Almost everyone either overbuys or underbuys, and both mistakes come from the same place: nobody measured the road.
Start with the distance, not the price
The only question that decides size is how far away someone is when they need to read your name.
Stand at the point on the road where you want a driver to notice you. Pace it, or drive it and watch the odometer. That number chooses the balloon. Nothing else does.
The rough rule
Lettering on a blimp reads clearly from roughly forty times its height. Ten-inch letters read at about 330 feet; eighteen-inch letters at about 600 feet.
A 13-foot blimp carries lettering that works to about 500 feet. A 21-foot carries lettering that works to about half a mile. That is the whole scale, in one sentence.
Where people overbuy
A single-frontage shop on a 35 mph street does not need a 25-foot blimp. The driver is 200 feet away and moving slowly. A 13-foot does that job for $975 blank instead of $4,208.
The extra money buys nothing at that distance, and it costs you every time: 787 cubic feet of helium per fill instead of 170.
Where people underbuy
A site set back from a highway is the classic case. Sixty miles an hour, a quarter of a mile of approach, and a 10-foot blimp is a dot.
If your road is fast and your setback is deep, you need 18 feet or more. Buying small here does not save money; it wastes the whole purchase.
Ask for a quote. Call 1-800-791-1445 or email sales@arizonaballoon.com and tell us the size and whether you want it printed.
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