OTW Blog

DraftFCB came up with a innovative idea to advertise Bond + Bond’s white ware deals. They created a fridge magnet billboard in Newmarket located near the Bond + Bond store. Huge colourful magnetic letters and numbers were made and stuck onto a white metal billboard. And each week they are rearranged to spell out the next offer. Very cool.

We understand this campaign was very successful with people walking into Bond & Bond asking for the ‘billboard deal’!

Recycling old billboard skins is an idea we love – and we’ve done it once or twice before, making bags from interesting old skins.

Sony just took this idea to a whole new level in Japan, and then completed the circle by turning the jeans made from billboard fabric into a giant billboard advertising the project.

There’s a short video from the Behind the Work blog post which explains the process (you can ignore the popup request to subscribe to their site which comes up first – just click the x and proceed to the video):

Yes, it’s official – OTW just bolted on the biggest advertising sales organisation in history, the great Google itself.

We posted on this blog last year reminding the outdoor advertising industry that Google is not actually a search company – 98% of their revenue ($21b in 2008 and growing at 30% a year) actually comes from the advertising game. Now, logically enough, they’re moving into billboards.

We told you outdoor was cool 2.0!

But wait, not billboards in the REAL world, billboards in Google Maps. In street view. Like this:

And wait, they’re not going to sell them on our behalf – they’re selling them for their own profits!

After filing a patent application titled “Claiming Real Estate in Panoramic or 3D Mapping Environments for Advertising“, Google’s new plan was reported by various technology and advertising media in January – and we quote from GoRumours who picked it up within 24 hours:

“Quite a few of us would have used the Google Real Estate portal while buying or selling real estate properties. These listings, which are either got through web-crawling or when real estate agents submit their listings are absolutely free. The only way Google monetizes the properties is through text-based advertisements on the sidebar and at the bottom of the map-based listings.

Now, it appears that the company is working on technology that will bring advertisements right into the map. In a recently filed patent titled “Claiming Real Estate in Panoramic or 3D Mapping Environments for Advertising”, the company (even) explains how the ad-bidding system for real estate advertising will work.”

So, here’s the fickle world of adwords price bidding coming to a new economy billboard media near you (figure 10 from the patent application):

So, I wonder which of OTW’s billboards in Google Street View will be first to be resold, and who will bid to have their message on them? Rivals for the business they are located on? What price will they sell for? I guess given the speed of the USPTO processing of patents these days, we shouldn’t worry for a few months.

Then again, why buy a billboard in Google’s second life? Clearly, pretty much everything is up for sale so we might buy that bloke jogging by our billboard in Mount Eden Road instead. Maybe he’s actually the Google Street View man? Now we think about it, what about Mount Eden? Rangitoto would probably fit our logo better … any Australians interested in a harbour bridge?

Hope to see this in the near future – reckon it will come to Enzed?

Creativity wasn’t always treated as a precious commodity. Art & Copy shows that, until the 1960s, ads were relatively dull and flavorless. “Creatives” were viewed as slaves and peons while the gray-suited Roger Sterling types took all the glory.

It wasn’t until William Bernbach, the first rock star of Madison Avenue, put his copywriter in the same room as the art director that creative professionals found their stride and modern advertising truly came to life. Ads began to deliver a more emotional impact; they began to show a sense of humor or, in the case of Bernbach’s famous 1959 “Think Small” campaign for the Volkswagen Beetle, humility.

Read the full review on Wired here.

Something for the Ponsonby tractor (aka 4WD) drivers to think about – this graphic was developed from a New Scientist article (via the good.is blog) to illustrate the relative impacts on the environment of pets versus motor vehicles.

The impact from pets includes the manufacture of their food sources.

It’s taken some heat from the various counter-conspiracists (for example it assumes the car only does 10,000km per year) but is a thought provoking use of graphics.

Hamster and a bicycle anyone?

It’s the 800 lb gorilla of the advertising industry.

Check out this graphic from thestandard.com:

Not the public impression Google really likes to give is it? Google Wave, Reader, Groups, Sites, Search, Youtube, Orkut, Mail, Blogger all push the brand, while back at home in the factory Google has become a giant of the advertising world.

No wonder online advertising started to cut TV’s lunch in the UK last month, the first major Western economy where television’s share of the advertising dollar has been surpassed by the internet.

But are we worried about the threat to outdoor advertising? Hell no, quite the opposite as this report shows:

“Traditional media platforms like television, radio and newspapers, are operating under tremendous pressure in the current economic recession. However, outdoor advertising segment is expected to register a strong growth in the coming years. After online advertising segment, the outdoor advertising segment has been the most dynamic in recent years. Outdoor advertising has been capturing share of advertising from television, radio, and newspaper.

The adoption of digital technology is driving growth of outdoor segment. Digital outdoor technology combines the traditional strengths of outdoor with unique targeting opportunities. Another key reason behind rapid growth of outdoor advertising is the low cost of this medium compared with the more expensive advertising mediums.

The United States has one of the highest growth rates in the outdoor advertising market. China has also registered remarkable growth in outdoor advertising market in recent years. The share of Chinese outdoor spending of the total advertising spend, is several times the world average.”

The killer campaign has to be the one that combines a highly targeted ‘pay per click’ advert (say on the web); the vital, contextual communication and stimulus (the billboard on the way to work); and the opportunity to participate (now exemplified by mobile). Advertising’s never been more exciting.

Just don’t get caught with that mobile in your hands while you’re driving by our billboards

The politicians and the outdoor advertising industry are once more falling out of love in Sydney, this time over the billboard campaign for Cocaine energy drink.

The product was launched in June, surrounded by plenty of controversy over its name, and the fact the drink’s recipe had to be altered to comply with Australian food regulations (it had way too much caffeine to get past the FSA).

Now, in a world where all publicity is good publicity, the canny drink-maker has been getting more column inches (above from Fairfax’s Age newspaper today). And note it was the outdoor campaign that got noticed and subsequently copped the wrath of the pollies? Go billboards!

OTW has the solution – let the Aussie government buy all the stock and give it to the hard-working doctors they’ve advised to drink more coffee to get them through their 30 hour shifts.

It is with amazement that we now hear the word ‘billion’ mentioned in NZ government and political circles with regularity – a billion dollar stimulus package; a billion dollars on roads; a billion dollars of debt, companies with market caps of billions, NZ tax receipts short of forecast by half a billion dollars.

We found this great graphic on a blog we follow called Information is Beautiful that pictures what billions of dollars look like in a global sense.

You can see the full-size one by clicking here.

Hmmm – seems like online advertising hasn’t quite sunk the offline modes just yet.

Special Launch Deal on Pricing for October and November 2009

Our new site on Lunn Avenue in Mt Wellington is now completed.

Highly visible, this 12mx3m site is situated along a main feeder into the Eastern suburbs and CBD with over 12,000 cars per day travelling along this road and represents a unique opportunity in this high growth area.

This busy road connects traffic from Remuera and Meadowbank with the Mt Wellington Highway. Adjacent to the new ‘Stonefields’ housing development (previously Winstone quarry).

We would are offering a special deal on this new site at the demon rate of $5k/month for September & October 2009 (ratecard $10k per month). If you would like to see more information on Lunn Avenue, please contact nick@otw.co.nz

Sky City

Simple but effective creative input utilising sheets tied together to emphasise the need to escape promoting Sky City’s winter packages. Great use of a prop to bring the billboard alive and catch attention.