What fits in 10 seconds.

Who watches an LED screen.

A screen by the road or on a square is watched by people who didn't come to watch ads. The driver is watching the road, the pedestrian keeps walking, and a passenger turns their head for a moment. Nobody waits for the end, nobody can rewind, and there's usually no sound.

At night the screen shines brighter than everything around it, and by day it competes with the sun. So the colours have to be strong and the background calm. The same screen is often seen by the same people, on the way to work and back. So the ad doesn't have to say everything at once: it's enough for them to recognise it.

That's why a screen ad isn't a shortened social media video. It's a message of its own kind, closer to a shop-window sign than to a film.

What fits in 10 seconds.

• One message. A new konoba is open. Transfers to the airport. The fishmonger is open on Sundays too. Just one of them, never all at once.
• Name and mark. Who is speaking, big enough to recognise from a distance.
• One contact. A short web address or a phone number that's easy to remember. Only one.
• Big type and strong contrast. A handful of words that can be read in a single glance. The screen is far away and bright, and small type turns into a smudge.
• A picture that carries the message. A dish, a vehicle, the view from a terrace. The picture is remembered before the text.

What doesn't fit.

A list of services doesn't fit into 10 seconds, nor does your whole offer, opening hours for every day, several phone numbers or an address with directions. A QR code doesn't fit either, because nobody will scan it off a roadside screen. Every extra item takes attention away from the one that matters.

A common mistake is wanting to use every second. An ad that tries to say everything says nothing.

How 10 seconds are put together.

A good 10-second ad has a beginning, a middle and an end, but not as a story. At the start, an image or movement that draws the eye. In the middle, the message, a few words. At the end, the name and contact, which stay on screen long enough for someone to read them.

An ad runs in a loop with others on the screen, so many people won't catch it from the start. That's why the business name mustn't appear only at the end. It helps to show it throughout, even small, in a corner.

Take a konoba opening for the season. The video starts with a pan of fish with steam rising from it. Then a few words: “Open from Friday”. At the end, the konoba's name, its mark and a short web address. The static version of the same ad is one photograph of the dish, the name and that same sentence.

Static or video.

A static ad is a single image that stays on screen for the length of your slot. It costs €100. It works when the message is simple and doesn't need showing in motion: new opening hours, an opening, an address.

A 10-second video costs €190. Movement catches the eye better than a still image, and a video can show what a picture can't: a dish being served, a boat setting out, a vehicle on the road. It needs more material and more work, which is why it costs more.

When the message changes, for a new season, a new price or a new offer, changing an existing ad costs €50.

What I need from you, and how long it takes.

I need your logo, photographs or footage if you have them, the message you want to get across and the contact you want to show. If you're not sure how to word the message, I suggest it. And the screen's technical details, which the screen owner provides: resolution, aspect ratio and file type. I make the ad exactly to those, so it isn't stretched or cropped.

You get a proposal within 48 hours of the material arriving. You look at it and tell me what to change, and once you approve it, you get the finished file for the screen.

If you don't have good photographs, I can shoot on location, for €100. Photography is paid in advance, and the photographs are yours to use on your site, your profile and social media as well.

The slot on the screen, how often the ad runs and on which screen, you agree with the screen owner. I make the ad that has to work in that slot.