|
BILLBOARDS
ENJOY BOOM TIME
Digital
technology and convenience are some reasons
why business is looking up in this advertising
sector. Look, up in the sky, it’s a billboard,
it’s a giant television set , it’s. .
. the outdoor advertising industry’s newest
weapon. On a rooftop next to Toronto’s
busy Gardiner Expressway, a giant colour
screen blinks to life.
Even in direct sunlight, the images of
fish, flowers and Fido cellphones are
as crisp and vibrant as the ones in your
living room. “It’s truly television in
the sky,” says Brian McLean, chief executive
officer of Toronto-based outdoor advertising
company Mediacom Inc. It released the
space to Tribar Industries Inc., also
of Toronto, which made the sign that uses
light emitting diodes LEDs) to produce
high resolution images. The picture is
good, one almost forgets there is no sound.
But sound isn’t essential when the goal
is to reach as many eyeballs as possible,
something the outdoor ad business has
been doing exceptionally well of late.
High-resolution video displays, which
make earlier moving billboards look crude
by comparison, are just one reason things
are looking up in the outdoor as business.
Spending on traditional billboards is
also rising steadily, new digital printing
technologies are flourishing and flashy
projects incorporating the latest gadgetry
are in the works. Although reviled by
some as “pollution on a stick”, billboards
have become one of the hottest advertising
media. “I don’t think there’s ever been
a more exciting time to be in business,”
Mr. McLean says. The numbers back up that
assertion.
According to the Canadian Outdoor Measurement
Bureau (COMB), the number of advertising
faces grew to 36,628 at Dec. 31, 1998,
up more than 7 per cent from a year earlier.
Since 1989, the number of faces soared
by 42 per cent. The actual growth is probably
much higher because COMB does not audit
all types of outdoor ads. Industry players
say spending on all forms of outdoor advertising
billboards, transit shelters, buses, trains
and just about any other available surface-
totals about $250-million a year, or 5
per cent of all ad spending, and is growing
by 10 per cent or more annually. Why are
billboards so popular? One reason is that
as television, magazines and other media
become increasingly specialized, putting
up a huge sign is one of the best ways
to reach a mass audience.
Moreover, with an increasingly mobile
population, billboards provide a convenient
way to the store. David Woods, president
of Toronto’s Pattison Outdoor Group, says
improvements in the quality and speed
of printing have also helped. Moreover,
billboards are cheaper than television,
he says. For $250,000, a company could
launch a two-month billboard campaign
covering Canada’s five or six biggest
markets. By comparison, according to one
media buyer, a single 30 second commercial
during a prime time television program
such as ER costs $30,000 or more. The
price of billboards has generally been
falling, Mr. Woods adds, reflecting competition
among existing players and the arrival
of foreign companies hungry for a piece
of Canada’s outdoor advertising business.
One of those interlopers is Eller Media
Cos. Of Phoenix, the worlds biggest outdoor
advertising company. Eller Canada’s project
at Dundas Square in Toronto, in partnership
with Cadillac Fairview Corp. and another
company, will probably be the most spectacular
outdoor advertising display yet seen in
this country. “Dundas Square is really
the Times Square for Toronto,” says, John
Jory, president of Eller Canada. It will
feature two multimedia towers, both nearly
70 meters tall, at the corner of Yonge
and Dundas streets. The towers, the first
of which is expected to be ready by November,
will feature LED video screens, neon signs,
backlit signs and banners. He says the
City of Toronto amended its sign bylaws
so the project could proceed. “The city,
the politicians, are more forward looking
now than they have been to try to find
ways to make this a world-class city,”
he says. Toronto isn’t the only city getting
LED advertising displays.
Montreral
based Spotvision Promotions Inc. recently
installed one on the city’s busy Ste.
Catherine Street. Advertisers include
the Casino of Montreal, Toronto Dominion
Bank, music retailer HMV and Volkswagen
AG. “Our idea is to put at least one in
every city,” declares Mimo Kabbara, president
of Spotvision. “Everybody wants to have
a Times Square.”
Well, not everybody. Kalle Lasn, editor
of Vancouver based magazine Adbusters,
says the world doesn’t need more billboards
pitching clothing and perfume to the masses.
“We’re already being bombarded by 3,000
advertising messages a day and now. .
. these messages are going to be even
more effective and more potent in catching
our attetion,” he says. He knows an effective
ad medium when he sees one. This month
Adbusters paid $3,000 to put up a billboard
of its own in downtown Vancouver depicting
the G8 leaders with the headline, “This
year let’s ask our leaders the big question.”
It directed viewers to Adbusters’ web
site, which posed the question: “Is economic
‘progress’ killing the planet?” |
