Did you know “International Day of Happiness” is March 20th? The “Joy Team” did…and they are marking the occasion in a big way. The organization, along with supporters all across the U.S., have started a month long billboard campaign to spread happiness. The boards all have different messages…the one here in Atlanta says, “Let gratitude wash over you.” It was sponsored by Dr. Starla Fitch. It can be seen on Northside Drive, south of 10th Street. The Joy Team chose strategic locations in several states, so that the boards would form eyes and a smile across the nation, if you were to plot them on a map. Michele McKeag Larsen founded the Joy Team. She says the concept originally started in the Vancouver/Portland area, but began expansion to Phoenix when Outfront Media offered some unused billboard space. Larsen says she’d ultimately like to see the boards in every city in the U.S. She says, “it would be a great thing for people everywhere to have a positive message enter their brain at some random time because it’s on a billboard. Hopefully, it will keep snowballing.” 
Archive for Atlanta billboards – Page 3
Some of us take them more than others, but we’ve all done it – take a selfie. Well, now your photo can go viral on a billboard and be seen by millions of people for a good cause. Creative Chatter Communities is a charity that pairs up organizations in need with donors. They have partnered with Lamar Advertising to bring “The Ultimate Selfie” campaign to billboards around the country in over 40 cities. For a $25 donation, you can upload a photo and a message for consideration. If your photo and message is approved, it will be displayed on digital billboards around the country, as well as on Creative Chatter’s Facebook page, getting your photo in front of even more people. The campaign runs through April 2…no word on whether we will be seeing the selfies here in Atlanta.
After Leonard Nimoy’s passing last week, several billboards went up in Atlanta to commemorate his most famous character, Dr. Spock of Star Trek. The Atlanta billboard shows the infamous Spock making his signature Vulcan gesture, urging us to “Live Long and Prosper.” Images of the billboards were tweeted and retweeted over 11,000 times, even Nimoy’s Star Trek co-star William Shatner retweeted a picture as the public wondered who was behind the tribute. Outfront Media came forth later in the day to confess that they were behind the campaign to honor the late star. Nimoy passed away on February 27th from chronic obstructed pulmonary disease. He was 83.
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.