Blog
“There’s probably no God”
Outdoor advertising and religion; it is always a difficult trade-off. Due to the fact that the medium is ‘always-on’ and we can’t zap it away, controversial messages always attract attention. That is why we hardly see advertising for Scientology for instance. Regular churches often use outdoor advertising, but a campaign from the British Humanist Association raised a lot of publicity (worldwide). A £140,000 atheist campaign on British buses and London Underground stating “There’s Probably No God” is not in breach of the advertising code.
California Considers Bill To Ban Digital Billboards
The California assembly is considering a bill that would place a three-year moratorium on the construction of new digital billboards, including the conversion of existing billboards; it would also halt the construction of digital billboards currently underway. Assembly Bill 109 was introduced last week by Assemblyman Mike Feuer, (D-Los Angeles), close on the heels of a court victory for opponents of digital billboards in the Los Angeles area.
Feuer explained the motivation behind the bill: “Many states and municipalities have raised concerns over the safety of electronic billboards. Common sense dictates that before we allow these displays to proliferate, we should know the results of pending safety analyses and evaluate how to respond.” The moratorium is intended to give legislators a chance to study the potential ill effects of digital billboards more thoroughly before allowing further rollout.
Two studies in particular are being completed this year — one by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, and another by the Federal Highway Administration.
Two years ago, the billboard industry funded a study by Tantala Associates, released in January 2007, which found automobile accidents are unrelated to digital billboards. The study surveyed accident frequencies over three years and compared this data with the positions of seven digital billboards in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, where Cleveland is located. However, this study may not be comprehensive enough to satisfy California policymakers.
In any event, criticism of digital billboards is partly aesthetic: in December, the Los Angeles City Council approved a three-month moratorium on new billboard construction, not so much because of safety concerns, but rather because well-heeled Los Angelenos objected to visual clutter in their neighborhoods. City officials recommended the moratorium to allow the city to reformulate a 2002 law regulating out-of-home advertising in a way that would withstand challenges on First Amendment grounds.
Earlier this month the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals handed the opponents a victory with its decision to uphold the 2002 ban on new outdoor advertising. Specifically, the court found that the ban did not violate the First Amendment right to free speech, reversing the decision of lower courts. There is precedent for banning billboards: Pasadena and Santa Monica both have restrictions on out-of-home advertising, which have thus far withstood legal challenges on First Amendment grounds.
source: Mediapost
Conference Digital Out-of-Home
According to the latest market research*, revenues from digital out of home (DOOH) advertising in Europe will quadruple over the next five years – from euro 158m in 2007 to a forecast of euro 626m by 2012. This means that DOOH media will be the only media to post real revenue growth in the next five years, while traditional media are challenged by a sluggish ad market and competition from the internet.
As the number and size of Europe’s DOOH networks increases, in-depth market knowledge will be at a premium. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to learn from the experience of professionals representing every link in the DOOH value chain – from systems integrators and network operators to agencies, location owners and brand managers. The conference will present the hard facts about the business, backed up by a wealth of market experience, delivered by top industry professionals from companies like Ströer, Clear Channel Outdoor, CBS Outdoor, ECE, JCDecaux, Metro Group, Posterscope, Interpublic Group and others.
Here, over 250 exhibitors will be exhibiting a huge range of technologies relevant to the digital signage business, including:
• Flat-screen displays
• Large-scale projection and LED walls
• Signal management and distribution networks
• AV content creation and delivery systems
• Remote asset management and control solutions
• Single- and multi-channel audio products
• Mounting, furniture and ruggedisation hardware
Saint Petersburg bans street furniture advertising
Russia’s second largest city Saint Petersburg (4.6 million inhabitants) made the unusual decision to ban all ground-level advertising located on the pavements. The city is enforcing the ban by removing all pillars and banners on the pavements, a process that will take several months.
According to the city’s urban improvement division, the forced removal of the street furniture (including digital signage!) will make life easier for its inhabitants. Oleg Virolaynen, the head of the council’s committee for improvement and road economy, said the aim is for street furniture advertisements to disappear entirely. In recent years street furniture ads have multiplied uncontrollably in recent years and became obstructive to pedestrians according to Virolaynen.
The research company Espar Analitik estimates that there are more than 21,000 street furniture objects scattered across Saint Petersburg.
This decision of Saint Petersburg is the most drastic we have seen so far in Europe, although also Moscow has taken steps to ban advertising. Outside Europe the city of Sao Paolo took the decision (in 2006) to ban all advertising; right now Sao Paolo is completely ad-free (and nobody seems to complain).
Out-of-Home Advertising: sensitive for the economical crisis?
Bracing for the recession, out-of-home media companies are making adjustments in the hopes that the business will survive the turbulence, if not come out ahead. While out-of-home has held up better than most other media through the first half of the year—posting modest, single-digit growth—the next quarters will show a complete different story.
It is clear that with advertising spending under pressure all advertisers feel the effects of a sharp fall in consumption. In times of crisis you would obviously need additional advertising to win market share (‘anticyclical advertising’), but practice shows that most companies have to cut cost in order to keep head above water. Is sensitive outdoor advertising recession?