Electronic screens in outdoor advertising or New York, New York
There are two places on the Earth, attracting views of all advertisement agents: New York and Tokyo. And if reportage about Tokyo's outdoor advertising electronic screens has already been published, second cultural place was Terra incognita.
Informative outdoor electronic screens
New York met me by cold wind, but I took an interest in advertisement use, not in weather vagaries, which during two last years after El-Nino have already harassed everybody. So I took Lincoln, (oh, this love of New York citizens to everything great...) and went to Broadway. Real rampage of advertisement, as known, is at Times Square, which borders to 42 street and is crossed by Broadway.
We did not see special survey; exactly this fact explained my interest. Night Broadway is especially effect, when huge alight broadsheets are shining, neon signboards are blinking and electronic tableaux are playing. The latter is not numerous and they explicitly resign in squares another types of advertisement boards. Nevertheless because electronic tableaux have more possibilities, they are often used in most “striking places”.
Outdoor advertising screens are located in different places, the most striking, frontal or angular ones at cross-roads. At the same time one tries to use strong sides of this or that type of electronic tableaux. Thus lamp tableaux, enjoining larger ... in relation to LED ones, are placed higher, practically on the skyscraper roofs.
Such outdoor screen with Discover Card advertisement is just printed on the photo. At such location the advertising screen is seen from larger distance and for a great number of people. Pictures with details are not convenient to demonstrate on such screens, and are not necessary for distinct purposes. According to intensity only alight panels compete with lamp screens, but eyes quickly habituate to the former because of their steady-state and cease to notice them.
Lower floors are occupied by advertising LED screens, having another advantage: larger resolution and definition. Besides on account of smaller distance between LED-illuminated switches, display does not dilapidate in separate pixels at observation from small distance. TV channels masterly use this fact, locating screens maximum near to passers. At the same time just TV picture is often translated to the screen. Watching from pavement and small distance one quickly forgets about what is there above...
Panasonic LED screen in New YorkYou can personally compare two pictures. LED screen Panasonic, advertisement of NBC TV channel. On the screen with good definition, TV rolls are well observed both color and black-white, the latter was unexpected for me. Fragments of old TV communications in black-white performance look unexpectedly well, may be because they are unexpected by their miserliness of colors among Broadway multi-color images. Generally it is not bad outdoor advertising screen, achieving their goals, it is well located if there are not two “but”:
1) Screen “rains”, it is noticed not only from small distance at the previous photo one can notice the same dimmed LEDs. I do not understand, either we have to refer this fact on account of Panasonic LED screens construction, or that screen is not in order served. All this creates sloppy image and at the back of one's mind does not work on positive image of TV company.
2) We shall consider it below.
Chef-d'oeuvre of outdoor advertising – ABC screensThere is chef-d'oeuvre of outdoor advertising on the electronic screen. Composite decision: external desktop is an electronic lamp screen, internal, Sony LED screen, allowing transferring image of TV quality. Colossal measurement support extraordinarily effective of square, though orientation of screen in relation to square location is less successful, than in NBC one. On the example of ABC screen I faced at the first time with light dynamic frames. Traditional running line is located below screen.
Three pure types of screen use are distinguished: corporate screens, informative screens, and advertising screens. In reality pure types play also mixed roles. Corporate outdoor screens are supported by “mother-company” and are appealed to explain everybody, in what sense it is better. Informative outdoor screens are also supported by “mother-company”, but besides they have useful information of more global character. Advertising screens provide their square everybody who is in need of them, but for money, more precisely these are “factories of advertising time sale”. Furthermore other types of outdoor screens: corporate and advertising.
Corporate outdoor electronic screens
The first object, which strikes the eyes at the cross-road of Broadway and 42 street, is advertisement of British Airways. Huge Concorde looks very effective, but electronic board thereabout did not work. Concorde rockets in sky, where “black angels” in underclothing plane. “May be it is not bad” - I thought, maybe I did not refuse myself appointment with such angels, but unlikely it is necessary to use service of British Airways for this deal.
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| Advertising screen of British Airways | Advertising screen of Delta Air Lines |
Two simple truths immediately emerge in brain: one must consider background and if you advertise high technology company, everything must works. But I like personal idea of desk. Idea was so excellent, on the advertising screen one may demonstrate information about prices, discounts, tours etc., and flushing in the sky Concorde, it is drastic! On the black screen there is no such picture and I immediately understood that in far America everything also abuts in people, serving electronic screens and they have their problems. But this fact made Broadway pleasant to me.
The same role outdoor advertising screen of Delta Air Lines, British Airways competitor, played. There was no Concorde, but in distinction from the first example it worked and correctly did its role. As it seemed to me, this is lamp screen, but with small pitch, which allow it to work in full-color regime and show on it nice pictures. Red running line with current information is located below.
This decision is very convenient, because it allow importing quickly changes in the information in text regime, and this is much simpler, than to insert it in video-roll. The question is how many people read running line? Useful in this example was without frame appearance of the screen, which separate it from background and it was done in colors of air company.
AT&T advertising screenAll this casts to unconscious concentration of view on the advertising screen. The screen is located at the angular building of 42 street and is really observed from two streets, which increases its efficiency. Because there are no other advertising screens, all attention of foot-passengers and passengers of passing transport are concentrated on it. The screen itself is well performed and has good brightness; it is directed to the north, so image on it is well observed at bright sun also.
Huge composite AT&T advertising panel is served to demonstration of corporation power and also to information about new services was good to do huge neon tableau, on which there would be place both for logotype and map of the world, and to place in the center electronic lamp tableau, on which operative information may be placed. Decision kills performance, in this case it simply kills it.
It is seen, that the company has not money for good modern outdoor advertising screen and also for that performed (lamp, full-color), ugly block structure gets out. Such picture may be seen in Russia either at the moment of screen input in maintenance, or when workers over drank and there is strong displacement in phase, but both reasons do not suit to Broadway. In Russia it ought to monitor for quality of juice and to pay normal salary to team, serving the screen, in this case you may require quality of picture from this team.
The block structure is particularly distinguished at full of all screen, this by indirection indicates, that it is not everything good with screen power supply. I doubt, that AT&T has some conflicts with operators, because everywhere and always behind every concrete deal the concrete man stands...
It seems that original software support, synchronizing producing pictures is applied, at the same time picture on the lamp screen always picks out image in tone at the LED one screen. Everything looks excellent.
Outdoor advertising electronic screens
Outdoor advertising screen of Discover CardCertainly all outdoor screens are advertising ones, but it is interesting to note, that the advertisement on them is preferentially image. There are practically no advertisement boards, on which some services or goods are advertised.
Another sign of time was the fact, that such advertisement appeared where there is URL on site, which supports this service or goods. Probably, this is the most “misprized” resource of electronic boards both by advertisement agencies and owners of boards. We may fairly surely predict both rise of market of advertisement services, providing on existing screens, and performance of new electronic tableaux with the aim to use them, mainly, as advertisement mediums. Advertising of possibility to call phone in favor of “unfamiliar count” at the AT&T screen.
