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| Asia Pacific Media Network :: HONG KONG: Tunnel vision projected to pay off |
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A 20-second advertising spot for United Airlines will debut today - not on television or in cinemas but in MTR Corp's train tunnels
South China Morning Post
Thursday, April 29, 2004
By Michael Logan
A 20-second advertising spot for United Airlines will debut today - not on television or in cinemas but in MTR Corp's train tunnels.
The advertisement uses a technology developed by United States company Submedia, whose vision is to bring full-motion advertising - and a new source of revenue - to mass transit systems.
Submedia has built 280 metres of light boxes from Wan Chai to Causeway Bay. Mounted on the boxes is a series of 1.2 metre by 85 centimetre still images.
When viewed from a train moving at least 5km/h, the effect is similar to film passing through a movie projector.
"It's high impact and hard to forget," Submedia Asia chief executive Douglas Woodring said, adding the company planned to deploy the system in Tokyo. "We want to launch here and use this as a showcase."
The effort is the second attempt to turn MTR tunnels into a venue
for animated advertising. MotionPosters used a similar technique to launch a spot for Cathay Pacific Airways, but the British company is no longer operating.
Mr Woodring said the United Airlines advertisement would reach about 240,000 passengers a day, for a potential audience of 7.4 million over the next 30 days. "You're getting a lot of impressions," he said.
The company believes the novelty of the concept makes the advertising more effective than other media. Mr Woodring said that more than 84 per cent of people who saw the advertisements in New York and Atlanta could recall them later. "People ride the train and they position themselves so they can see the ad," he said.
This is the first time Submedia has deployed its advertising system outside the US. The company charges about HK$1 million per month to US clients, based on 30,000 riders per day. Of this, about $220,000 is for production.
Mr Woodring said Submedia hoped to build more light boxes in other parts of the MTR tunnel network.
Date Posted: 4/29/2004
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