by TRC_Admin | Dec 7, 2022 | Advertising Industry, Billboards, Controversial, Interactive Advertising, Kiosk, Mobile Advertising, Technology
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
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by TRC_Admin | Nov 11, 2022 | Billboards, City Signs, Controversial, Scenic Intersections - Placemaking
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:
https://chng.it/5zmDDKVj
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
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by TRC_Admin | Mar 12, 2022 | Billboards, Controversial, Interactive Advertising, Technology
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
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by TRC_Admin | Dec 29, 2021 | Billboards, Controversial, Legal, Sky, Technology
Photo: Scott Kelly/NASA via AP
“Plans to advertise from space have been around for decades, but the latest proposals have met fierce criticism.
In August, the Canadian company Geometric Energy Corporation (GEC) announced that it wanted to launch a small satellite with a billboard on it on a SpaceX rocket. The story immediately went viral, and SpaceX and GEC received a barrage of criticism.
In 2019, Russian entrepreneur Vlad Sitnikov got caught up in a similar controversy. ‘I’m an ad guy’, Sitnikov told Al Jazeera. ‘So I thought it would be cool to see a new type of media in the sky…’
‘A big wave of hate crushed me. I decided to halt the project, because people around the world started hating me.’ His start-up, StartRocket, has been in limbo ever since.
A key objection to space advertising proposals is that they will contribute to light pollution from space, a problem that is growing even without ads in orbit.
Advertising in outer space might seem like a vulgar idea, but it’s one with a long history. It’s also getting more popular because the cost of going to space is falling. But the side effects, such as light pollution and space debris, might not be worth it…
Not in my low earth orbit
With space becoming more accessible, and less costly to access, proposals for using space for advertising or entertainment purposes have been increasing. Besides the GEC and StartRocket projects, Japanese start-up ALE wants to use satellites that drop small balls to create artificial shooting stars on demand – a proposition that raised close to $50m in venture funding.
One key objection to these proposals [space advertising schemes] is that they will contribute to light pollution from space, a problem that is growing even without ads in orbit.
‘Until recently most of our work had been on ground-based light pollution’, said Jeffrey Hall, director of the Lowell Observatory, and chair of the American Astronomical Society’s Committee on Light Pollution, Radio Interference, and Space Debris. ‘The issue of light pollution from space is new territory for us, and it only started in 2019 with the launch of the SpaceX Starlink satellites,’ he told Al Jazeera.
Large, so-called ‘constellations’ of small, low-flying satellites have boomed in recent years. For example, SpaceX Starlink wants to launch tens of thousands of satellites to offer internet connections all over the world.
For astronomers, however, to observe space they need relatively dark skies. Yet bright outdoor lights on land, or satellites that emit or reflect light, like the Starlink constellation, can ruin what they do. And Hall fears space billboards might make the problem worse.
‘Satellites leave very bright streaks in images’, he said. ‘The streaks can saturate pixels in the image, and completely ruin it…’
‘Things are moving so fast it makes sense to slow down until we understand the impacts of what we’re doing’, said Hall. Space law
It is possible that space law will prevent satellite billboards. Space is subject to the 1966 Outer Space Treaty, which sees space as a global commons.
‘There is nothing specific in the treaty about space advertising’, said professor emerita Joanne Gabrynowicz, director of the International Institute of Space Law. ‘But article 9 does require signatories to exercise ‘due regard’ of other signatories’ interests and to avoid ‘harmful interference’ to other nations’ space activities,’ she told Al Jazeera.
Satellite billboards that impede astronomers from observing space could be subject to this. On top of that, the US passed a national law during the 1990s that prohibits space advertising that might be deemed ‘obtrusive…’
Of course, SpaceX’s Starlink satellite constellation was reviewed and approved by US authorities, even though it impacts astronomy. International law also depends on how treaties are applied at the national level. The Russian state would, for example, need to decide whether it sees a Russian space advertising startup as being in line with the Outer Space Treaty. Yet there is a legal argument for blocking space advertising if it would cause too much light pollution…”
— By Tom Cassauwers, Alazeera
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by TRC_Admin | Oct 5, 2021 | City Signs, Codes, Controversial
Photo: YourObserver.com
“Longboat Key beach enthusiasts have for years had the run of the town’s nearly 11 miles of Gulf of Mexico shoreline, which up until this summer included a 209-foot stretch of privately owned seawall on one of the town’s most iconic properties.
But a few weeks ago, following repairs to the seawall following Hurricane Eta in 2020, the owners of the property known as Ohana at 6633 Gulf of Mexico Drive, posted signs that their property, which extends to the water’s edge, was now off limits…
The only way to avoid trespassing on Ohana Hale Estate Land Trust property is now to wade into the surf, which often breaks right on the seawall, or make a 1-mile detour along Gulf of Mexico Drive using the two nearest public beach-access spots.
The seawall that extends all the way to the state’s erosion control line is unusual and dates back more than 50 years, town attorney Maggie Mooney said. ‘All of a sudden, we see signs saying that they had an invisible fence and a dog in training, and that’s where we all went, “Oh, OK. Things are changing,”‘
Longboat Key Turtle Watch Vice President Cyndi Seamon said of volunteers who scour the beach regularly during nesting season. Mooney explained the public’s right to access the beach area seawards of the state-drawn erosion control line (ECL).”
— Mark Bergin, YourObserver.com
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by TRC_Admin | Oct 5, 2021 | City Signs, Codes, Controversial, Interactive Advertising
Photo: WWSP
“Some resort and condo owners on Siesta Key have placed signs on the beach telling people to stay off their beach property…
Sarasota County says they are aware of the situation and they are looking into the ordinance that governs the signage. Although some beachgoers are upset with what they’re seeing, many are very understanding.
— Rick Adams, WWSP
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