Outdoor Advertising expands within Industry Internationally

Outdoor advertising, usually capturing less of an audience in comparison with other advertising methods, seems to be the fastest growing in the industry-aside from the Internet. Some International advertisers are making good use of outdoor advertising through their investments in the advertisements of Heathrow international airport. Heathrow airport, in the opening of their new Terminal Five, plans to include massive amounts of advertisements that will be specifically positioned so that international passengers will be unable to avoid them. This airport expansion includes 333 billboards and posters, along side 206 flat-screen tv sets (compare that to Los Angeles international’s 34 tv sets and John F. Kennedy international’s 40).

Advertising has taken a new path with this project underway, and advertisers anticipate major profits, resulting from this venture. Because they are locally or state government-owned, airports are beginning to place more emphasis on advertising in an effort to make money. The general public can’t seem to escape the advertisements which flood in from all angles of life, now reaching airport terminals. With the ceaseless attempts of advertisers to incorporate ads into every possible thread of life, one may wonder when the public is saturated, or if we have become desensitized to the ads themselves. Certainly some must wonder why we can’t seem to become immune to them altogether.

The truth is that advertisers are simple remarkable at what they do-finding new ways to solicit their audience in unexpected, yet subtle, ways. This will even at times leave the public unaware that they are exposed to the ads, although somehow still influenced.

A typical airport visitor is expected to see somewhere between 50-120 ads while passing through Terminal Five, depending on their method of arrival (taxi or train), and means of departure (domestic or international). One thing is certain, regardless or arrival and departure, there is no escaping advertisement exposure.

Heathrow attracts many international business travelers, which make up a defined segment of the market that advertisers are desperately trying to target. Brands such as Visa and Crowne Plaza (owned by InterContinental Hotel Group) plan to benefit from this airport advertisement endeavor.

High earnings are expected, and marker researchers have done their homework. Advertising continues to be an industry that can’t seem to lose its grasp on the public. Many novel opportunities still exist for advertisers to reach their targets, and international airports may be the start of a new form of expanding outdoor advertisements.

[Patrick, Aaron O. "Mass of Messages Lands at Heathrow." The Wall Street Journal [London] 14 Feb. 2008, sec. B3: B3. 16 Feb. 2008 . ]