 London and US Billboards are Now Digital
Added: 05/30/2006 |
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We live in an age where consumers increasingly have their faces glued to the smaller screens on their mobile phones and other portable entertainment devices. It is requires the necessity for outdoor advertising companies fight harder and harder to draw attention to their big signs. So, advertisers are taking two big steps to update their traditionally static billboards ...
Technology is being developed and improved every day - huge screens are often replaced by the smaller screens of mobile phones and other portable entertainment devices. Today's consumers have their faces glued to small screens instead of noticing huge US billboards. Outdoor advertising companies fight harder and harder to draw attention to their big signs.
Outdoor advertisers are taking two big steps to update their traditionally static billboards, in order to attract wandering consumers. Huge US billboards are replaced by massive digital screens into U.S. malls.
In May 2006, a joint venture between France's Publicis, the world's fourth-largest advertising group, and Simon Property Group, the biggest U.S. mall owner, was announced. It was done to create an in-mall TV network that will broadcast news and entertainment programmes sponsored by advertisers including Coca-Cola. Perhaps in such way US billboards will be replaced by TV advertising?
At the same time, Clear Channel Outdoor is planning to build a network of 10 digital roadside billboards in London. These will also include busy Vauxhall Cross and Cromwell Road. The billboards will display continuously changing ads that can be updated instantly and remotely.
A number of efforts to modernize billboards were performed recently. One of such efforts was in Times Square. As a result pedestrians could interact with billboards using cell phones or another on a highway that linked with a radio frequency for drivers.
According to the mall project - OnSpot Digital Network - it is planned to broadcast in high-definition on nearly 2,000 screens at 50 of Simon Property's approximately 300 U.S. malls by the end of the summer, the companies said.
"By extending the dialogue between a brand and a consumer directly into the shopping environment, we can help brands make a tremendous impact at the time that it matters most: when consumers are poised to make a purchase," said Simon Badinter, a Publicis executive who is also co-chairman of the venture.
Programming will run in eight-minute loops. Half of the time will be devoted to ads. The new London and US billboards are going to advertise Nintendo, Mahindra USA, Visa and Subway, together with Coca-Cola that took part in the system's test run at New York's Roosevelt Field Mall.
The screens will be placed near entrances, food courts and high-traffic corridors in Simon Property's shopping centers. These will also include the Laguna Hills Mall in California and the Lincolnwood Towne Center in Illinois.
A Publicis spokeswoman said that a 30-second commercial to appear on all the screens will cost $350,000 a month. (For comparison - the best-placed billboards in Times Square cost between $200,000 and $350,000 a month, while a 30-second commercial during the Super Bowl costs about $2.4 million.)
"The screens will not only provide unparalleled flexibility, enabling advertisers to target audiences at different times of the day in different mindsets with different messages, but they are also more energy-efficient than traditional LED screens," said Clear Channel UK Chief Executive Barry Sayer.
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