Viacom Showcases Creative Talent Underground
Outdoor specialist, Viacom Outdoor, has launched Copywriting Goes Underground, a competition to highlight the power of words in capturing the attention and imagination of the millions of travellers who read posters opposite station platforms every day.
The competition challenged Britain’s creative talent to design posters for a real client, using no fewer than fifty words and will see an entire platform, on the north-bound Northern line, at Leicester Square tube station devoted to showcasing the top entries to the challenge.
From 15th to 28th August, all eight 48-sheet poster sites and ten smaller 16-sheet poster sites will showcase the best in British copywriting talent, with other posters explaining the rationale behind the poster display.
Commenting on the scheme, Mike Baker, European marketing director at Viacom Outdoor said: “This initiative shows that copywriters thrive on the challenge of using skilfully crafted prose to really engage with their audiences, and that words can be just as powerful as pictures.”
He continued: “Consumers on the move are a highly valuable market and research has shown that the average time a commuter spends in front of a poster across a Tube platform is a whopping 3 minutes. No other advertising environment offers the same opportunity for brands to reach their audiences in such an engaging and impactful way.”
The winners of the competition, Burkitt DDB, used clever text descriptions of famous images set within picture frames on the poster.
Despite the lack of images in the ad, each picture was instantly recognisable from the framed copy. The poster signed-off with the line: “Classic images. Unfortunately, nothing can truly replicate the richness of detail and intensity of colour you get with Epson photoprinters, so we had to resort to words instead.”
The competition was judged by Chris Townsend Chris Townsend, Director of Group Marketing for Transport for London, Mike Baker, Viacom Outdoor’s European Marketing Director, Adam Kean, Creative Director at Publicis UK Group, Claire Ingham, Head of Marketing at London’s Transport Museum and Tania Noble Arts Manager from Arts & Business.
Elsewhere, rival outdoor advertising company, Maiden, issued an update on the six months ended 30 June 2005, revealing trading conditions over the summer to be showing signs of improvement over last year, with Group billings marginally up in the first six months (see Maiden Reveals Improved Summer Trading).
Viacom Outdoor: 020 7482 3000 www.viacom-outdoor.co.uk