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Probably the best tube ad in the world…

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Posted June 25 2008 By Benn

Occasionally, and I mean very occasionally, I put myself through the hell of a London Tube in summertime. This is an experience that I thoroughly recommend against. So whilst I have always maintained that there is a great business opportunity for deodorant and cool water vendors – most people squashed against me tend to be the sweatiest and smelliest on the carriage – I rarely take on any other advertising.

The other day at Piccadilly Circus though I saw a new installation being trialled. A projection display with changing advertising – that also cuts out 30 seconds before the train arrives.
projection tube ad piccadilly circus

Pretty nifty, eh? Yeah, it’s OK but without sound and animation it looks like one of those crap screensavers. And sure enough, with a bit of development, it will be pretty cool in the future – although we done a better digital installation project for Puma with their brand design agency GBH. But this is not the best tube ad.  That honour (or ‘honor’ for our American readers) is reserved for the station one-stop north on the Bakerloo line: Oxford Circus. I thought this was so great I actually got off the tube to take a photo to show the power of ‘negative space’.

negative ad space oxford circus tube

In a world saturated with advertising, sometimes it’s nice to view the same environments ’sans-ads’. Just imagine these same blank sheet spreads with a simple red chocolate bar image, small and in the centre, with those three little words… ‘Take a break’. I’d buy a KitKat that instant – as long as the deodorant and cool water vendor had some in stock.

What do you think about a break from advertising every now and then? Or any other great ads (or technology) you have seen?

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  1. By Dave Posted June 25, 2008 at 2:38 pm

    I’m not 100% convinced these are a good idea, but I guess they will become more prevalent as time goes on.

    I prefer the digital screens up the side of the escalators (eg: at Charing Cross) because I think they lend themselves to a more interesting animation / advert – ie: one that uses the fact that you have a load of screens running down by the side of the escalator. I remember an Orangina ad that used this to animate a tuk-tuk type vehicle down some steps at the same angle as the escalator! Genius!

    Having said that, the way it cuts out before the train arrives is pretty neat. Maybe they’ll extend this so you could design an ad that would change ~ 30 seconds before a train arrives and then cut out!

  2. By Tom Bird Posted June 26, 2008 at 10:16 am

    Thanks for sharing both of these. The experiential world is definately enriching our lives and environments. But the KitKat idea is fabulous.

    Are the adverts going to be able to interact with our handheld devices (phones) too…(once the web is available on the tube)

  3. By Best Tube advert (part 2) « Neoco’s blog - keep up to date with the best digital marketing agency in the world! Posted August 27, 2008 at 5:54 pm

    [...] wallpaper, msipelilng Following on from my previous post about the best Tube advert ever (click here to read), I was at Waterloo the other day and saw a follow up contender… [...]

  4. By Conall Posted September 12, 2008 at 3:50 pm

    I find that I pretty much ignore all adverts anyway…by being everywhere, I can simply tune them out, and they become nowhere. Dead on with the power of empty space.

    http://www.chickenmonkeydog.com

  5. By neoco Posted February 27, 2009 at 1:33 am

    best tube ad ever part 3 is posted:
    http://blog.neoco.com/2009/02/27/916/

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