8 posts tagged “outdoor advertising”

This is from the Willis Street site, and I quite like the image and the typeface choice:

   English might be my second language, but I am pretty sure there is no such word as restauranter.
   Unless there’s a new word out there for someone who builds restaurants, and that the 222 Willis Street location is prime for that construction.
   But a website with a non-existent English word, no big deal.
   I mean, it’s not as if there’s a one-storey-high sign in central Wellington with the same mistake. Aw crap.

I have driven past this Toyota billboard a few times and thought, ‘Isn’t that Adobe Systems’ slogan?’

   It’s a bit far away but it reads, ‘We believe if you can dream it, you can do it.’ Adobe’s was identical save for the first two words, which were missing: ‘If you can dream it, you can do it.’
   I have seen ‘Nobody does it better’ for everything from Air New Zealand to Pioneer, but I can understand how that could be reused unwittingly. It’s a common phrase.
   Less common, however, is ‘The pursuit of perfection’, used by Toyota division Lexus. However, ‘In pursuit of perfection’ was used by Jaguar for years.
   I suppose Lexus wanted to ape other brands when it first started, so changing a word in a slogan of a company competing in the same sector might have been part of the strategy.
   I might have hated the ‘Everyday’ slogan for Toyota that was used for some time (who touts their products as ‘everyday’? But then, Toyotas can be boring), but cutting others’ slogans a bit too closely doesn’t sit well with me. Even shortening this one to ‘Dream it—do it’ might have worked, and be a bit more distant to the Adobe one.

Good to know that the final season of Bro’ Town is getting a bit of an ad push with outdoor advertising:

   I think there was still more promotion for US Life on Mars by TV3, however. Maybe they figured that Bro’ Town, being a local institution, wouldn’t need it—but I can’t remember when it’s on, so it’s probably not enough in my book!

As is evidenced by the rear of some buses in Wellington, TV3 is going all out on promoting its Monday night line-up, which includes the US Life on Mars remake. As with the TVCs here, Harvey Keitel is marketed as the star of the show.
   It’s more than TV One ever did for the original series.

I was totally stoked when Dan Gordon took a comment I made and turned it into a fictional election billboard on his blog. (Dan, please let me know if you prefer just the link and not the image.)

Maybe I should note ‘Authorized by Tom Dowie, 18 Walton Street, Christchurch’ even though it’s not an ad from the party, just to be on the safe side. (US readers: this is our equivalent of ‘I am … and I approve this message.’)

Here are some shots of Wellington taken over the last few weeks.

   This is the Cambridge Street third-floor façade of the country’s largest bar, Temperance, which I took on opening night. Eventually, the door to the deck was closed, which was a shame—it was a nice winter’s night and the lighting was good for opening night.    I don’t normally find outdoor advertising worthy of a pic, and the lighting sucked, but this was clever. It’s for the Meat Board and the two women are the Evers-Swindell rowing twins, currently at the Olympics. They were gold medallists last time. I take my hat off to the copywriter.    August 6: waiting for my friend Cas, I heard a fire engine zoom by outside her work. I realize this is probably a better pic of a Toyota Camry taxicab in the foreground. I have to admit that the cellphone was quite good for this sort of photography, even in limited light.

For a moment I thought this was a real billboard saying someone was missing (see the bad typography), since it was the only one I saw. Turns out now it’s for a TV show.

   OK, this was clever (and we do have a lot of clever ads) and I am very glad TVNZ is at least promoting one of its own shows strongly—but is it also irresponsible? By the way, I do not recall what the show is named.

I know white people all look the same, but has anyone noticed that Hugh Barr, running for Council, whose advertisement is on Kent Terrace on a trailer, bears a remarkable resemblance to the fictional Rt Hon James Hacker MP? Subtract Mr Barr’s glasses and it is Paul Eddington. On that note alone, Mr Barr stands a very good chance.