Outdoor 2.0
Ernie Schenck's blogs is one of my favorites in the industry. He recently blogged about an interactive outdoor board promoting A&E’s new series Paranormal State.
This particular outdoor board went way beyond traditional two-dimensional messaging by actually transmitting
"voices" from the roof of the building using beam sound technology know as Audio Spot Light. It made for quite the unnerving experience. It's also a great example of taking traditional media and reinventing it.
We're seeing more and more of these new executions in order to get the attention of a public with the decreasing attention span. And I have to confess; this kind of stuff is one of my guilty pleasures.
Reports are now showing out-of-home to be a rapidly growing and effective channel, despite all the talk about it being a "dying medium." Check out these historic figures on outdoor expenditure from the Outdoor Adverstising Association of America. There is even an international advertising competion dedicated to ourdoor advertising exclusively.
Still not convinced?
Senior Analyst at eMarketer, Ben Macklin, describes the reinvention of outdoor advertising as a medium that's "experiencing a new lease on life as a result of emerging digital, video and wireless technologies."
Here some more numbers. According to eMarketer, total US outdoor video advertising spending will grow from $ 1.3 billion in 2007 to $2.3billion by 2011. The overall US outdoor advertising revenue is predicted to rise from $6.8 billion in 2006 to $10.2 billion 2011.
Whatever you call it, outdoor or out-of-home, it is clear that this advertising medium is far from traditional, with an advent of new technologies and a little creativity. All providing more and more targeted messaging to the intended audience. Kind of reminds me of the future as displayed in the movie The Minority Report or Bladerunner. Well, maybe not exactly, but you get the idea.
So is the Paranormal State billboard a gimmick or a great idea? Is it too intrusive or just fun? That's up for discussion, though at least the execution has a conceptual connection with the theme of the show. And I guess it did stop some passers by, though maybe, they were just hearing voices.
What do you think? Voices welcome.
