Blimey London Advertising
March 24, 2009 • 1:57 pm • POSTED BY Rosemary Fahmie
I’m just getting back from London and being in the advertising biz, I couldn’t help but notice how advertising driven the city of London is. It was pretty amazing to see and I thought I’d share my observations.
Having lived in Philadelphia for 12 years, growing up outside of NYC, and working in the ad industry for almost 9 years now, I’m no stranger to the levels at which advertisers will go to get their point across to consumers. Being in London for the past 5 days I was blown away at the amount of advertising there was in the city and the types that I saw. The funny thing is, it didn’t seem overdone. Maybe its just being in the biz that makes me ok with it, but having been in LA, San Fran, NYC, and Chicago in the last year, I was blown away with London’s take on getting consumers attention.
While New York is also a mecca for interesting advertising, London was the first European city I visited, so for those who are very familiar with the types of advertising that go on oversees, forgive me. As an American oversees for the first time, I found it all very interesting and I think we need to step it up here in Philly. I would have to imagine that anyone who has been to other oversees cities, especially in Japan and China, probably have a lot more to say about the types of advertising they’ve got going on over there, but I see those countries as a whole other animal that deserves its own blog post.
Since the subway system, and public transportation in general, in London is ridiculously convenient and used by almost everyone who lives there, much like NYC, a lot of the advertising happens there. From the minute you step into the subway entrance of the London Underground, through the turn-styles and onto the platform, advertising is everywhere. The straight up print advertising seems to be dwindling (yikes for me). While there is still a significant amount of print advertising, you can tell they are slowly phasing out the idea of only having one advertiser monopolizing one space for a certain period of time. Standing kiosks or wall posters are being phased into scrolling backlit signs. 12 x 18 posters that line the escalators are being phased into LCD screens which change ads every 10 seconds, or so. And static platform ads are being replaced with projection screens and LCD screens that show videos and commercials, rather than flat ads. The fact that the advertising was everywhere I turned I couldn’t help but remember the brands. It was pretty amazing that I found myself singing “Last Night a DJ Saved my Life” every time I entered or left a subway stop because there was an ad for volunteer police around every corner that had that saying as its tag line . I even remembered the ads for the new Pet Shop Boys album “Yes”. (Yes, the Pet Shop Boys have a new album out, it was released today). I can’t remember the last time I remembered an ad from Septa’s platforms or hallways. I can’t even remember the last time I remembered an ad I saw in New York. Maybe I am just not as observant in the US because I’m used to the methods here. Whatever the case, I remembered the ads from the London Underground like I never have anywhere before.
I know none of these methods are ass that revolutionary or life changing, but it makes me wonder, how much money could Philadelphia or Septa be making right now if they would just get with the times. As much as I love Philadelphia, we have some serious work to do. Our ad space is sad and pathetic compared to other cities and so is our public transportation. If the city and Septa open their minds a bit more, they could actually create a better public transportation system by using advertising to help generate revenue. Then maybe we wouldn’t have one of the most expensive public transportation systems in the U.S. of A. Here is one of the only 2 videos you’ll find if you google video search Septa advertising. I don’t mean to turn this into an article about Septa, but its hard not to compare when you see the possibilities of what could be.
On another advertising note, the cabs in London were also another vehicle for advertising. (Forgive the pun.) Here, we pretty much just use the tops or sides of cabs to advertise. In London, they use the whole cab
Another really cool cab advertisement I saw was a lenticular ad of a biker . I only saw one so I don’t remember who the advertiser was, but it was really cool. Here is a link to an article about it.
Some more links related to the topic from other cities:
NYC-
Scion Interactive Window Campaign
Korea:
I could go on for days, but you get the point. WAKE UP PHILLY, START ADVERTISING MORE.
I actually think the opposite needs to happen. Take a look at the work of Gregor Graf ( http://www.gregorgraf.net/ ) for instance, click on the link “hidden town”, and tell me that you wouldn’t love to live in such a world. Especially in a city like Philadelphia that has such awesome history and architecture, I think that the public should embrace the natural aesthetics of the city and do all it can to prevent the cluttering of the visual landscape with temporal signage backed by financial motives. I mean, if wanna have an executional advertising arms race with Europe, that’s cool, but I’d much rather do without it. Lessons can be learned from Sao Paulo.
However I do understand the other side of it. For instance if Septa can increase ad revenue and then funnel those returns into infrastructure. The question from my point of view would be why does Septa need this money? Perhaps that’s a better problem to solve than simply where we can paste more messaging.
I would have to agree with Smoke Break. I lived in London for 6 years and just moved back to the States (S. Jersey). I work in marketing as well and even though I love (and miss) the intellectual level of the advertising over there, I have to say it really starts to wear on you on a day to day basis.
Riding the tube to work for an hour each way everyday made me wish upon the gray skies for a blank white wall I could stare at to rest my weary eyeballs. Perhaps because of the industry I work in I was more sensitive to the flashing ads and the advertisements stuck in every nook and cranny of the public streets.
At the end of the day it makes you feel used and trapped. Being unable to escape the constant barrage means that you become less receptive to the interesting and thought provoking advertising you SHOULD be paying attention to.
I definitely think there are some responsible and innovative ways of going about pursuing new advertising mediums. Unfortunately most companies that can afford to venture down these routes tend to care more for profit than art.
Be careful what you wish for!