Photo: Brandalism
“Environmental campaigners hijacked billboards across Europe in a protest against the advertising of air travel.
Adverts promoting services and products that use fossil fuels should be banned in the same way that those for tobacco products are, the protesters argue…”
— Lamiat Sabin, Independent
Photo: Adidas
“Adidas’ most recent campaign (quite literally) has legs…
To promote its specially-designed sweat-proof, ergonomic, wireless ‘Fwd-02 Sport’ earbuds for runners, developed by Zound Industries, M&C Saatchi Stockholm turned athletes from Stockholm Run Club into moving advertisements.
A series of lightweight billboards were designed by the agency, then donned by a cherry-picked team of elite runners who took to the most popular running routes in the Swedish capital. Each poster featured a QR code on the back that offered fellow runners a 50% discount on the headphones.
The catch? To get the discount, people had to keep up with the elites to get close enough to snap the code…”
— Rebecca Stewart, Adweek
Illustration via Change.org using original photo credit on Miami New Times – Richard Cavalleri
Giant 1800 square foot billboards slated for parks and other government properties in Miami.
Resident’s start a petition drive and updated information during this fast moving situation here:
Backgrounder from Press:
“Miami targets even larger billboards throughout urban core”
“While a city board has caused a major delay to the Miami City Commission’s plan to allow outdoor advertising signs in some of the city’s premier waterfront parks, the commission followed with a vote advancing an even more aggressive measure allowing large digital ad signs on city property.
Before the commission Oct. 13 were two related items: The final reading of an amendment to the sign ordinance to allow advertising signs in three bayfront parks, sponsored by Joe Carollo; and the first reading of an amendment to the sign ordinance allowing larger digital advertising signs at numerous city-owned properties, sponsored by Alex Diaz de la Portilla.
Mr. Carollo’s proposal could not move forward because on Oct. 11 the Planning, Zoning and Appeals Board (PZAB) voted to defer the legislation 90 days.
After discussion of the proposal and the rights and authority of PZAB, the commission voted to withdraw Mr. Carollo’s proposal. It had passed unanimously on first reading Sept. 22.
Mr. Carollo’s legislation would allow advertising signs up to 20 by 20 feet in Bayfront Park, Maurice A. Ferré Park, and Virginia Key Beach Park.
The original advertising sign ordinance allows outdoor advertising signs at three city-owned sites: James L. Knight Center, Olympia Theater and Building/Gusman Center for the Performing Arts, and Miami Children’s Museum.
Mr. Diaz de la Portilla’s proposal would add Bayfront Park; Perez Art Museum Miami (PAMM); Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County; Maurice A. Ferré Park; and ‘Any government-owned location within the Omni or SEOPW CRAs (Southeast Overtown/Park West Community Redevelopment Agency).’
The following locations would be deemed Digital Free Standing Sign Sites: Bayfront Park; PAMM; and Maurice A. Ferré Park. Signs up to 1,800 square feet would be allowed.
The purpose of both amendments to the city sign ordinance notes, ‘… the City of Miami seeks to bring in necessary revenue to maintain and improve government-owned properties within the City.’
City Attorney Victoria Méndez explained that state law requires these types of signs be reviewed by the PZAB before commission can grant final approval.
Per city code, the PZAB can defer an item for up to 90 days, and provisions allow two additional deferrals up to 45 days each.
Mr. Diaz de la Portilla was not happy hearing this and eventually asked Ms. Mendez to draft an amendment stripping authority of PZAB by only allowing one deferral to its next meeting, which must be within 30 days. If PZAB does not hear a matter, it would constitute a denial and move on to city commission.
City Manager Art Noriega wanted both proposals withdrawn, but Mr. Diaz de la Portilla fought for a vote on first reading for his proposal.
Mr. Diaz de la Portilla said, I want to move forward with it. It’s first reading. Mr. Carollo had his item, and he had first reading. He has a vision for what he wants to do, I have my vision for what’s to happen in the Omni CRA area … and also some of the Allapattah and Health District areas…
Manolo Reyes again voiced concerns about the impact of large lighted signs on city residents. He was the lone no vote to approve Mr. Diaz de la Portilla’s proposal on first reading.”
— John Charles Robbins, Miami Today
Photo: AV Magazine
“Switch off digital signs off at night to save energy. Government decrees that out-of-home advertising spaces, as well as display and LED signage in shop windows, are switched off from 10pm-6am to prevent an energy shortage from September.
The German government has ordered that analogue and digital out-of-home advertising spaces, as well as digital signage (displays and LEDs) in shop windows and neon letters on facades, must remain switched off between 10pm and 6am…
The EU’s gas emergency plan came into force this month, under which member countries have to save 15% on gas. Germany has a self-imposed target of 20%.
The measures come less than three weeks after Spanish shops and government offices were required to turn off digital signage displays and lighting after 10 pm, as part of the country’s commitment to reducing its gas consumption by 7%…”
— AV Magazine in Digital Signage
“Maryland’s highest court has upheld a tax imposed by the city of Baltimore on selling billboard advertising.
The Court of Appeals last week rejected arguments by Clear Channel that the tax violates constitutional provisions that protect freedom of speech.
The appeals court ruled 6-1 that the tax ordinance was not subject to heightened scrutiny under the First Amendment because it did not single out the press, target a small group of speakers or discriminate on the basis of the content of speech.
The Baltimore City Council passed an ordinance in 2013 imposing a tax on the selling of advertising on billboards that are not located on the premises where the goods or services being advertised are offered or sold…
Clear Channel’s challenge to the ordinance had previously been rejected in federal court, the Maryland Tax Court, the Baltimore City Circuit Court and the Court of Special Appeals.”
— Associated Press in Baltimore Sun
Photo: Ocean Outdoor in Washington Post
“A new form of outdoor advertising is slowly taking hold. But experts warn of overload…Anamorphic advertising is coming — usually right out of a building. (
It all began with a floating cat.
Photo: Independent UK (click photo for article
The giant feline suddenly appeared suspended over Tokyo’s Shinjuku train station. Throughout the summer, it stretched awake in the morning, meowed at passersby during rush hour and curled into a sleepy ball after midnight.
The cat, along with a cresting ocean wave above the streets of Seoul, wasn’t a biology experiment gone awry. It was a 3-D anamorphic outdoor ad, a proof-of-concept from several Asian design firms. The pieces would inspire principals at British ad company Ocean Outdoor, owner of many public screens across Europe, to create tools for a 3-D ad platform called DeepScreen. Part art installation, part ‘1984’-esque vision, the results hint at what our commercialized outdoor spaces might soon look like…
In just a few months, Ocean Outdoor’s Piccadilly Circus location and others across Europe have attracted advertisers including Fortnite, Netflix, Vodafone (the ad has 25-foot rugby stars and their ball bursting through a building), Sony, Amazon’s Prime Video (for its new ‘Wheel of Time’ fantasy series) and food-service company Deliveroo. Two weeks ago, the British agency that worked on the ‘Wheel of Time’ spot, Amplify, brought it to Times Square…
‘This is exciting and it’s attention-getting,’ said Arun Lakshmanan, an associate professor of marketing at the University at Buffalo School of Management and an expert in immersive advertising. ‘It also could really start getting intrusive…’
Production is expensive — it can cost upward of $500,000, several times a 30-second TV spot — and labor intensive…
Nir Eyal, an author and expert on the attention economy, called this in an email the ‘shiny pony’ problem. New forms of advertising lose their luster. Customers could lose interest.
But these ads may not be aimed only at them. Teixeira notes that the appearance of innovation could be equally important for what it telegraphs to investors, retailers and competitors.
Even the skeptical would admit there’s something cool about dynamic images occupying the space around us. But is it scary in the hands of corporations? Could advertising get ‘Minority Reported,’ where we are all Tom Cruise, assaulted by airborne ads tailored to us every time we leave our homes?
Could a political demagogue even use the tech to loom large in public?
‘How we want to regulate this is a very good question,’ said Buffalo’s Lakshmanan. ‘Unfortunately, in the history of advertising, it tends to be answered only after something has gotten popular.'”
— Steven Zeitchik, Washington Post