five market--during a thriving economy--could run between $4,000 and $8,000 a month. But these days, some smaller billboards on less-traveled roads can run in the hundreds of dollars.

In top markets, designers could charge from $750 to $1,250 to develop an ad--an expense that WannaBillboard could cut out.

CBS sales reps are charged with further facilitating the process once the one-to-one negotiations begin. "We're trying to ease the flow," Senese said.

Senese said the revenue potential is significant. There are more than 25 million small business in the U.S.--and if CBS Outdoor can generate interest from 10%, the upside is compelling, she said.

"We need to find a way to talk to all of them," she said. "It casts a much wider net."

Some 30% of CBS Outdoor's business comes from national advertisers and 70% on the local and regional levels. CBS Outdoor conceived the WannaBillboard concept last March, hoping to drive more local sales. But that was before the economic crisis set in, so attracting new customers could be even more important now.

In the most recent reported quarter, CBS said out-of-home revenues in North America fell 4%, largely due to a decline in U.S. billboard operations. And industry trade group the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA) reported last month that sector revenues dropped 6% (to $1.62 billion) in the July-September period.

CBS Outdoor launched the test-mode WannaBillboard site last summer and promoted it in three markets for a month via billboards in Dallas and Atlanta, and bus sides in San Francisco. Senese said that helped lead to about 25 conversations with buyers and some deals.

And it persuaded the company to launch the richer site. "We saw there was some real receptivity and then decided to build it out and make it more robust," she said.

She declined to offer specifics about how WannaBillboard will be promoted when it opens for business next month.

Stephen Freitas, the chief marketing officer at the OAAA, said in the "age of nimble digital content," the site is capitalizing on "technology to be more useful to customers."

While the large-market media buyer suggested that WannaBillboard could be appealing to smaller businesses, he said it may not be ideal for the industry at large. No doubt it could knock out expensive designer costs. But lackluster creative could result, and further the notion that outdoor ads are "visual pollution."

"There's a reason why you're paying that money--because you want your creative to stand out from the rest," he said.

Senese said the creative offerings on WannaBillboard are top-notch and won't diminish the business. "If we help push out ad agency-quality creative, it can elevate the image the industry has," she said.