As we are knee deep in decade-review media chatter about the death of the TV ad, I decided to think about other forms of advertising pronounced dead in the past, billboards.
One of the oldest forms of advertising, the billboard first gained traction in the late 1800s. The popularity of the Model T in 1908 drove billboards to become common as roadside advertising and in 1925, the Burma-Shave billboards start populating US highways, cementing outdoor as an important channel for consumer messages.
Over the years, the billboards were the playground of advertising creatives and continue to push the limits of the format. In the 1920's, billboards became reactive and changed their content in realtime with giant thermometers, changing their display with the ambient temperature. What follows is a brief natural history of the reactive and interactive billboard in recent times.
October 2003
Coke launches a 99-foot wide interactive billboard in Picadilly Circus recognizing and responding both to the weather and people waving to it from below (above left).
May 2004
Stellar interactive firm R/GA creates a billboard for Yahoo!'s automotive web site allowing pedestrians to play a video game on a 23-story billboard via mobile phones (above right).
July 2004
Ogilvy launches an SMS-reactive billboard for the Ford Fiesta in Belgium, the first of its kind in Europe (above left).
February 2005
Amex Belgium launches a billboard in which users can upload a photo to a website that in turn displays it on the billboard where a live webcam photographs the billboard and emails it back to the user (above right).
May 2005
Nike ID uses a 23-story Times Square billboard for users to design shoes via mobile phones and see results in real time. The one-minute design session also sends emails and discounts to the designer, er, customer (at right).
Nike ID uses a 23-story Times Square billboard for users to design shoes via mobile phones and see results in real time. The one-minute design session also sends emails and discounts to the designer, er, customer (at right).
February 2006
Disney Interactive has an 57-story tall reactive billboard featuring imagery of the Himalayas. The billboard blinks the eyes of a yeti upon receiving SMS sent to it.
January 2007
Mini Cooper USA launches in Chicago, Miami, New York and San Francisco. After the Mini drivers answer some basic information about themselves, Mini USA sends them a special key fob identifiying them to the billboards they pass by, delivering a personal message based on the information provided.
June 2007
One of my absolute favorites is the BBC America billboards shown above. They were placed in New York where viewers sent SMS messages to answer polls and updated the billboard in real-time.
One of my absolute favorites is the BBC America billboards shown above. They were placed in New York where viewers sent SMS messages to answer polls and updated the billboard in real-time.
July 2007
Adobe uses a billboard that reacts to the motion of the person standing in front of it. The system, which uses a simple webcam with complicated processing code behind it is a joy to look at and fun to interact with.
Adobe uses a billboard that reacts to the motion of the person standing in front of it. The system, which uses a simple webcam with complicated processing code behind it is a joy to look at and fun to interact with.
Australian billboard sneezes on people.
January 2009
October 2008
A billboard in New Zealand by ddb tests earphone levels from the National Foundation for the Deaf.
A billboard in New Zealand by ddb tests earphone levels from the National Foundation for the Deaf.
January 2009
Sharpie creates gorgeous interactive billboards.
Feb 2009
Cadbury Splat the Egg interactive bus shelter ad allows waiting passengers to pass the time by playing a video game.
March 2009
In a Rotterdam bus stop, health club chain Fitness First converts the bench into a digital scale with the readout on the shelter wall (at right).
July 2009
Caldwell Banker creates a live 150-foot billboard that responds to text messages with Zip codes by displaying the highest, median and lowest price properties in that zip code within seconds.
Caldwell Banker creates a live 150-foot billboard that responds to text messages with Zip codes by displaying the highest, median and lowest price properties in that zip code within seconds.
July 2009
In Korea Nikon does what looks like a truly amazing job with an interactive billboard that simulates paparazzi to launch their D700 camera (at right).
Sept 2009
I hate to end with a billboard fail, but who can resist laughing at the twitter-enabled billboard below...Happy New Year!
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