Steve Hall is quoted in this Los Angeles Times article on floating logos, a new form of airborne advertising from Snowmasters, an Alabama-based special effects company.
Speaking of the sky as canvas, Hall says, “It’s unmarked, it’s unblemished. Mostly, when you look up you see birds.”
Snowmasters has released flogos in the shape of golden arches at a McDonald’s-sponsored event in Las Vegas, the number “207” for a Hard Rock Hotel opening in San Diego (207 is the hotel’s street address) and an “S” for Sheraton Hotels and Resorts in New York.
“In today’s economy, everybody’s looking for something different,” said Batson, head of Snowmasters’ West Coast operations.
Business is also booming for Skytypers, its executives say. The Las Vegas company recently patented a technology that uses five airplanes to make dotted clouds that spell out messages two miles overhead. Attendees at the Rose Parade might have seen the clouds spelling out advertisements for KTLA-TV Channel 5, Geico Corp. insurance and HBO.
Each Skytypers letter is the size of the Empire State Building (more than 1,200 feet) and the messages are 5 to 7 miles long, he said. He says messages can be seen as far as 15 miles away.
In short, out of home advertising–which is not now, nor has it ever been, opt in–is forever pushing the bounds, and ensuring that advertising professionals are lumped in with carnival barkers.
Well I guess they cracked the sky and that is where the advertisered will play and pay.