TO NEW BREXIT REALITY
cityam-2017-01-16-587c21ea87f30
cityam-2017-01-16-587c21ea87f30
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
24 FEATURE MONDAY 16 JANUARY 2017<br />
CITYAM.COM<br />
MARKETING<br />
WHEN THE<br />
LIGHTS GO OUT<br />
PICCADILLY<br />
SPECIAL<br />
As we bid farewell to<br />
the Piccadilly Circus<br />
patchwork, Elliott<br />
Haworth<br />
remembers its<br />
history and looks to<br />
its future<br />
ON ONLY a handful of occasions<br />
in its 100-year history<br />
has the hotchpotch of billboards<br />
at Piccadilly Circus<br />
been intentionally switched<br />
off during peacetime. Most famously,<br />
when Winston Churchill died, and<br />
later, Princess Diana. The advertising<br />
space, recognisable the world round, is<br />
symbolic of the national mood; it wears<br />
black when we mourn.<br />
But today, minus the iniquity of<br />
tragedy or war, the power to the<br />
patchwork Circus will cease. Decades<br />
of retrofitting will be replaced with a<br />
single screen, beaming new messages<br />
onto the streets below.<br />
Tim Bleakley, chief executive of<br />
Ocean Outdoor, the agency which<br />
organises the advertising on the<br />
board, understands the magnitude of<br />
altering a landmark. “It has this<br />
magnetism around it, I’d argue it’s the<br />
most famous advertising in the<br />
world,” he says. “Piccadilly’s iconism is<br />
linked to its longevity. The board has<br />
evolved not just as London has; it’s<br />
been there as the world has evolved<br />
around it.”<br />
Supplanting something as<br />
significant as the advertising at<br />
Piccadilly Circus, albeit temporarily, is<br />
an unenviable task. The last time all<br />
the lights were out for any sustained<br />
period was from 1939 to 1949, when<br />
Churchill ordered the blackout to<br />
muddle the logistics of the Nazi<br />
bombing raids blitzing the city. Since<br />
then, other than the charity<br />
campaigns London Lights Out and<br />
Earth Day, the display has barely<br />
jittered. Vasiliki Arvaniti, portfolio<br />
manager at Land Securities, which has<br />
owned the Piccadilly Circus site since<br />
the seventies, says that the lights will<br />
be off for approximately nine months.<br />
“What we’re doing is quite significant<br />
work, we have to take down the<br />
existing six screens, and the<br />
structures which hold them and<br />
replace it with a whole new structure,<br />
which is why it’s taking so long. It’s<br />
never been done to this scale before.”<br />
<strong>NEW</strong> TECH<br />
The new curved, ultra-high definition<br />
4K resolution screen aims to<br />
futureproof the space, while retaining<br />
the familiar patchwork aesthetic. The<br />
screen being installed – one of the<br />
biggest in the world – will cover some<br />
790 square metres, making it bigger<br />
than a full-sized tennis court (670<br />
square metres). It will also be one of<br />
the most technically advanced in the<br />
world, offering live video streaming,<br />
lifestyle updates such as weather and<br />
sports results, and real-time social<br />
media feeds, ensuring the space stays<br />
at the forefront of innovation, while<br />
offering new opportunities for brands<br />
and advertisers.<br />
The challenge is replacing the<br />
patchwork while retaining the<br />
identity for which it is loved<br />
Piccadilly’s<br />
magnetism is<br />
linked to its<br />
longevity<br />
One such innovation is localised<br />
wifi which, when combined with the<br />
ability to update the brand message in<br />
real time, provides the capability to<br />
alter adverts based on consumers<br />
within the area. “It’s fast,” says<br />
Bleakley. “Coca-Cola, for example, can<br />
log on at any given moment, see a<br />
large group of Spanish tourists and<br />
change the copy of the ad from ‘hello,’<br />
to ‘buenos dias.’ There will be car<br />
recognition, so, if it’s a car brand<br />
advertising, it can serve ads based on<br />
the vehicles passing by. For those<br />
brands, it’s an exclusive tech club.<br />
They’ll be members of a world first.”