Vegas vs. Philly: when are big ads most effective?

The question of how big a given advertisement should be is a key concern of the out-of-home advertising industry. Two recent stories, one coming out of Las Vegas and the other coming out of Philadelphia, serve as a good basis for judging when big is appropriate and when it isn't.

Media Post recently reported that a giant 32,000 square-foot Jim Beam ad will soon be going up on the side of Rio casino in Las Vegas. According to the article, "the larger-than-life ad features an oversized bottle of Jim Beam Bourbon and reaffirms that Jim Beam has been true to its recipe for more than 200 years with the phrase: "Not available in pomegranate." The ad will remain wrapped around the Rio through November."

This is an example of when big is certainly appropriate, or at least in keeping with the surrounding environment. The only thing that Jim Beam may need to worry about is alienating the health food crowd, but then, they might not be the most likely customer prospects anyway. Las Vegas is not a city of moderation in any way, shape or form and a large ad for whiskey fits right in. Throw in the fact the Rio is the home of the highly publicized World Series of Poker, and they might even get some free publicity from ESPN (in the form of exterior cut-aways of the casino during the networks coverage of the event).

On the other hand, there is the story about The Philadelphia Inquirer and the proposed giant ad for Bee Movie (the Jerry Seinfeld-voiced animated flick from Dreamworks) that they want to drape their building with.

This is a prime example of when big is not good. Aside from the discussion over whether displaying an ad for a kids movie on the side of the Inquirer's building will even reach an appropriate audience, the reputation of the newspaper could suffer as a result of turning the building into a giant ad. It's no secret that newspapers are hurting for money and need to get ad dollars where they can, but their long-term success still hinges on how the City of Brotherly Love views them, and if you believe the above-linked article, a lot of residents are not happy by the proposed ad, or the precedent that it would set.

In Vegas we expect to see giant advertisements plastered all over the place. Everyone knows that casinos want make as much money as humanly possible, so we don't question the placement of such a large ads, or any of the million other money-grubbing things that they do. Newspapers, however, are viewed as a trusted source of honest information, so getting so close (literally) to a huge advertisement is not in keeping with the way the we, their subscriber base, view them.

Placement is one of the most important things to consider in any form of advertising. It's not always that sound of a practice to just cover a large amount of space and hope that the desired audience will notice without any negative repercussions. It's far better to focus specifically on where your target audience can best be reached and concentrate the right message at that location.

Remember, big doesn't automatically equate to successful.

Tags: out-of-home advertising, OOH, outdoor advertising

JCDecaux offers $200M to clean up Moscow billboards

Advertising Age is reporting that Jean-François Decaux, a French advertising exec for the JCDecaux Out Of Home Media Group, is offering the mayor of Moscow $200 million in order to clean up the Russian cities billboards and also reward the city with free toilets and bicycles.

Decaux implemented the program with much success in Paris (and has plans to bring it to Chicago), according to the article: "Mr. Decaux said the free bicycle idea became the "Bike Revolution" in Paris. His company reduced the number of its billboards from 5,000 to 4,000, charged advertisers more for each billboard, and used the extra money to buy 20,000 bicycles. Mr. Decaux said that Mayor Richard M. Daley of Chicago was in Paris this week and he planned to bring the bike idea to the Windy City."

Advertisers implementing their techniques upon entire cities is not really new. Just two weeks ago I wrote about Clear Channel's new "branded city" popping up in Arizona. Ad techniques on this scale are only going to become more frequent, because the idea of concentrated billboards is a good one in a lot of ways. Reduced ad clutter means a more concentrated message, and Decaux has every right to charge advertisers more as a result. Of course, the danger still remains that citizens could reject the idea if they start to feel like they're iving inside of a giant ad.

Regardless, you've got to admire Decaux's agressiveness. He's making moves towards major cities in Europe and has his eye on America. But whether American cities will welcome him with open arms probably depends on the long term success of his European projects. Either way, he'd have to adjust the idea somewhat for it to cross over to the States. It's hard to imagine free bicycles and free toilets being that big of an incentive in places like Las Vegas and New York City. Europe is just much more walking/public transportation oriented as a whole than America, so bikes go over better as a ploy.

At its basic level this is solid concept. It gives back to the city, it creates buzz ("Hey, why is everyone riding those new bikes?..."), it reduces visual clutter and makes JCDecaux basically the same amount of money for displaying fewer ads. And while advertisers have to empty out more of their wallets, if the more concentrated ads do in fact lead to better numbers then it will be ultimately worth it for them too.

$200 million may be a reasonable price for JCDecaux to pay to more or less control the outdoor ad content for a large city like Moscow, but accurate measurement of the system's overall effectiveness is going to be critical for understanding whether such an approach can work over the long term.

Tags: JCDecaux, outdoor advertising, out-of-home advertising

Chinese signage network operator Digital Media Group

ChinaTechNews and 3G.co.uk note that Oak Investment Partners, Sierra Ventures, NIF SMBC Ventures and Gobi Partners have banded together to invest another $4.2M into Digital Media Group, one of China's largest digital network operators. DMG, which has been in business since 2003, provides updated train and emergency information and advertising to 13,000 flat panel displays in train and subway stations throughout China, reaching more than 28 million people per week. The network is expected to double in two years expanding to cities all around Asia.

Tags: Digital Media Group, DMG, digital signage, outdoor advertising, out-of-home advertising

Clear Channel brings electronic billboards to Minneapolis/St. Paul

According to MediaPost, newly-privatized Clear Channel has expanded their outdoor electronic billboard project into Minneapolis, which marks the 6th market that they now provide the devices in (previously we noted that they were expanding the network into Tampa, Florida, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin). In total, the Minneapolis/St. Paul screens join those in Cleveland, Las Vegas, Albuquerque, Milwaukee, Tampa, and London, England, meeting Clear Channel's previously-stated goal of launching 4-6 digital billboard networks by the end of 2006.

At this point, it will be interesting to watch whether they will continue to expand their network continuously, or if we'll see a dropoff in new installations while they test out their business models for ad sales. On the one hand, Clear Channel probably already has a good idea of whether the screens will be profitable (and how quickly they'll get there), so it might be best to continue with the expansion. On the other, though, they already own much of the best billboard real estate (currently populated by static billboards, of course), so they might not feel much pressure to continue with costly installations while they're still tinkering with the model.

Tags: Clear Channel, electronic billboards, digital billboards, outdoor advertising

Clear Channel invests in outdoor digital signage

According to this article at Media Post (free subscription required):

CLEAR CHANNEL OUTDOOR IS EXPANDING its digital signage network with a number of new installations in the cities of Tampa, Florida, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the company announced today. In Tampa, three new digital billboards are going live ahead of a planned total of nine for that city's network. In Milwaukee, Clear Channel is bowing six new digital signs.

Measuring 14 by 48 feet, the new signs are standard LED billboards capable of displaying multiple messages, and all are located near heavily trafficked roadways. Segmenting commuter traffic into "day parts" could allow Clear Channel to charge a premium for periods that see heavy commuter traffic--a strategy that Randall Mays, the president and CEO of parent company Clear Channel Communications, has described in public statements.

We typically prefer to call these large outdoor displays digital billboards or electronic billboards, reserving digital signage for smaller indoor applications, but perhaps that's just because of our particular focus on the market.  The article also notes that aside from promoting the viability of the business model Clear Channel is also looking carefully at the technology powering it (unlike traditional media, who, as Paul Meyer, the CEO of Clear Channel Outdoor's global operations says, tend to view tech more as foe than friend).

[ UPDATE 11/16/2006 ] ClearChannel was just purchased by a couple of private equity firms, probably because they want to try some things (perhaps digital signage included) that could have enormous long-term gains, but stock price-killing short-term costs.

Past articles about Clear Channel include:
Clear Channel Outdoor tries out digital billboards in Albuquerque
ClearChannel to try out mall digital signage
Manhattan digital signage network shows sponsored artwork

Tags: Clear Channel, digital signage, electronic billboards, digital billboards, outdoor advertising