All posts in Billboards

Out-of-Home Joins Inauguration Festivities with Messages of Optimism & Change

by admin on January 20, 2009 in Advertising, Alternative advertising, Billboards, Branding campaigns, DOmedia, Events with No comments

January 20 marks the historical inauguration of our 44th president, making it the perfect environment for companies to reach millions of Americans with their own messages of change. GM has made this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity into a road trip, beginning in Detroit and ending in Washington, D.C. just in time for the inauguration. A caravan of Saturn Vue 2-Mode Hybrids, carrying the theme “The Road to Change Starts in Your Driveway,” will stop at Ohio State University, Penn State University, and Howard University.

Mirroring Obama’s own message of hope and optimism, Pepsi plans to have a large presence at the inauguration with messages such as “Yes You Can” and “All for One” residing on the city’s billboards, buses, etc. In another out-of-home tactic, street teams will hand out commemorative buttons, hats, and scarves that flaunt those same messages of hope. To see what else Pepsi has planned, go to www.RefreshEverything.com.

American companies aren’t the only ones welcoming in the new President at our nation’s capital. As part of its “Embrace Change 09” out-of-home campaign, Swedish-born Ikea has recreated the Oval Office (using their own Ikea furniture) in Washington, D.C.’s Union Station, one of the nation’s busiest train stations. According to a company release, “President-elect Obama’s notion of change and his commitment to fiscal responsibility match the Ikea philosophy of practical and affordable home furnishings for all.” For this reason, Ikea has offered to furnish any room in the White House the First Family wishes to redesign—for free! Go to www.embracechange09.com to learn more.

NYC is a spectacle on NYE thanks to out-of-home advertising

by admin on December 31, 2008 in Advertising, Alternative advertising, Billboards, Branding campaigns, DOmedia, Events, Sponsorships, Technology, Trends, Uncategorized with No comments

Much like years past, New York City’s Times Square is bringing together some of the biggest brand names for the all-time New Year’s Eve celebration. And once again, out-of-home advertising is the star of the show. This year, however, sponsors are getting a bit more creative and optimistic (not to mention frisky) in an economy that has seen mostly pessimism and stagnation in the past year. From confetti wishes and kissing stages to wind-powered digital billboards, it will truly be a site to see.

New this year at midnight, Times Square will rain hopes and dreams—literally. The Mars brand’s newest candy bar, 3 Musketeers Mint, is sponsoring a Wishing Wall for people to submit their resolutions, goals, and hopes for 2009. The messages will then be printed on tiny pieces of paper and dropped over Times Square at midnight, showering New York City with over a ton of wish-covered confetti. Wishes can be submitted online at http://www.timessquarenyc.org/nye/nye_interactive.html or in person at the Times Square Information Center.

Echoing Mars’ upbeat tempo is Pepsi’s new ad campaign focused on youthful optimism that will blanket the billboards of NYC. The campaign, titled Wordplay, creates uplifting words out of the brand’s redesigned logo. As part of the NYE festivities, the company will unleash one thousand balloons (complete with new Pepsi logo, of course) on Times Square minutes before midnight. Stuck at home for New Year’s? You can still be a part of the action by texting “Change”, along with your own message of optimism, to 66333 where it could appear on MTV’s Times Square screen or in their coverage of the celebration.

Not to be outdone, JVC’s iconic (and newly designed) digital billboard will also allow partygoers to take pics from their cell phones and upload them to nyc@jvcnewyear.com. Once approved, they will display for three seconds on JVC’s 19- by 34-foot high-def screen.

With luck, the hope and happiness theme will carry through the coming year, lifting our spirits (and possibly the economy) along the way. Happy 2009!

Indiana Jones and the Outdoor Campaign

by admin on May 27, 2008 in Advertising, Billboards, Branding campaigns with 1 Comment

The entertainment industry has long been a staunch proponent of the outdoor advertising industry, creatively incorporating the medium to promote everything from movie premieres to Broadway openings. Hollywood’s “Man with the Midas Touch,” Steven Spielberg, continues the out-of-home legacy, once again calling on alternative out-of-home to promote the long-awaited return of Indiana Jones. Given the successful use of alternative media to promote Spielberg’s Transformers movie last year, Paramount decided to turn it up a notch for Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

According to the article from Reuters, the Indy campaign comprises about 2,000 billboards, wall messages, bus-side promos and other out-of-home messages nationwide. Talk about a glowing testimonial.

And the promoters of Indiana Jones like billboards so much, they’ve decided that two are better than one. In target areas such as Los Angeles, New York and Chicago, multiple billboards are being used for a single message for the blockbuster. (In fact, several dozen photos of just the billboards are already on Flickr.)

While it’s hard to say exactly what portion of the $126 million opening weekend can be directly attributed to outdoor, there’s no question that the tight integration of all the campaign’s channels helped deliver the hype studio execs were banking on.

Now Smell This…The Future of Outdoor

by admin on October 22, 2007 in Advertising, Alternative advertising, Billboards, Technology with 2 Comments

They say smell is one of our strongest senses and is most closely tied to our memories and emotions. Walking by a bakery pulling out a batch of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies can conjure up a whole host of mental snapshots. Now, turn that bakery into a digital billboard for, say, a “famous” cookie company, and you have the type of thing marketers’ dreams are made of.

Think this possibility lives in the distant future? Think again. According to mediaplannerbuyer.com, Tokyo-based NTT Communications began testing this technology yesterday in front of Kirin City Beer Hall in Tokyo’s Yaesu Shopping Mall. The aroma-enhanced digital signage (called Kaoru Digital Signage) will be in place through December and will emit lemon and orange scents (typically associated with beer). The company hopes to gauge the sign’s effectiveness in attracting the attention of mall shoppers.

It will be interesting to see the impact this technology has both on results and general popular opinion. If it takes off, just think of all the possibilities here in the States…and you thought walking through a department store perfume section was rough…

Outdoor Advertising: Societal Nemesis or Environmental Enhancer?

by admin on October 16, 2007 in Advertising, Alternative advertising, Billboards, Branding campaigns, Legal News with 1 Comment

Maybe I’m just more aware given my current employment. Or maybe the debate has gotten louder. Either way, I’ve been hearing and reading a lot lately about the “advertising invasion” into our daily lives. Without a doubt, out-of-home advertising has been on a major upswing since 2001, making it the second-fastest growing media channel behind the Internet. (In fact, out-of-home advertising revenue has increased at least 20% each year since 2001…meanwhile traditional TV, print and radio outlets have all been struggling.) As marketers have increasingly looked to non-traditional avenues to reach their audiences, it seems there is a growing movement to fight this “ad creep.” Here’s my question: is advertising necessarily evil? Continue reading →