A new show on HBO in the USA is supported by 42 posters in Times Square Station in New York. No big deal you would say. However you can listen-in to the Big Love Show by plugging your earphones in the ports on the posters. You can then listen to the secrets of the cast. Like the example I referred to in a post on June 3 2007, integration of electronics and paper can lead to some stunning advertising.
Imagine a magazine the size of 1.5m by 2m, with no advertising, on display at café's, bars and bookstores, with no strict editorial goal but with a very strong design appeal. This one sheet magazine is called "Is not Magazine" and available in major cities in Australia. It is pasted on outdoor posters sites in Melbourne and Sydney and also available at indoor poster sites in bookstores and bars. The poster magazine can be read like the "wall papers" in China and can be ordered for €17 and will also do great as decoration.
This week Amnesty International Belgium launched its end-of-the-year campaign "I save lives "with a major media initiative. Part of the campaign -developed by Air- is this huge poster that has been attached to the scaffolding of the Brussels Palais de Justice. Where to get more attention for human rights than here? The illustration is made of hundreds of signatures and therefore uses the essence of what Amnesty does as part of the creative. A great idea on a unique location. Air developed two other themes on the same idea.
On the website of De Standaard -a leading Flemish newspaper- you can choose for a winning cultural poster and win a culture cheque. Of a total of 140 posters 10 were selected by a jury and are now open for voting by everybody.
I'm still experiencing that reducing the message to the essence and reproducing it on a poster is a lot more difficult than doing that on an A4 size advertisement.
This contest therefore demonstrates the Power of Print via the medium posters. It is organised by Prospecta and sponsored by Agfa Graphics.
An award winning campaign for Napster in Japan features a poster wall that allows passerby to listen to music. Music could also be downloaded via a special QR code on posters. This code when photographed with a mobile phone gives instant access to the Napster website.
Recent figures indicates a surge in advertising spending in outdoor advertising in the USA. The new technological possibilities like WiFi, digital messages, Bluetooth and other increase the advertising value of billboards. It will be interesting to see what suppliers in the market propose at the international fair for digital printing FESPA in Berlin this week. In a graphics market under pressure of so many forces innovation pays out apparently.
Agfa Graphics installed in Antwerp what is probably the longest ecologically printed poster. The 600 meter poster features a complete novel, photographs, manuscripts and other not earlier published material from Willem Elsschot. Elsschot is a well known Flemish writer who was born in Antwerp. His books have been widely distributed and translated in over ten languages. The poster was the centre piece of the opening weekend celebrating the commemoration of Elsschot's birthday 125 years ago. Agfa announced the project also online via their website (www.switchtoC3.com/Elsschotplein) where the entire poster can also been seen via Google Earth.
I've not been posting for a while, as I'm in the middle of a major introduction for one of my clients. More about that later. This project has opened up my mind for what is happening in the billboard business. When you pay attention some very interesting things are happening, which do signal some kind of revival of this medium. That probably has to do with the fact that outdoor media are among the limited number of mass media. At the same time production costs are decreasing, while print quality gets better, so advertisers have a growing interest.
On Friday 13 the new Adidas campaign Impossible is nothing was launched in The Netherlands with a huge outdoor poster signed by a fine selection of Dutch sporters. Participants at the Rotterdam Marathon could add their "impossible" to the poster that was strategically located in the center of Rotterdam. Engaging consumers in a large way.
Lindstrom' book Brand sense argues that appealing to different senses at the same time will strengthen the brand experience. Singapore Airlines does so with a cabin scent, other companies think about the sound the door of car makes when closed or the sound of crushing cornflakes.
A 1940's style poster for the Sutton ski resort in Canada applies this thought by using scented pine cones and a poster with a "trompe l'oeil" effect. Together with the Sutton beer the brand experience was complete.
Hope they were having any snow this year.
Posters are probably the oldest media used to sell people. Because of their public character it was and still is the ideal way to express views and ideas to a broad group of people. The Dutch have recently opened a website that presents an overview of 2500 political posters. Overviews by type of election or by party offer an interesting perspective on messaging, style and "zeitgeist" through the last 40 years. I have noticed some very nice nostalgic posters for De Boerenpartij and PSP. The site will without doubt become a popular source of research for professional communicators and students.
