Lessons from the Land of Drizzle for the ugly orphan of advertising
IF all goes according to plan, there’s a good chance I’ll be relocating to São Paulo in Brazil.
Why, you ask, would I want to live in the city also called Terra da Garoa — Land of Drizzle?
After all, the monsooninduced weather is as unreliable as a Medupi construction schedule.
Is it the food, perhaps? Who among us has not wanted to sample virado à Paulista with tutu de feijão (a simple pasta of cooked beans and cassava flour)? I think not. Maybe a visit to the Centro de Documentação Histórica — the historic documentation centre with 40 000 manuscripts. Really, who’s got the time?
No, there’s a far more compelling reason to gap it: São Paulo is the only city in the world without any outdoor advertising.
Back in 2006, the Clean City Law outlawed all adverts on billboards, public transport and even in the front of stores, and that fine law is still in effect.
Back home, outdoor or out-ofhome advertising, as the industry likes to call it, has become more widespread and at the same time cumulatively worse to look at.
If, like me, you do the highway run to work each day, chances are you’ll be assailed mainly by insurance company hoardings offering impossible-to-digest specials and international cosmetic brands with pouting models who all look the same.
While out-of-home can be a hugely effective advertising medium, it still remains in many respects the ugly orphan cousin of the advertising world, one that no one wants to love.
Every once in a while a brand will put some real money and effort into a great idea. Not too long ago, for example, CocaCola contrived to create a billboard in central Johannesburg that managed to chemically create real rainbows over the skyline.
We all got terribly excited and the brand got what it wanted — consumer talkability.
In the US, Coca-Cola also created what it terms the first drinkable billboard, where the product flows from a giant bottle through a straw spelling out the words “Taste It”. It then travels to a sampling area complete with six fountain spouts where visitors can grab themselves some refreshment.
Every once in a while a brand will put some real money and effort into a great idea
Effective advertising these days is in part about creating a meaningful consumer experience and real engagement.
And there is more to come. An American-Korean start-up called Emotive Digital has developed new technology, TransLook, which is designed to make advertising even more invasive, interactive and prominent in your daily life.
Using something called a consumer proximity sensor, various surfaces such as a fridge door, drinks cabinets and glass doors can instantly be transformed into touch-screen displays — allowing you to interact with the items inside.
So if that’s where out-of-home advertising is heading, best our local industry rouse itself and become more compelling and interesting. Or they can join me in São Paulo and sample a glass of cachaça (sugar-cane liquor) and overlook a pristine and commercial-free landscape.
Maggs is the editor of the online media and marketing website The Redzone: www.theredzone.co.za