Image from Springise

Here is an example of how a brand can be socially conscious as well as take advantage of moment of crisis in order to generate a positive brand perception as well as some free PR. About the campaign:

Aircel’s billboard, erected by outdoor agency Primesite near Mumbai’s Milan Subway, bore a large, inflated dinghy along with the line, “In case of emergency, cut rope.” And on July 15, such an emergency did indeed arise when monsoon floods made the Milan Subway virtually impassable. The rope was cut on Aircel’s billboard, the boat was released, and stranded pedestrians were ferried to safety. The result? Near constant local media attention for Aircel, even including the headline, “Aircel did what [government agency] BMC did not.” Reportedly, Aircel now plans to implement something similar in Delhi and Kolkata as well, according to afaqs.

The interesting thing about this particular campaign is that it begins as a simple billboard / Out of home campaign, but the when the right moment hits; in this case, an expected monsoon, the full potential of the campaign is unleashed where the street team effects kicked in as well, and probably save some lives.

The thoughtful planning of the campaign resulted in receiving tons of positive coverage in print and online, and certainly a positive brand image for the telecommunication company in India. More details and pics on the campaign here: http://www.aircel.com/Mumbai_sails_through_aircel/

The campaign, themed “Go Google,” is being held in New York, Boston, San Fran, and Chicago markets, and will have daily creative switches (what a headache for AdOps ). A great by-product is that the vinyl being used as the billboards will be recycled to make products such as shopping bags, which is good to know. This is not just an Out of Home campaign either; more of an integrated campaign, where online (https://sites.google.com/a/googleapps.com/go-google/), as well as Social media (@GoogleAtWork) are being combined in the overall campaign as well. Effective media integration / mix is always a welcome strategy here.

Whether Google will be able to take on Microsoft in the Office suite war is yet to be seen, but at least the least; Google’s marketing strategies seems to be shifting in a manner that is beneficial for the advertising, marketing, and branding worlds.

It wasn’t long ago (last week actually), when I was discussing  and suggesting similar technologies and visions with a certain someone working on a very relevant / similar environment. He is also a futurist in my eyes, and dubbes himself a geek at times (probably why we got along right off the bat). He shared the vision I had, but being more experienced than I, stated that the concept I suggested was too expensive to execute. Ah.. budgets.. But it always great to get confirmation that you are conceptualizing the right way, and by MIT, no less.

And well: Here it is! A vision of a DOOH future! A bus stop with projection, network, and interactive capabilities! The mother of all public transportation stops with perfect information distribution capabilities. Public transportation is likely to be around in the future, and as are the “eyes” outside the home, so this all bodes well for this particular environment. Special thanks to @saaze & @JohnRyanGlobal for bringing this to my attention! For further details on the project, go here: EyeStop. Enough talk; pictures speak a million words.

Via http://failblog.org/ and @eelain212

Love Twitter for several reasons, but especially because you can be made aware of things you might have missed. 

@eelain212 sent me this link that shows how sometimes, the first move is not the best move; and with some creative and humorous copy writing, and understanding the scope of the environment- You can get the edge over the competition.

The “first move” was made by Audi, where the ad copy clearly attacks BMW by stating, “Your move BMW.” BMW responded back very cleverly by buying the billboard space next to Audi’s billboard, creating a much larger one, and placing a simple “Checkmate” copy on it. Very smart.

Size usually does matter in the Out-of-Home / Billboard world to get the eyes, but this is a great example of how the factor of size can directly correlate with the effectiveness of the campaign itself.

Who says Out-of-Home Billboards are only for advertisers? This is fairly old actually, but just wanted to show how individuals; even those not in the ad game, see OOH billboards as an effective measure of communication and perhaps rallying up a community as well. 

Fans of the TV show “Jericho,” a look into a small mid-west town in a post-apocalyptic setting, rallied up support to find the temporarily-cancelled show to find a “New Home.” A group of fans gathered up their own money and donations from others to create the billboard and buy the space for it. Quite heart warming and clever if you ask me.

The result: there were reruns on the Sci-Fi network and a possible film and comic book series in the works. The show did grow on me as well, but more importantly, here’s a case of how a group of passionate people can get together and get creative to used OOH billboards to convey their message. Hey, it’s certainly a lot more creative than some other creatives I’ve seen out there.

1: These are the folks who apparently are behind and dominate the Time Square LED boards; the Digital Out-of-Home capital.

2: They are also behind all the LED spectaculars in many of the concerts for huge names. I attended the ColdPlay show at the Continental Arena a few years back, and the LED show simply blew me away! Since then, I always wondered who was behind the work, and now I know. 

For those of you whom have visited this site before, I like “futurific” things, and the event and all the different LEDs was a glimpse into where some of DOOH will be heading in the near future. Think “Blade Runner,” but a LOT sooner than you thought. The motion and resolution capabilities were far more advanced then what I thought was possible, and I am glad to see this sector of the industry step up in such a rapid manner. They were indeed hard to illustrate on pictures and even videos; you had to simply be there to get the full effect.

So all serious things aside; it’s Friday, and time for some fun. Here are some visuals: INCLUDING the JustOutOfHome.com Exclusive of Manolo “REALLY enjoying” his time at the event. Apparently drinks in the “-teens” were not enough to slow him down… A tactical failure of the week on my part! But all in all: Great times were had!

Manolo seemed to be enjoying the XL LED Lab event a lot.. Perhaps Too much, as by end of the night, he was getting REAL FRIENDLY witht the LED Mannequin. "Sir, you are causing a scene.."

He was also getting in the way of Most of my shots. Argh...

DJ was putting on some good tunes as well

But I was fortunate to accompany some photographers to the first public unveiling of the New Yankee Stadium on 4.2.2009. Aside from being a big fan, I also wanted to see whether all the stories were true in terms of the new stadium being the sports stadium Mecca of Digital Signage and LED technology. I can officially say that the stories were Correct! and the trip did not disappoint! The new Yankee Stadium is Beautiful, and although I will definitely miss the old stadium and all the history made in it; I welcome the New one now as well.

Enjoy and Let’s Go Spankees!

The Grand Hall when you enter the Stadium

The Large HD screen at the Grand Hall & The LED Strip (the "Rock This Way" message) that runs all the way around Hall

Digital Signage Screens: The standard stuff

The standard DS screen were a plenty and ran all throughout

And the Main Feature! "Gone" is the old LED Scoreboard; "In" is the much talked about 103 ft. x25 ft. High-Definition Mitshubishi Diamond Vision LED Display! An actually announcement was made about the screen and with the CEO of Mitsu. present. The sheer scale of it is unbelivable! If that wasn't enough, accompanied on the sides are two "smaller" screens as well!

DS Displays in the New Center Field Lounge as well!

There was a LED strip running through the entire Upper Deck. (where it says "NEW YORK YANKEES")

Another perspective

Borrowed from the L.A. Times at a 10 Point Interest Rate

Through the newwire / straight from the horsey’s mouth, came news towards the end of last week that the Los Angeles Planning Panel FAILED to pass the much discussed Out-of-Home / Digital billboards / supergraphic / probably some other forms of OOH media. GREAT NEWS! If you have been here before, you might have read my near-insane rant (“The Day the Out of Home Display Advertising Earth Stood Still”) about my issues with this proposed ban and the logic behind this non-sense. Well maybe someone up there heard me, cause the proposed ban actually got “banned” itself. No, it’s not banned, and according to the L.A. Times, it was indeed a close vote; 4-3, to be exact. Whew.. That is one close vote! And you can also be sure that the OOH haters will keep fighting to try to get their way still. Ultimately, this is positive and as long as the industry makes sure that placement and content are tasteful; perhaps this issue will go away for good so companies can go on with their businesses. OOH is not part of the bailout programs, but take this as the bailout: a Major DMA is safe for now!