If you were anywhere in Columbus’ Arena District today, it would have been impossible to miss. Parked right on Nationwide Blvd in the heart of the district (and conveniently across the street from DOmedia World Headquarters) is a huge GE: ecomagination semi truck carrying a larger-than-life propeller from a wind turbine. The truck and propeller are part of ecomagination, GE’s effort to help “solve the world’s biggest environmental challenges,” according to their site. One of the program’s commitments is to engage the public through creative advertising. So they got their hands on a giant wind propeller, branded it, and are now taking it on the road as part of the “Catch the Wind Tour.”
Aside from its sheer size, the traveling campaign is raising awareness in the mid-west by encouraging people to make a commitment of their own. Written on the side of the propeller is a simple sentence: “I’m helping to build America’s energy future.” By signing their name on the propeller, passersby join the thousands of others already committed to the cause.
GE wasn’t the only company taking advantage of the busy pedestrian superhighway on this gorgeous Friday. Toyota was also in attendance, complete with a wrapped plug-in hybrid car touting an amazing 100+ mpg.
And I can’t forget CD101, parked in front of the arena, handing out free ice cream (now we’re talking)! The picture below shows the Arena District is no stranger to OOH. The four large billboards continuously spotlight the biggest brands, while the main digital screen is a great resource for weather, upcoming concerts at the arena, and much more. And, of course, the reliable Miller Lite clock off to the right.
Eco-Friendly OOH Takes Over the Arena District
Morphing Advertising and Faces All at Once
Once again, Inwindow Outdoor proves successful at combining advertising and advanced technology to create a buzz-worthy campaign. DailyDOOH and TechNews Daily did a great job of highlighting the advertising efforts marking the release of the hit movie, Avatar. Inwindow Outdoor created a 60′ by 10′ structure that includes three ‘€˜morphing stations’ and one large-scale video wall framed with vinyl and branded in Avatar themes. The display, located at The Grove in Los Angeles, attracts audience members to the screen, recognizes facial features and then transforms their face into a famous, blue Avatar creature, the Na’vi. After their transformation is complete, users can type their email address on the interactive touch screen to obtain a video of their morph, as well as information about where to pick up the Avatar Blue-ray disc.
This technology offers a glimpse of what advertisers are pushing these days: interactive out-of-home media executions. The technology, called ‘€˜augmented reality,’ adds virtual imagery to the environment as the audience sees it. A notable example is the yellow ‘€˜first down’ line in football games on TV. In this case, the Na’vi cat-eyed, blue face staring back at users is augmented reality. Other technologies gaining popularity in the OOH advertising world include holograms and nearby motion generated sights and sounds. According to Lance Porter of LSU’s Manship School of Mass Communications, ‘€œTechnology has finally caught up with what marketers have dreamed about since the Internet went commercial in 1995. [Technology] has moved so quickly now that so many things are possible.’€
This isn’t the first digital out-of-home campaign Inwindow Outdoor has created. Similar campaigns for Sprint Mobile, The CW’s The Vampire Diaries, and the popular children’s movie, Coraline, were featured in big cities across the United States. The Avatar advertising experience (also delivered by FOX Studios, Zenith Media and Blue Bite) is on display for a month, beginning April 16th.
Digital Out-of-Home Unites, Shows Up for Haiti Relief Effort
Since the earthquake in Haiti, DOOH has really stepped up to the plate and proved its worth the past couple weeks. In the aftermath of a tragedy felt around the world, everyone knew something needed to be done–but what? And we all wanted to help–but how? A single, unified message had to be created and made available to the masses. Quick, effective and capable of reaching millions of people worldwide.
So when Matthew Stoudt, CEO of Outcast, rang up the presidents of Zoom Media, TargetCast Networks, CBS Outernet, PumpTopTV, Premier Retail Networks, Captivate Network, AdSpace Networks and IndoorDIRECT, it wasn’t as a competitor but as a fellow industry leader trying to take action. With combined efforts and the help of the Red Cross, the group is now running “Text ‘Haiti’ to 90999” ads across thousands of screens in malls, grocery stores, gyms, doctors’ offices and much more. By running the message across all of the biggest digital screen networks (40,000+ screens to be exact), the donation effort will reach about 100 million Americans each month.
Originally, the Ad Council worked with the Red Cross to develop a digital image to distribute across OOH screens. From there, it was picked up and distributed through OAAA. Lamar, Clear Channel, Health Media Network and Zoom Media have all picked up these ads as well. Some of the Ad Council messages include Michelle Obama or Bill Clinton and George Bush asking for donations. Some companies, such as iDklic Digital Signage and Narrowcasting in Belgium, put together their own ads and began running them across all of their networks. RAMVISION is also running a 2-week campaign for the Disaster Emergency Committee, broadcasting across their Shopping Centre Network.
Interested in joining the effort but don’t have the time or resources to put a spot together? The Preset Group has you covered. They’ve put together PSAs for use by anyone in the digital out-of-home community. For more info, click here.
Out-of-Home, Holiday Style
It’s that time of year again for snowflakes, candy canes, mistletoe and–of course–holiday ads. And nobody does them better than the out-of-home industry. Take a look at some of this year’s unique and eye-catching campaigns.
Here is a great example done for London’s Heathrow Airport. Following their slogan, “Making every journey better,” the world’s largest sprig of mistletoe was hung in Terminal 5, perfectly placed for a quick kiss between reconnecting loved ones.
This OOH campaign for Gap combined a very noticeable plaid wrapped bus and the peppiest street team I’ve ever seen (especially at 5:30 am). Made up of 12 professional dancers and drummers–all sporting the Gap plaid–the street team began in New York City’s Times Square, spreading holiday cheer as they flipped, shouted and threw giveaways into the crowd. Then they hopped back on their bus and headed to the next city on the tour.
The flash mob may be overdone, but who can ignore a couple hundred dancing elves that appear out of nowhere? Brought to us by OfficeMax, the holiday sensation Elf Yourself made its presence known this year with hundreds of elves and a choreographed dance that took place in New York’s Union Square. When the dance was finished, the elves ran off, yelling out, “Elf yourself” as they went.
Image Provided by MediaWeek
To launch its annual holiday campaign, Coca Cola worked with Eye to dominate the Belfast International Airport using digital screens and traditional formats.
Captain Morgan Goes for a Touchdown
Well, you can’t blame the Captain for trying.
According to Media Life, Captain Morgan came up with a plan to get NFL players to pose in the iconic Captain’s stance (knee up, hand on knee, other hand on hip… assuming you’re short a sword) after scoring a touchdown. In return? The rum company would donate $10,000 to the Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund for each player who struck a pose during regular season, $25,000 during playoffs and $100,000 during the Super Bowl. Not a bad deal considering 30-second TV spots can cost millions and still don’t generate buzz like many guerrilla advertising stunts do.
Unfortunately, Philadelphia Eagles tight end Brent Celek got a little too eager and decided to pull out the move in a game against Dallas nearly a week before the campaign was supposed to kick off. Although the cameras caught it all and Captain Morgan still got its moment in the end zone, the NFL jumped on it almost immediately in an attempt to safeguard existing agreements and sponsorships. So even though there will be no more celebrating with the Captain during game time, it was still a great plan and even succeeded in creating the buzz it set out to.
