Innovative Marketing: Changing the Landscape of Urban Cities through Interactive Advertising

As mentioned in my previous posts, the global economic downturn has provided many opportunities for designed interventions in the urban cityscape. In “The New Multi-Purpose Room,” I comment on two relevant projects inspired by financial crises. Both of which are responses to a current condition and, if not actual solutions, the generators for possible answers. With hundreds of projects emerging in light of recent hard times, I strongly believe that innovative design and thinking will help ease the effects of the recession. An example of this can be seen in the evolution of traditional marketing to the emerging forms of advertising and how they have begun to merge with building and infrastructure to benefit both corporations as well as the public.  Technology is playing a pivotal role in the integration of architecture and branding which has culminated in the digitalization of many urban spaces. The trajectory of merging these two entities remains mainly positive, however, there are foreseeable scenarios in which these advancements can become exploitative.

For decades, the common means of marketing a company ranged from print ads, to radio broadcasting, to television commercials. Based on the budget of a corporation and the target demographic, the appropriate venue was chosen. Since technology is constantly evolving, the ways of advertising have found the need to parallel these changes. With the invention of products such as Tivo and XM Radio, comes a way for users to bypass the aforementioned marketing techniques. As a direct consequence of these convenient services, came the demand for highly designed and innovative advertising mediums. Recently, Kentucky Fried Chicken made a truly interesting breakthrough in that the people behind-the-scenes managed to gain positive publicity for the fast-food chain, as well as issue a much-needed public service. The franchise arranged to fill pot-holes in Louisville’s many roads and in exchange, would be allowed to stamp the words “refreshed by KFC” on the new pavement. The design of such a strategy yields high visibility for the restaurant chain, much like traditional advertising would, however the byproduct is updated infrastructure in a city that would otherwise be unable to repair. Although KFC’s idea is extremely effective, it is only original in its application. Other examples of providing public services as a means of private gain can be seen in many other forms. Charmin has also been using these tactics for the past couple of years in Times Square. The toilet tissue giant inhabits prime real estate in order to offer public toilet facilities plastered with the company’s logo. Charmin has seen dramatic sales increases with the publication and visitor attendance of the bathroom experience, but at the same time, Times Square visitors are supplied with a clean and hassle-free restroom.

The above innovative marketing strategies are examples taken from large corporations. This same thought has been applied on a smaller scale throughout our nation’s cities. With the current economic status, shopping centers and malls have hit their highest vacancy levels in seven years. As a result, a dramatic increase in empty retail space has effectively caught the attention of advertisers and property owners alike. Bus stops, billboards, and taxicabs have all been canvases for advertisements in the last decade or longer and vacant storefronts are now the current subject of opportunistic ad-space. The forthcoming hardships have forced people to adapt to the current situation and professionals are using their resources more efficiently. Not only are these window ads becoming increasingly popular, they often times supply an equivalent income as compared to renting to an actual tenant. Inwindow Outdoor, based out of Manhattan, reports that a single ad “might charge advertisers anything from $18,000 USD to $80,000 USD a month.” This trend in storefront advertising has led to another interesting idea in the field. Landlords are now shifting their property’s programmatic uses in order to cater to a broader demographic. A theater in Virginia recently leased its failing venue to the local community college. It now supports classrooms, two lecture halls and offices. These examples are lessons in versatility and resourcefulness that will allow our cities to survive.

Although beneficial, the abovementioned approaches employed by KFC, Charmin and building owners are more market strategies and development based tactics rather than architectural schemes. Even though these ideas are loosely related, there has been a definite merging of architecture and marketing. Integrating media into buildings has been a recent trend that is quickly emerging as a common practice. Firms devoted to these methods, such as AG4, have even been created with the aim of “expanding a [companies] identity into the spatial dimension.” Progress in fields such as LCD displays coupled with the economic downturn has made the pairing of façades and advertisements an inevitable development that ultimately created an increased interest in communication through architecture. The stagnant print ads used to plaster the sides of buildings will slowly become obsolete as technology is pushed. The popularity of personal electronic devices, such as the iPod and Blackberry, has lessened people’s awareness and natural senses. Simply put, people are less responsive to their environments and immersed in their individual worlds. This notion of wanderers blindly navigating a city has rendered the many billboards and print ads that adorn our urban fabric obsolete. In an attempt to more efficiently grab the attention of the people, billboards and other advertisements have gone digital. Following this trend, architects have incorporated high-tech LCD screens into the facades of their buildings in an effort to further engage the masses. An example of this fascinating technology can be seen in the photo above, which demonstrates a transparent screen that displays illuminated moving advertisements. An even newer development that has yet to enter the public realm of our cityscapes is Augmented Reality. Companies such as GE and Mini have both produced marketing schemes using this new technology which essentially uses recognition software and cameras to display real objects or people interacting with virtual entities. This complex process can be seen on GE’s SmartGrid website.

The introduction of new technology, such as Augmented Reality, into the built environment is inevitable. Much like the evolution of the billboard, and the use of digital building facades, it is only a matter of time before advertisements become increasingly more interactive. The contact between the ad and the public can be as latent as the print pictured at left or as invasive as a digital image that captures a passerby and alters it in whichever way sells. At what point will society draw the line on advertising in the public realm and how will companies filter who is engaged? The layering of architecture, advertising, and technology has the potential to be very productive, but at the same time extremely invasive. The unknown factor is how low marketing executives are willing to go.