Monday, June 13, 2011

The Element of Surprise

This weeks assignment reminded me of all of my favorite advertisements that I've seen while driving thousands and thousands of miles for my high school rowing team. Over the past few years billboards have been getting more and more creative by using all available real estate going beyond the board itself and sometimes even inventing space that wasn't even really there to start with. A billboard advertisement for the Museum of Flight in Seattle has a 3D plane crashed into the billboard and the only other words on the billboard are the name of the Museum. Simplicity strikes again, this image is hilarious and fresh. The message "see the history of flight from the first kite to the latest jets" (not actually the Museum of Flight's words) will not attract nearly as wide of a demographic as a real plane crashed into a sign.

Chick-Fil-A not only has the best chicken in the country but they, and the San Francisco Zoo, provide great examples of using all available real estate on a billboard. They provide comic relief from the thousands of other monotone advertisements on the road. There are only so many colors in the palate and so many fonts to choose from. It's difficult to attract attention on the road because unless it's something out of the ordinary most people have taught themselves to selectively view things. Chick-Fil-A and the San Francisco zoo provide that much needed relief by going beyond simple colors and fonts. San Francisco Streetlight Giraffe Advertisement

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