Key Takeaways

Roadside advertising reaches people on the move through billboards, digital screens, bus stops, transport media and murals, with each format suited to different audiences and locations.
Roadside advertising rules depend on size, placement, illumination and location. Larger formats such as 48-sheet and 96-sheet billboards may need consent, so planning checks are essential.
The main benefit is scale and repetition. Roadside adverts generate high visibility, reinforce brand recognition and work well alongside wider OOH and digital campaigns.

Roadside advertising is an excellent way to capture maximum impressions, showcasing your advertising and promotions to vast audiences of motorists, commuters, public transport passengers and pedestrians.

These types of adverts are viewed by as many as 98% of the UK population each week and can be coordinated with other out-of-home promotions and digital marketing campaigns to augment brand recognition.

Whether you are keen to display your brand messaging on a classic roadside billboard, would like prime positioning close to a major through-route or motorway, or are keen on street-level roadside advertising in the heart of Manchester or London, One Day can assist.

Today, we're looking at the various types of graphic displays available to UK businesses, the rules you may need to be aware of in terms of placements and permissions, and the advantages of using roadside promotions as part of your marketing strategy.

Types of Roadside Advertising

The first consideration when planning any campaign is the types of ads and locations that make the most sense. For example, if your target demographic is a professional businessperson, and you have a growing client base in London, street-level marketing aimed at places with high commuter footfall might be ideal.

Conversely, if you specialise in products or services for families or students, you might opt for large-scale traditional billboards with high-volume traffic to showcase your messaging to motorists or prefer an unconventional, eye-catching mural.

For brands comparing outdoor formats before planning a campaign, this overview of OOH advertising explains where roadside fits within the wider channel.

High-Visibility Billboards

Billboards have long been a successful form of roadside advertising since the size and scale of these spaces mean you can deliver clear offers and branding to a potentially vast audience. Static displays can be used for short-term or ongoing promotions and have a uniquely wide reach.

Another option is to utilise digital billboards, which incorporate LED technology to create moving, dynamic displays. They can often be adjusted on demand to correspond with foot traffic, views, the weather, or time of day.

Digital roadside billboards are flexible and can display any colours, graphics, or content you wish. You can also make remote updates to the text or images displayed, often on a revolving basis, making a full takeover a possible solution.

Latest full-year industry figures show UK OOH revenue reached £1.44bn, with digital out-of-home accounting for 67% of annual revenue.

For more detail on common billboard formats, this guide to billboard sizes explains how different formats are used across OOH campaigns.

Roadside Transport Advertising - Bus Stop Advertising.

Public Transport Roadside Advertising

There are an equally diverse number of ways to use roadside advertising in and around public transport networks to advertise to a large audience. Some of the advertising packages and media placements we offer include:

Bus advertising, uses vinyl wraps, supersides and T-bar promotions to take full advantage of the visibility and elevated height of buses, often traversing high-density areas that are restricted to other traffic.

Bus stop advertising, such as Adshels and digital revolving displays, captures attention when commuters have extended dwell time. These placements are popular for brands looking to advertise in urban and heavily populated areas.

Taxi advertising is another great option. With various placements on the exterior and interior, you can display your brand on an iconic black cab that will travel throughout your chosen location.

While there are other placements and opportunities within public transport, this summary provides a snapshot of the options you might wish to select from.

For a deeper look at commuter-led placements, this guide explains the benefits of advertising on public transport.

Wall Mural Advertising

Using street furniture and the landscape itself as a backdrop for a promotion can be very effective, with murals often transforming the appearance of a pedestrian area, walkway, or underpass into a place of interest.

Large-scale murals can be funny, comedic, and thought-provoking. They are particularly useful in generating brand engagement and loyalty in localised audiences when professionally completed murals act as entertainment and enhance the aesthetic of the immediate background.

Likewise, brands use murals alongside conventional billboards to convey a sense of familiarity, using the crossover with street art to communicate their values, stories or messages.

Understanding Rules and Regulations Around Roadside Advertising

Any outdoor advertising, whether a roadside billboard, a bus shelter promotion or a moving digital ad on the side of a building or shopping centre, must adhere to relevant rules that can potentially limit the size of promotion you can display or the types of content considered appropriate.

If your roadside advertisements meet all of these criteria, it is unlikely you will need planning permission, consent or formal approval:

Promotions displayed on an advertisement placement intended for this purpose are usually allowed without consent, although that may change if you opt for a super-size billboard. Kiosks, billboards, or posters that act as purpose-designed advertising spaces are usually allowed.

Adverts in specific locations, such as an enclosed area such as a courtyard or forecourt, contained within a fence or inside a building and not immediately visible through a main entranceway, do not require permission.

Roadside adverts that promote a service or product being sold or made available on the same premises are also normally permitted since local authorities don’t require consent to advertise the trade you are carrying on.

However, very large billboards and other roadside adverts that do not meet these criteria could potentially need permission, including the classic 48-sheet and 96-sheet billboards, which are among the most popular options.

A lot depends on the locality since roadside ads most often fall under the remit of the local planning authority, with highway land and roadside safety also influencing what can be approved. The Planning Portal notes that you may need advertisement consent for adverts bigger than 0.3 square metres, or any illuminated advert, on the front of or outside your property.

If you need any further guidance about roadside advertising regulations or would like tailored support managing a specific campaign you have in mind, please get in touch with One Day at any time.

The Benefits of Roadside Advertising for Business Brands

Planning permission aside, the benefits of roadside advertising are compelling, especially when messaging is displayed on highly visible billboards that stick in the viewer's mind and have the potential to advertise to enormous numbers of people.

Here are a few scenarios in which we’d suggest roadside advertising:

Looking to gain maximum impressions with as large an audience as possible in the quickest possible time, roadside ads are often seen by vast numbers of people when positioned in prominent places in front of motorists, pedestrians, commuters and passengers.

Creating advertising in a public space that is impossible to ignore. The size of a roadside advert ensures you can upscale the visibility and memorable nature of your outdoor graphics, making the best of the space available.

Reinforcing brand recognition and awareness. Roadside promotions reach large audiences every day and work incredibly well at repeating brand exposure when you simultaneously use digital and other OOH promotions to cement knowledge of your business.

Roadside advertising can also support online action. Research cited by Open Media found that 46% of consumers searched for a brand online and 26% visited a brand’s website after seeing an OOH advert.

For businesses comparing roadside formats with other options, this guide to the advantages and disadvantages of billboard advertising can help clarify where the format works best.

“Roadside advertising works because it gives brands consistent visibility in places people move through every day. The strongest campaigns use clear messaging, smart placement and repeated exposure to make a brand easier to notice, remember and act on.” - Klaudia Szelugowsca, Business Director One Day Agency

Please get in touch if you'd like more detail about the information we've discussed, whether you'd like to enquire about media placements and roadside ads in prime positions or look at the competitive advantages a cross-channel campaign could bring.

How One Day Agency Can Help

At One Day Agency, we plan and activate roadside advertising campaigns across classic and digital OOH formats. From roadside billboards and bus stop advertising to murals, transport media and high-impact digital screens, we help brands choose the right locations and formats for their objectives.

We also connect roadside advertising with wider digital and media activity, including paid social, PPC, programmatic, TV, radio and digital campaigns. This helps brands build campaigns that work across the full customer journey, from public visibility to online action and store visits.

For a deeper view on how digital formats can be planned and activated, read our guide on how to advertise on digital billboards.

Learn more about OOH media buying, programmatic advertising, creative campaigns, PPC advertising, radio advertising, TV advertising and campaign planning tools!

References

Outsmart: Why OOH Works

Outsmart: Latest Annual OOH Revenue Report

Planning Portal: Adverts and Signs

Open Media: OOH and Its Impact on Consumer Behaviour

FAQs

What is roadside advertising?

Roadside advertising is a form of out-of-home advertising placed along roads, streets, transport routes and public spaces. It includes billboards, digital screens, bus stop advertising, taxi advertising, transport media and wall murals.

What are the main types of roadside advertising?

The main types of roadside advertising include high-visibility billboards, digital roadside billboards, bus advertising, bus stop advertising, taxi advertising and wall murals. Each format suits different audiences and campaign goals.

Do roadside adverts need planning permission?

Some roadside adverts may not need formal permission if they meet permitted criteria, but larger, illuminated or more prominent formats may need advertisement consent. Locality, placement, size, content and highway safety can all affect the rules.

Are digital roadside billboards effective?

Yes, digital roadside billboards can be effective because they offer flexibility, motion and dynamic creative. They can also be updated remotely and adapted by time of day, weather, location or audience behaviour.

What are the benefits of roadside advertising?

The main benefits of roadside advertising are scale, visibility and repetition. Roadside adverts can reach motorists, commuters, pedestrians and public transport passengers, helping brands build recognition and support wider campaign activity.

Can roadside advertising work with digital campaigns?

Yes, roadside advertising can work well with digital campaigns. OOH can build awareness and prompt online action, while digital channels such as paid social, PPC and programmatic can retarget, convert or reinforce the same message.

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