You can, it seems, remove football from outdoor, but cannot remove outdoor from football.
Football seemed the flavour of the day from Patna to Paris, thanks to the FIFA 2010. And everyone — from little boys to even Octopus and parrots — were hooked. The levels of interest varied from score updates to jerseys and predictions to betting.
Football as a sport netted over 700 million TV audience, and outdoor media helped raise the temperature with innovations across a mix of media formats like lenticulars, gantries and even T-shirts.
Fans sported T-shirts with their icons’ impressions. Each time a goal was scored, they would pull these over their heads to show off their favourite football stars – be it Messi, Kaka or Rooney.
Adidas’ association with Lionel Messi of Argentina reached the skies – literally – with a giant poster above the SAS Radison Hotel in Hamburg. Adidas also created the world’s biggest fresco (900 sq mt) at the Central Train Station in Cologne. This vast mural on the ceiling of the main foyer of the Cologne main train station, Hauptbahnhof, created a lot of sensation.
As part of its build-up to the FIFA 2006 World Cup, Adidas had launched the famous +10 Impossible Team campaign on the highway to the Munich airport, featuring German keeper Oliver Kahn diving to make a save. The imagery was mounted on a bridge across the motorway, breaking Germany’s laws which ban such advertising on the autobahn. Not to forget the campaign featuring Peter Cech with a dozen hands, thus showing off his goal keeping abilities.
FIFA 2010 witnessed the ‘vuvuzela’ cheer, an instrument best replicated across a gantry. Sony also thought it to be an excellent opportunity to advertise its 3D sets, thus leveraging its status as an official FIFA partner. Coca Cola also made use of lenticular to depict the Mexican wave. Two lenticular lighted panels were installed in subway stations to mimic “The Wave”, the celebration of Brazilian fans. Those walking past the panel saw a Gigantic Wave as they passed the 16-meter media centre. It has found a place in the Guinness Book of Records. If you want to see the video, log on to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Q4eYpstFbs.
(The author is Group Account Director with the out-of-home services of Mudra Communication)
