In the current days of Tinder, online dating and short romances it comes as a pleasant surprise when a man actually rented a billboard to propose to his girlfriend. Gareth Illidge, 29, rented the adspace from Airoutdoor in Pontefract, West Yorkshire (United Kingdom) in order to pop the question in an inventive and majestic style to Becci Thourgood, 27. Gareth Illidge is a graphic designer by profession who came up with emoji-inspired poster, all by himself. It read: “Becci Thourgood, will you marry me? Text ‘yes’ to Gaz Illidge. #dontsaynothiscostafortune”.
Paul Inman, director of Leeds-based Airoutdoor, said: “This is probably the most unusual use of our billboards to date. It’s great to play a small part in such a special occasion and we wish them the best of luck for the future.” Illidge said: “I wanted to do something out of the ordinary by asking the big question on a local billboard. I think the main reason was because I’m quite a shy person and wanted to do something a little out of character. I’m very pleased with how it all went. We’ve since had dozens of phone calls from people saying they’d seen the billboard and loved it.” Not only, this attracted a lot of attention from the on-lookers it definitely got a ‘Yes’ from his girlfriend. This story is a unique example of how effective billboard advertising can be.
