Thread by @samdblond

Brex ran the most successful billboard campaign of any tech startup in history. The impact was massive for inbound demand gen, near 100% brand awareness in our target market, improved outbound conversion, and more.

Here is what we did, pics included, and how you can do it too:

2/ I joined Brex in May of 2018. We hadn't launched yet - no PR, no website, LinkedIn's said: Stealth. No one knew who we were. We were planning for a launch in June and wanted to make as big of a splash as possible.

3/ I had done billboards, both successfully and unsuccessfully, at previous startups, and thought Brex was a perfect candidate for a big campaign for a few reasons: 1) our target market, tech startups, was geographically concentrated in the Bay Area.

4/ 2) our product offering was simple to message: a corporate card for startups. 3) The timing was right - we were launching our product out of beta and wanted to acquire market share as quickly as possible. Brex's CFO and I decided billboards could be big for us.

5/ I knew a rep at Clear Channel from a previous startup where I had worked with him. We reached out with the mandate to go big and get as much bang for our buck as possible.

6/ Billboards on 101 are expensive because of the high number of impressions. Most of our inventory was in SF at bus shelters and city boards. Impressions are lower, which means they're less expensive, but impressions are longer due to foot traffic and stopped cars vs a highway

7/ We were able to negotiate an amazing deal to purchase the majority of downtown SF inventory for ~50k/month for 3 months for a total of 150k. We posted every board the exact day we launched out of beta alongside a big PR push.

8/ Our first creative was simple and literal messaging: "The First Corporate Card for Startups." No one knew who we were, so we wanted to establish a brand before getting more creative.

9/ Once everyone in SF knew of Brex, in large part due to the billboards, we started to get more creative with our messaging. We included rewards, current events (Brexit), and even the scenery around the billboard.

10/ Every time I told someone where I worked - potential customers, investors, candidates - they all would say "I see your billboards EVERYWHERE."  Our outbound response rates in SF were as high as I've ever seen.

11/ We grew the business - market share, revenue, valuation - about as fast as any b2b tech startup ever had. We went from an unknown company to a household name in our target market overnight. Billboards were a big part of this success.

12/ If you want to do a billboard campaign, here are the steps I recommend based on my experience:

1) Decide if billboards are right for you. Billboards are expensive. You want a high concentration of your target market in the area you're posting in.

13/ If your target market is scattered geographically, there are likely better channels for customer acquisition besides billboards. 2) If you're going to do a campaign, go big or go home. Repetition is critical. Buy every billboard you can in a designated area.

14/ 3) The biggest mistake I've ever made is not having high contrast between the letters and the background. With low contrast, people can't read the billboard, especially in daylight. I recommend white on black or close to it.

15/ 4) Your first campaign should have messaging that is short (<8 words) and explains your product offering. Don't get creative until you have confidence the audience knows who you are and what you do.