outdoor advertising - emc outdoor

During the crowded holiday shopping season (yes, even this year) mall advertising is a great way to concentrate your advertising efforts. That's just what the Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh, PA is doing to drive traffic to their annual Winter Flower Show.

A regional campaign covering the major malls in the area is taking their invitation to key locations where shoppers are focused. It also doesn't hurt that they're offering a relaxing walk through the flowers to stressed out shoppers hunting for the best bargains.

We were tapped by Obama for America to manage a multi-state campaign that would help get voters to the polls where the competition was tough. At crunch time, Obama's marketing team turned to the out-of-home palette — recognizing that outdoor advertising offers some of the best ways to take a message to the streets of America.

Contacted at the 11th hour leading up to election day, the EMC team worked with campaign officials from late October straight through election night to organize the mobile OOH media component across 13 critically important, must-win states.

What was the media chosen to get that message out to voters? 50 Mobile Billboards in 28 cities across 13 states, and the always hip Mobile Projection — capable of displaying the campaign's video on walls throughout crucial, crowded urban areas during the evening hours.

From sunny Florida to the frozen tundra of Wisconsin, from the Philadelphia Phillies World Series Victory Parade to sun-baked Las Vegas, and all through the heartland of the midwest the fleet of 50 Mobile Billboards carried the message to key cities in key states. Mobile billboards allowed the message to be re-deployed quickly to strategically important areas where they were needed the most.

Mobile Projection — one of the most exciting new media in the out-of-home palette — provided a way to project dynamic full motion video from a mobile vehicle that could take the projection virtually anywhere.

EMC choreographed the driving of 52 vehicles over 28 cities in 7 days via non-stop email, text and cell phone contact with this savvy political campaign. Weekends, early mornings and middle of the night were the extra hours needed to make so many vehicles fly on time. Up to the task, we were there to provide on-the-fly changes, updates, status reports, overtime and critical execution oversight.

This campaign clearly demonstrates the ability of Out-of-Home to reach into the full range of different communities across America in a powerful and highly-targeted way. Its use by the Obama Campaign (Advertising Age's "Marketer of the Year") is a compelling testament to the enduring effectiveness of Outdoor Advertising.

This campaign is a great case of the right media for the right message: In order to promote their new portfolio of environmental solutions to help businesses reduce the impact of printing Hewlett Packard chose a pair of "green" media — wrapped Smart Cars and Segways — to deliver the message to convention attendees at the SGIA conference in Atlanta.

The Segway teams did what they do best, working the crowds, engaging convention attendees on the streets around Atlanta. (we've noticed that people always seem to be smiling around the Segways - I guess they just make good conversation starters)

And the Smart Cars did what they do best . . . look really, really cool.

These telephone kiosks for Daniel Solin's "Smartest 401K Book You'll Ever Read" went up all across Manhattan (including Wall Street) just before the economy went all ker-flooey! We think that people will definitely be paying close attention to this one.

In outdoor advertising the right media and the right location is really important, but some great timing sure doesn't hurt.

In case you hadn't noticed the real estate market took a bit of a downturn recently. Well, when times are tough it's the companies that are willing to look for new solutions to old problems that will weather the storm. That's just what John Laing Homes did to promote Windemere, their new luxury planned community in southern California.

Instead of cutting back on their marketing in a slow economy, Windemere decided to be strategically proactive by advertising via a Scooter Team that they would literally drive to potential buyers in target communities and places where discretionary income was still going from pocket to cash register: upscale shopping centers and popular restaurant areas, as well as crowded events (like the Hayward Zucchini festival thank you very much!)

This campaign is also interesting as it combined out-of-home media with a Text Messaging component which allowed consumers to immediately get more information, and Windemere to establish direct contact and communication with interested buyers.

It's that time of year again, and students are heading back to school. Fresh-faced, bright-eyed and full of enthusiasm, they're ready to dig into those textbooks, start those research papers, and pay rapt attention to a 2 hour lecture on the Loop Amplitudes, Anomalies and Phenomenology of Super String Theory . . .

Or, they can't wait to ditch mom & dad, and go pick up a cool new cell phone to start texting their friends.

That's just what AT&T was counting on when they went back to school in Philadelphia to reach returning college students with some wireless extra-credit. Mobile Billboards provided a great way to engage in a highly targeted short-term blitz as students arrived on campus.

With a number of schools like Penn, Temple, Drexel and Villanova all concentrated in Philadelphia the Mobile Billboard was able to easily move from campus to campus and reach large numbers of returning students in a relatively short amount of time.

Safeway used this mobile projection at the Democratic National Convention to welcome delegates, visitors and VIPs, to celebrate their sponsorship of the event, and to promote a few green messages as well.

Mobile projection was a good fit because it's cutting edge, and allowed us to place the message exactly where it needed to be. It also gave Safeway a unique nighttime exposure, while eliminating the traditional non-eco friendly production that some traditional OOH media requires.

Most importantly, the projection was placed directly across the street from a major downtown hotel housing visitors, delegates and of course, Democratic VIPs. The projection site was also along one of the main routes to and from the convention center!

If you need to reach attendees at a summer event one sure way to get their attention is to stand outside and yell “FREE ICE CREAM!”. That’s just what American Century Investments did to reach attendees at the recent Northwestern Mutual conference in Milwaukee, WI.

A team of Brand Ambassadors were stationed directly outside the event to inform attendees about the free ice cream, hand out the coupons and direct people to the Wrapped Ice Cream Truck that was parked nearby.

In addition to the free ice cream a team of branded Bike Taxis were chartered and on hand to offer attendees complimentary transportation back to their hotels after the meetings, so they could enjoy their ice cream in style.

When the super-high-tech internet security company Trend Micro, wanted to announce their new personal internet security product to the Atlanta audience their agency Philip Johnson Associates turned to the low-tech power of outdoor to dominate the market, and EMC for it's outdoor expertise. The lynch pin of the campaign was a market wide program of Digital Billboards, which anchored their message at key traffic points throughout the city and surrounding suburbs.

Digital billboards offered the opportunity to use multiple creatives without increasing production costs — an asset that not only extended the life of the campaign by keeping the message fresh, but also reinforced the use of multiple creatives across the other media.

A targeted showing of posters transitioned the message from the highway to the surface streets and into residential and shopping areas.

2-Sheet Rail Posters in MARTA stations connected with business commuters repeatedly, and Bus King panels kept their message on the move throughout the market.

The cherry on top was this spectacular backlit wallscape in the heart of downtown Atlanta, across the street from the Hardrock Cafe, and just blocks away from The Georgia Aquarium, the World of Coke, the Westin Peachtree Hotel, Peachtree Center, America’s Mart, Ritz-Carlton, Georgia-Pacific, Southern Company and Peachtree Center Marta Station..

And then park them directly in front of 160,000 screaming NASCAR fans! (just don't try trading paint with Dale Earnhardt, Jr. anytime soon)

To help promote their new NASCAR sponsorship Nationwide Insurance wanted to be in the pole position at Speed Street festival in Charlotte, and Mobile Billboards were a great way to put their brand right in the middle of the crowds—not to mention the middle of the track!

After the checkered flag Mobile Projection joined the party, following the huge crowds and lighting up the night throughout popular downtown areas.

Projection media is growing in popularity as a powerful way to create dynamic new advertising space almost anywhere. It also looks really cool in those nighttime time-lapse photos.

Want to reach that “really hot & thirsty” demographic? Head for the beach with some giant branded sails!

Bud Light Lime has been using this spectacular new media to make waves in Southern California this summer. The sails have been creating buzz for Budweiser's new product by skimming the waves at the most popular beaches in Los Angeles and San Diego, placing their brand directly in front of the huge weekend crowds.

A great place to reach an audience that is relaxed and ready for a beer, the beach is also an environment with very limited advertising space available.

With sails ranging in size from 50' to 100' high depending on the vessel, these giant banners provide a surprising space for your brand. The sails are also a powerful way to reach waterfront events, festivals and holiday crowds.

Talk about reaching your target demographic, it doesn't get any better than this . . . (hint: read the ad then look at the car)

Maybe if the ad printed out a claims form - filled out in triplicate, filed the police report, and dispensed some nice soothing herbal tea?

Or, maybe the ad could materialize out of thin air, right next to the car, immediately after the accident.

Well, we can dream.

The Scott Scooter "Dichomania" Tour is making it's way across the country this summer as part of Scott's efforts to reach out to the Hispanic community by compiling the world's first "Dichonario".

In case you were wondering "dichos" are Spanish proverbs, the linguistic cousins of English sayings like "a rolling stone gathers no moss" or "a penny saved is a penny earned".

As the Scooters cross the country they are stopping at local shopping centers in Hispanic communities to collect dichos from the customers there, while distributing Scott products to those who participate.

The scooters are equipped with interactive kiosks, that allow participants to type their dichos, or to record audio or video versions and crowds young and old are lining up to take part.

The scooters are creating mini "events" with a party atmosphere wherever they go, making this exciting campaign a wonderfully creative blend of branding and community outreach.

We always say that Mobile Projections are larger than life, but in this case, not by much . . .
At 15 Stories High, this illumination is probably only marginally bigger than it's subject—WWE's Paul "Big Show" Wight—but it does make a big impression on the viewers.

We ran this campaign in Orlando to help promote the WWE's Wrestlemania 14, and it's a perfect example of how Mobile Projections can be used to great effect for event promotion where a short-term, highly targeted exposure is necessary to generate awareness and enthusiasm among the local audience.

It's also a perfect example of how cool a 150 foot tall wrestler can be. Please note that we avoided any obvious "King Kong" references, . . . the Big Show might know how to find us.

EMC was proud to contribute to this article for the Japanese media magazine, Senden Kaigi. (we can't read the website either, but it sure is fun to look at).

Here's a page from the magazine. We got a kick out of seeing that "cool" translated to Japanese is well, "cool". Some things are quintessentially American.

The article focused on the simplicity and effectiveness of some emerging, innovative outdoor media. "Although technology has evolved and media is rapidly changing, face-to-face communication remains a fundamental form of human interaction. In the age of the Internet, in which communication is often intangible and incorporeal, Walking billboards remind us of the importance of direct relations and communication."

Gas Station ads are rapidly becoming a popular media for outdoor (they're also going digital, but that's another story). People are close to the ads for several minutes and are more than happy to look at something other than the price on the pump. Low production costs allow for creative flexibility, and wide availability of stations allows for precise placement.

This campaign is rolling out in over 30 markets nationwide for Advance America. Each market is timed to coincide with the opening of the local branch, and the stations are usually within just a few miles of the office.

Advertising takes to the high seas! These boatside billboards are one of the newest outdoor media forms to come down the pike (river, canal, lake, intracoastal waterway—you pick).

We just ran this campaign in Ft Lauderdale, so of course we had a tough time getting someone to go down and inspect the program. The displays are illuminated so they can pull up next to your evening soirees after a long day of plundering trade show booths.

Particularly great for Events in any market with a popular waterfront area and sure to chase off any scurvy competitors. Now, if we could only get Johnny Depp to be the captain . . .

OK, we know that "Thinking outside the box" is just a tad over-used, but how about "Thinking outside the billboard". We always love to see advertisers use extensions, and this is a great example of why (although you have to wonder where to get dance shoes in size 48 Triple E).

Outdoor is often overlooked as a great way to promote an upcoming event, and a little bit of advance planning can go a long way to creating some grass roots buzz.

It's great to see New Orleans getting back into the swing of things as meetings start to return to this popular convention town.

It's also nice to see advertisers taking advantage of the newest technology. Projection media is a rapidly evolving format that's getting lots of attention. Now that full video projection is a viable option you can essentially turn almost any large space into a giant impromptu movie screen.