I have not heard much about Seattle’s Wong Doody, of late. That could be my own fault, or it may have something to do with WD not putting time or energy into press releases (those dinosaur speaking docs have little future). Either way, I was pleased to hear from Mario Schulzke at WD’s LA office.
Los Angeles and traffic are inseparable. No matter where you are going, there is always the outside chance that you will be staring at the back of a Pontiac Aztec for the next 2 hours. In an effort to entertain these frustrated motorists and possibly educate them on how to avoid these situations, we created extremely long, handwritten billboards. When you are crawling along at 4mph, you have nothing but time. Each execution takes drivers inside the head of an outspoken and very talkative individual. The kind of person that chats you up on a five-hour airline flight across the country. After you take the time to read this individual’s opinions and observations, you are left with a choice. Stay informed with the KNX 1070 traffic report or continue to read the ramblings of your new traffic buddy.
Normally, an outdoor board should have fewer than five words. I like how the environmental conditions of LA at traffic time allow for this uprising. Here’s the copy from the board:
Anyone out there who says they like pina coladas and getting caught in the rain is a liar. Now, I can understand one or the other, but both? I don’t think so. Tropical drinks and untimely precipitation go together about as well as corduroy and sea otters. Speaking of, have you ever seen one of those things play with a ball? It is absolutely hysterical. Cross my heart, they look identical to Salvador Dali if Salvador Dali had been blessed with watertight fur and obscenely short arms. If you’d like to hear more of my observations, please continue to ignore the KNX 1070 traffic report.
That’s 105 words, and very likely a Guiness World Record for long copy in an out-of-home execution. Nice work.
Jim Garaventi did this same concept, like, ten years ago.
A brilliant example of very funny and insightful creative that will never work. C’mon … just because something is fresh and ironic and rebellious and creatively works completely against the chosen medium … well, that doesn’t make it right.
The copy is excellent and I definitely respect the cajones required to put 105 words on a billboard. Where I get lost is in the concept. The last sentence leaves me scratching my head and wondering “huh?” How does ignoring a traffic report force me to read really lengthy billboards?
Um, I’m gonna go out on a limb here, Kirk, and guess that the point is that if you had listened to the traffic report, you would’ve known to take an alternate route – hence not getting stuck in a traffic jam where all you have to do is read a bunch of copy on some billboard.
OK, that makes sense. Thanks Satan.
No prob, Kirk. I’m here to help.
I just drove by one of those billboards in Hollywood. Love it.
Thanks for posting.