For years San Francisco billboards shouted obvious brand messages for Coca‑Cola, Toyota, iPhone and AirBnB. Recently, however, many roadside posters have gone deliberately opaque. Phrases like ‘Agents don’t work without evals,’ ‘Too much B2B SAAS,’ and ‘Intelligent AF’—often placed by well‑funded AI startups—now dot neighborhoods, and most people who pass them say they have no idea what is being sold.
Urban design scholar Louise Mozingo, who runs UC Berkeley’s program and has studied corporate landscaping, says these ads are ‘quite clearly not advertising to the average consumer.’ Still, outdoor ad revenue in the city rose about 30% between 2023 and 2025, according to data from Outfront Media, and companies report long waits to secure premier locations.
The inscrutability is intentional. Mike Bilodeau, head of marketing at AI infrastructure startup Baseten, says the approach is an ‘if‑you‑know‑you‑know’ play. Baseten has run terse lines such as ‘Own your models,’ ‘Own Your SLAs,’ and ‘Own Your Nines’ on billboards, bus shelters and kiosks. Bilodeau argues that while most people see nothing, anyone inside the field immediately understands the meaning.
Christine Rose, Outfront’s west region senior marketing director, contrasts this with conventional ads that explain a product to a defined audience. These tech posters instead assume background knowledge and rely on shared jargon, inside jokes and cultural cues rather than explicit descriptions.
Targeted billboard campaigns aren’t new—think about the ‘For Your Consideration’ Oscar boards in Los Angeles—but in San Francisco the low‑tech medium also conveys status. PR and marketing consultant Michelle Garrett says the displays make startups look big and successful and can build momentum; the mystery itself can generate buzz beyond the intended technical audience.
Marketing professor Karen Anne Wallach, who studies exclusive language in campaigns, notes the tactic effectively creates an in‑group and an out‑group. Speaking directly to a small, jargon‑savvy cohort can strengthen ties with that group in the short term. But Wallach warns of longer‑term costs: persistent exclusionary messaging can breed negative associations and shape a brand’s image in undesirable ways.
Startups acknowledge the risk of alienating many viewers, but they view the payoff—capturing attention and signaling legitimacy to a key technical audience—as worth it. The trend also affects how some residents feel about their city. Several people say the signs reinforce the sense that tech dominates San Francisco culture. One caller on KQED’s Forum said the posters made her feel pessimistic, as if ‘the rumors are true and tech has overrun the city.’
The result is a new kind of urban signage that functions less as straightforward marketing and more as a cultural signal: inscrutable to most, meaningful to a few, and visible to all.
Jennifer Vanasco edited this story for broadcast and digital.