Archive for Atlanta

Atlanta Makes Top 10 List

November 8, 2018 by Neal Spencer
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Which Top 10 List did Atlanta make this time? We barely scraped in to the list of Top 10 Cities with Longest Commute Times.  Maybe not the list any of us commuters in Atlanta want to be on, but nonetheless we are. It could be worse…we could be higher on the list, so let’s count our blessings that there are 9 cities rated higher than us in this poll.

Among those blessings in that long commute are billboards…they can benefit both the commuters looking at them as well as the businesses advertising on them.

Many of the commuters are no doubt thinking about what they have to do when the commute ends…cook dinner, cut the grass, buy a gift for a party this weekend, or any other task that will have to be done when they get home. Billboards allow advertisers to promote goods and services that can solve any of those problems, and getting the word out benefits their bottom line.

Here are the Top 10 Cities with the Longest Commutes, shown in minutes for a one way drive.

  1. New York, NY                 34.7
  2. Long Island, NY             33.3
  3. Washington, DC             32.8
  4. Newark, NJ                      31.1
  5. Chicago, IL                      30.8
  6. Boston, MA                     30.4
  7. Oakland, CA                    29.9
  8. Riverside, CA                  29.8
  9. Baltimore, MD               29.4
  10. Atlanta, GA                    29.2

So now let’s flip to the other side…the Top 10 Cities with the Shortest Commute times, also shown in minutes for a one way drive.

  1. Buffalo, NY                     20.3
  2. Columbus, OH               21.8
  3. Hartford, CT                  22.3
  4. Milwaukee, WI             22.3
  5. Las Vegas, NV               22.5
  6. Memphis, TN                22.5
  7. Virginia Beach, VA       22.6
  8. San Diego, CA                23.0
  9. W. Palm Beach, FL       23.0
  10. Cincinnati, OH             23.2

Before you go packing up heading to Buffalo, readying to leave the long Atlanta commute times behind, remember they get A LOT of snow. And it’s super cold up there way longer than here.

But if you do decide to leave Atlanta, remember, Billboard Connection can help with your billboard needs anywhere.  Just give us a call at 770-391-8528 for your free consultation.  We even answer when we’re sitting in traffic.

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Transit Billboard First of its Kind in Boston

December 16, 2016 by Neal Spencer
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Anyone who has ever taken public transit to an event to avoid traffic can appreciate Boston’s newest digital billboard.  A huge screen has been installed outside of Fenway Park that tells sports fans when the next round of public transit is expected to arrive.  The screen displays the schedules for the city’s trains, buses and even the number of bikes available at a nearby ride share kiosk.

While there are more than 50 smaller screens in use for the same purpose around the city, this is the first outdoor one, as well as the largest.  The smaller screens can be found in bars and restaurants, as well as some apartment buildings and public facilities.  The idea for the screens came from a Washington DC based startup, called TransitScreen.  Their usual clients include real estate developers or other businesses who would like to include public transit information inside their buildings.  This Fenway Park board represents a new business venture that the company hopes to replicate in other cities.  Ryan Croft is TransitScreen’s cofounder.  He says, “If you go to a baseball game and you’ve been drinking, we want to be able to promote mass transit.”

Orange Barrel Media in Columbus, Ohio owns the board.  The mass transit information displayed on the board is designed to draw more attention to the screen by offering non advertising content, along with advertisements. Pete Scantland, a chief executive at Orange Barrel, says they are trying to add value to the screen, so people will want to look.  He says, “Think of it like television.  If there was no program between commercials, there would be a lot less viewers.”

Scantland says early next year, the company plans to expand the TransitScreen service to allow anyone within 200 feet of a board to have access to the information on their smart phone. It will also allow the visually impaired to get the information audibly.

No word on whether the service will make its way south and be on display on an Atlanta digital billboard.

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Art Work to be Featured on Billboards

January 5, 2016 by Neal Spencer
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ArtPop Atlanta Billboard

 

Adams Outdoor Advertising has partnered with ArtPop to bring award winning art to billboards around Pennsylvania.  It’s part of their 2nd Annual ArtPop Billboard Competition.  A new feature was added this year, a scholastic competition, that allowed high school students to enter.  One winner was chosen from those entries, along with the 5 winners chosen by a jury from the 18 and older contestants.  Another winner was chosen by public vote on the ArtPop website.  Adams Outdoor will feature the winning art on 7 billboards around the Lehigh Valley area throughout the year.  Adams Outdoor General Manager, Tony Cioffi said he was excited for this year’s competition because last year’s was such a success. Cioffi said he was overwhelmed by the support not only from residents, but also community leaders.  Atlanta based Formetco is sponsoring the billboard production.

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Apple Creates Largest Mobile Gallery in History

July 14, 2015 by Neal Spencer
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Apple iPhone Gallery Atlanta Billboards

Apple and TBWA/Media Art Lab recently won their second Cannes Grand Prix prize in three years…they did it by creating what they are calling the “largest mobile photography gallery in history.”  The company took photos from 162 iPhone users and put them on billboards.  The result?  More than 10,000 billboard in 73 cities and 25 countries featuring photos taken with iPhones.  The photos included everything from simple water droplets or flower close ups to intricate landscapes and buildings.  The pair also won a Grand Prix press prize in 2013 for the ads on the back of magazines that showed ads iPad size.

iPhone waterfall Atlanta billboards

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Digital Billboards Fill Information Gaps

June 1, 2015 by Neal Spencer
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severe weather Atlanta billboard

Although digital billboards only account for about 5,500 of the nearly 400,000 billboards nationwide, the ability to change the message on them instantly is increasing their importance.  The benefits of digital billboard technology have already been realized and put to use here in Georgia. Last year, digital billboards were used to alert motorists to the ice storms that were about to hit around Atlanta.   Now, several other states are starting to take advantage of the immediate messaging that digital billboards can provide.  Officials in Florida and Oklahoma are also using the digital billboards there for the same purposes.

The director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, Brian Koon, says the billboards fit right into the department’s plan of action. “One of the big things we do in emergency management is to try to get life saving information to people as quickly as possible so that they can take appropriate action.”  He goes on to say, “If people on the interstate are driving 70 miles an hour, they may not even know what city or county they are in, there’s an information gap.  The electronic billboards fill this gap.”  The Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA) wants to ensure that officials in the 46 states that have digital billboards put them to good use in emergency situations.

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Tiny Billboards Getting Big Attention

April 30, 2015 by Neal Spencer
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Marvel Tiny Billboards

It’s a tiny advertisement, but it’s having a big impact in Australia and beyond.  Mini billboards for Marvel’s latest movie, Ant-Man, have been popping up in several cities including Queensland, Brisbane and Melbourne.  Apparently, Marvel wants to make sure all the ants know about the movie…the billboards are only a few inches tall.  They also have lights, in case the ants are passing during the night.  The campaign is creating buzz not just in Australia, but all over the internet as well.  Reddit is one of the social media sites where the campaign is getting the most attention.  Over the last few weeks, pictures of the billboards have been getting millions of views and creating a discussion that has been mostly positive, which is apparently a rare occurrence for topics on Reddit.  Unfortunately, for anyone wanting to take one home, Marvel is way ahead of any would be thieves.  The billboards are secured to the ground and not easy to take.  The tiny billboards and the movie are also a big topic for Marvel fans in the U.S. as well.  Maybe some of the tiny billboards will make their way to the streets of Atlanta before the movie hits theaters here.

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3D Billboards Coming to Times Square

February 16, 2015 by Neal Spencer
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3d board

 

 

 

 

 

Researchers in Austria are working on new technology that could change the face of digital billboards as we know them.  A new tech start up called TriLite Technologies has partnered with the Vienna University of Technology to create what they are calling “trixels.”  These use tiny mirrors to reflect lasers in several directions and the result can trick viewers into interpreting the image as 3D…no glasses needed.  The trixels project hundreds of images outward simultaneously, while current 3D technology only projects 2, requiring the use of glasses.  Billboards using the trixel technology would not only appear 3D to the naked eye, they would also jump out at viewers from every angle.  Researchers say that in addition, different images can be projected depending on where the viewer is in relation to the billboard, thereby allowing several ads to be shown simultaneously.  For example, they say someone coming out of a shop to the left of the board could see something different than another patron coming out of a building on the right of the board.  The new technology is expected to be finished later this year and we could be seeing it launched in New York’s Times Square by 2016. No word on when or if we will see the technology here in the Atlanta market.

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