More than 3,500 brown advertising signs are on German motorways, pointing out tourist attractions. But are the tables still worth it?
Kassel – The Autobahn 7 may be a better advertising medium for Kassel than the Internet. In both directions on the north-south connection there are the brown advertising signs that everyone knows and that point to the documenta and the World Heritage Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe. The Kassel town hall has calculated that a total of around 74,000 vehicles pass the signs on the A7 every day. “Even if only one person is sitting in the vehicle, that’s 27 million potential visual contacts per year in both directions,” explains a city spokesman. The signs are therefore important to increase awareness.
Nevertheless, the “tourist information boards”, as the signs are called in bureaucratic German, are currently being discussed in municipalities. The reason is a decision by the Straubing city council. A majority in the Lower Bavarian city is in favor of tearing down the brown sign that has been pointing to the local zoo since 2001. Since the panels have faded over time, they actually need to be replaced, which will cost 83,000 euros. That was too much money for local politicians. However, a final decision is still pending.
Dispute over signs on the A7 and Co. - is it still worth it?
In some places people wonder whether the food banks are still worth it. There are more than 3,500 signs in Germany. They point out tourist destinations, oddities such as the shepherd's running town of Markgröningen and the home of the Grünkern in northern Baden, as well as commercial places such as the Soltau thermal baths. The ADAC praises the boards as “local knowledge as you drive past”.
The last time signs were replaced or reinstalled in Kassel was almost ten years ago. According to the town hall spokesman, a sign cost 6,000 euros at the time. In Straubing that probably wouldn't even be enough for a post. The sign that was put up on the A7 ten years ago advertising the Sababurg Zoo was also significantly cheaper at 15,000 euros than the Bavarian sign that is now making headlines.
It is difficult to measure whether and how the panels work. Supporters of the boards point to a study by the Harz University of Applied Sciences from 2019, according to which one in six people have spontaneously left the motorway because of one of the brown boards. At least two thirds of those surveyed could still remember the sights on the signs. The Kassel district therefore says that the “external impact on the region should not be underestimated,” says spokeswoman Alia Shuhaiber.
The city of Borken, which draws attention to the Borken Lake District on the A 49, also considers the boards to be a worthwhile advertising measure. After the signs were put up in 2015, the former mining town received “a lot of feedback from people who noticed the signs,” according to a spokeswoman.
The number of brown signs on motorways is increasing: there is now also an app
This may be why the number of food banks is increasing. Jürgen Depenbrock, managing director of the Habichtswald Nature Park, which is advertised on the A 44, is seeing “more and more signs like this on the motorways,” as he says.
He divides the signs into two categories: those that refer to a specific offer (such as the Wilhelmshöhe mountain park or the Sababurg zoo) could lead to people visiting the place spontaneously. Those boards with more general information (such as about the Habichtswald Nature Park) could motivate you to find out more about it later - perhaps even for your next short vacation.
That's why there is now an app. The ad-free audio guide application “Adventure Guide” provides information about the sights on the brown signs. This can make a long car journey, where you keep puzzling over the places on the boards, quite entertaining.
The app is now available as a browser version. There is, for example, information about the “documenta city of Kassel”. There are probably better advertising media than a website on which documenta is spelled with a K. (Matthias Lohr)