Times Square without billboards?

VIA: Metro NY

On the south-east corner of Times Square, where Minnie Mouse and Spider Man wait for customers, a crowd of tourists can be seen standing still and staring up at a billboard expectantly.

Every ten minutes or so, the screen they’re staring at projects their own faces back at them, which sets off a flurry of big-screen selfies.

But it turns out this billboard, and others plastering Times Square, may actually be illegal. Under a federal highway beautification law, the billboards are too big - the law states that highways should not be larger than 1200 square feet.More [HERE]

Spending Time With Friends

The other day I went out walking the city with a few friends, including one very special Spaniard I know from Madrid. We each installed a few pieces and then had a little dinner at my place. No one took it too seriously but below are some of the varying results. 

Irina 

 Cash 4

 Jordan Seiler

Spectre

NYC To Collect Tax On Times Square Billboard Ads

VIA: Media Post News

New York City is dusting off an old tax law and applying it to billboard advertisers in Times Square for the first time in decades, in a move that will raise at least $18 million for the city. The city government said it will begin collecting a 6% commercial rent tax on 22 companies that advertise on outdoor signs, mostly concentrated in New York’s iconic Times Square, reported the New York Post. More [HERE]

Landlords Have a Ball With Times Square Billboards

VIA The Wall Street Journal

It’s a good time to be a billboard in Times Square.

As explored in an article in Wednesday’s Journal, One Times Square—the mostly empty office building that hosts the New Year’s Eve ball drop—takes in more than $23 million a year from signage alone, according to mortgage documents that offer a rare, detailed look at the rents the property receives. More [HERE]

Well That Went Viral Before I had A Chance To….

Photo by Will Sherman of CityPhile

As you may or may not know, PublicAdCampaign and The Heavy Projects tested a new platform this weekend that uses Augmented Reality to virtually replace outdoor advertising with the artworks of some of my favorite physical outdoor advertising takeover artists, including Ron English, PosterBoy, John Fekner, OX, and Dr. D. A few bloggers were on hand to capture the magic and before we could compile an extensive video walkthrough of the project in action, things went viral, even being picked up by AdWeek. I will be posting a much more intense video in the next week or so showing the technology at work and in particular its ability to track the object in real time and correct for perspectival shifts which make the "takeover" feel almost real.

While this was a beta test of what is to be a much larger ongoing project that aims to eradicate outdoor advertising from your public space interaction, the program is live and running for anyone to view. You can do so by going to your app store or market on your iOS or Android device and searching Junaio. Download this program and search AR AD TAKEOVER. once the program loads you can hold your device up to any of the following advertisements to view their virtual replacement. That said, do it quick as the ads we have chosen will come down in the next week or so. One of our hurdles will be figuring out how to feed this project current ads as the content changes so you never have to look at an ad in public space again!

AR AD TAKEOVER Triggers:

Horrible Bosses - Horizontal phonebooth advertisement
30 Minutes or Less - Horizontal phonebooth advertisementCrazy Stupid Love - Horizontal phonebooth advertisementCrazy Stupid Love - Horizontal subway entrance advertisementHarry Potter - Horizontal phonebooth advertisementAliens and Cowboys - Billboard at 42nd street and 7th avenue SWC

Augmented Reality Advertising Takeover in Times Square from Will Sherman on Vimeo.

Times Square Art Square: Ad Takeover and Potential Test Of Public Will

Animal New York is reporting on the new Kick Starter drive and video release from the Times Square Art Square project. This reminded me that I had spoken to Justus a while back after having been forward over to him by Charlie Todd of Improv Everywhere. For some reason we were going to meet and then our email conversation went cold. Ill recontact him out of curiosity but the reminder on AnimalNY begs a post. When Justus explained the project a while back it seemed not only an opportunity to takeover the biggest advertising location in the world but also an interesting social media experiment.

"...So we joined up with friends in Amsterdam and set up a foundation, and now we are trying to get as many people worldwide to join us on either Facebook or stay in contact with us via any other network; as the fact is there're about 500 million people on Fb, and we could a get a million or so to like us and have them donate, we'd be able to buy several hours on all the billboards. (a second is about $300, depending on the season.)"

Could enough people "like" an idea on Facebook or retweet a video enough times that a network so vast could be created that donations of pennies would be enough to will Times Square into a public art playground? I like this idea because it demands a place for art in public space, the problem is we end up paying for that privilege. If Successful, Times Square Art Square would be an incredible spectacle and a powerful statement, I would just hate to see that amount of money and potential social media power harnessed to pay for advertising space. It seems like the money this project would require could be used for better purposes.

That said, proving that large scale social media networks could rework the power relationship in a such a tightly controlled environment like Times Square is pretty incredible. It also begs the question why we cant do something more profound with such a large network of people? The amount of money it would require to take over all the ads in Times Square for even a small amount of time could do a lot of things. Large scale donation networks could instantly fund individual community programs, with minuscule donations from each party. And maybe thats the point of Times Square Art Square in a lot of ways. Replacing all of the advertisement seems an odd way to blow a few million bucks, but instantly funding a social program on a similar model would suddenly seem negligent if we couldn't make it happen.

I love the potential for this idea. Please check out the Time Square Art Square Video and try to make a donation to the KickStarter Campaign.

Pixelator On The Jumbo Screen In Times Square

A few days ago we told you Bablegum was going to screen Jason Eppink's Pixelator project on one of the Jumbotrons in Times Square. Here it is.

Pixelator On The Jumbo Screen In Times Square

Bablegum has chosen the winners of its metropolis arts prize for video in 2009. The winners, as well as runners up, will have their videos screened on the Jumbotrons in Times Square NYC. The categories include a street art video award for which Jason Eppink's Pixelator video was a runner up. If you do not know the Pixelator project, take a look at it here. It is an incredible street art advertising intervention. The irony of this advertising takeover being screened on one of the world largest digital billboards is too much to bear. Please come out on December 17th from 7pm-8pm to watch public content get its rightful place in this great outdoor advertising mecca, and support Jason in his efforts. On another note, Improve Anywhere won the Audience Award with their Subway Yearbook Photo Project. You gotta love Charlie and his antics, they never stop and they always inspire.

Finally, an Easy Way to Dominate Times Square

VIA Ad Age
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Securing prime outdoor advertising real estate just got easier. Clear Channel Spectacolor, the digital signage arm of the company's outdoor division, unveiled Times Square Domination, which will aggregate ad sales for five of the New York location's largest digital billboards. Clear Channel pulled together sign owners Spectacolor, Nasdaq, Reuters, News Corp. and ABC Sports and Entertainment to cooperate and sell the signs together.

"Buying all these signs at one time has been effectively impossible," said Tom Hennigan, president of P.R.omotion, the company that will lead the ad sales of the Times Square consortium, which also debuted a new website.

The growth and competition among digital billboards comes amid the decline of static signage in Times Square, which has seen ad rates plunge anywhere from 15% to 25% in recent months, with less turnover between campaigns.

Ryan Laul, managing director for Hyperspace, a media agency that buys digital out-of-home for Motorola, Schick, CVS and other brands, said more clients have moved toward digital billboards in Times Square because of the creative flexibility and shorter lead-time to secure inventory.

"Digital display technology allows you to sync up campaigns so that all the signs work really well together," he said. "In some cases you may want to buy every screen for one full, dedicated hour, or 200 minutes a day and spread it evenly, or two minutes an hour. It allows us to really dominate an area for a product launch or a timely event."

Not for everyone
Ray Rotolo, senior VP-managing director of Havas' Chrysalis, cautioned that Times Square as a market isn't always the best place for some clients. "The clutter factor is becoming a major issue for some," he said. "But we've tried roadblocking before, and for some clients it's worked. [The Times Square Domination] changes the game because there's audio involved, and it's become almost a live opportunity to interact with the people that are there. The question now is, how can we really creatively look at this and make it work the best for us?"

A buy across Times Square Domination's five screens, based on current rates, would likely run well into the $500,000 to $750,000 range, according to buyer estimates, although terms of deals under the new unit have yet to be discussed, Mr. Rotolo added. Pricing in the area has also gotten more competitive with the recent addition of major digital billboards at Walgreen's on 43rd Street and Broadway and the American Eagle sign on Broadway and 46th Street.

The Times Square audience (565,000 daily visitors, 47 million annually) also tends to spend more time in the area with the recent renovation of the last-minute Broadway ticket seller TKTS booth on 47th Street and Broadway, and the closing of the area to car traffic.

Another addition soon to come is the Times Square Network, a new cable-esque programming network Spectacolor will debut in 2010 on its digital video screen above the W Hotel.

Michael Steinberg, Spectacolor's VP-sales and marketing, said the network will feature news updates from current editorial partner CNN and fully sponsored original programming, including entertainment news, cooking segments and a tentative series profiling one of the the neighborhood's notorious personalities, the Naked Cowboy.

"We want to have out-of-home advertising become a destination in New York," Mr. Steinberg said.

Spectacolor President Harry Coghlan was also open to testing the digital billboard ad-network approach to other markets such as Las Vegas and Los Angeles, should the initial results in Times Square pay off. "It's a portable concept that could work with technology as a backdrop," he said.

Artists' Billboards For Target

image stolen from Patrick McMullan

A good friend of mine Stephanie Diamond told me about this recent Target art/ad/fashion collaboration. You know how I feel about this type of artistic degradation.

ARTISTS' BILLBOARDS FOR TARGET

Just in time for New York's "Fashion Week," the art-friendly people at Target have hired four artists to provide flashy designs -- featuring Target's trademark red target image -- for the company's giant billboards in Times Square. The artists are Laurie Rosenwald, Michael Anderson, Josh Goldstein and Charles Wilkin, all selected for the job by the New York ad company Mother. The ads stay up through October, then the vinyl is re purposed into totes designed by Anna Sui -- which are available for $29.99 each (click here).