Billboards for the People

I would appreciate your thoughts on an 'idea in progress'.



The basic concept is to create a non-profit community which rents one or more Central London billboards for important non-commercial messages.



For a monthly subscription (which funds the purchase of the billboard space), members of the community will become stakeholders. This buys them a vote on what should be displayed.



The community will invite contributions for suitable non-commercial, ethical, campaigning etc. messages. Stakeholders will then get to vote on a short list for what will be displayed.



If the idea took off then you could imagine different communities based around particular issues e.g. ‘No Sweat’, ‘Anti Globalisation’ etc. each owning billboard space.



Any ideas / comments / criticisms gratefully received

 

An excellent idea!
I'm sure it can work if you manage to get in touch with enough people from the community.
You could have all sorts of non-commercial stuff. Maybe even just art sometimes?
A picture of deep space might make people think more about their place in reality.
Good luck with it!

~

 

i'm up for it, pm me about details yeh?

 

Wow! I love this idea

I will help if I can.

Please keep us updated... maybe we could help raise funds for you?

Love Clairexxx

 

How about subvertising instead? Its free, loads of fun and even better for getting the message across!

Think of a clever way to distort a major commercial advertising campaign to reverse the message or say something different, ideally by just changing a few letters or adding a few words to the billboard, then go out at dead of night and make your own modifications to the billboards! The crude way is with a spray can, much better is with specially made matching posters to paste over parts of the original.

Theres a section on it (as well as loads of other interesting stuff) in the DIY guides on www.schnews.org.uk

Lots of fun for all the family !

EDIT: Just had another thought - there are loads of people subvertising all over the country, but how about a national subvertising network where a 'kit' of paste on parts to subvert a common national billboard advertising campaign is mailed out to all the subvertisers in the country? You could have huge national impact for minimal cost, just the printing of the paste-on bits for the posters and I'm sure loads of people would take part!

 

Subvertising is brilliant when done well. My idea is deliberately different though. The plan of hiring billboards is that you are competing with the multi national, multi brand advertisers at their own level. Subvertising, while almost always raising a smile from the man on the street, will often be seen as jokey and the little person fighting back with pranks. My thinking is that if you formed a collective, (and actually spent some money!), the message you project will be more legitimate to the viewer and will be considered in a more serious way. This isn't to say it is a replacement for subvertising, just another strand which gets the message across to maybe a different (less accepting) audience.

D

 

Doesn't that cost shed loads of wonga? Couldn't the money go to campaigning in your area?

Not putting a dampener on your excellent idea...just curious.

 

As I recall a very similar thing was actually done with TV adverts, some very professional adverts were produced and the money raised to show them but all the TV networks refused to run them because their shareholders and major advertisers wouldnt like it. Makes you sick doesn't it! You can view the TV ads online at a website but I forget the name. I think CNN actually ran one advert once, but then refused any more or something.

Billboards might be better because they are owned by lots of different people - anyone can erect a billboard on their land providing they get planning permission. Most of them are owned or managed by big companies like Maiden who would probably refuse the ads just like the TV companies, if something like 'buy nothing day' was allowed publicity it would damage 99% of their other advertisers, who are all trying to sell something, so they just wont do it . If you can find an independently owned billboard in a good location, that might actually be possible!

Its not cheap though, I dont know what the board rental cost would be, but unless you do them in large numbers, it would be very expensive indeed just to print the advert on the paper at that size, prob a couple of hundred quid each!

If you cant get a billboard but you can afford the full size advert printing, you could perhaps do the subvertising thing but with the WHOLE advert instead of a modification?

Best of luck, hope you can make it work!

 

Aha, I found that website!

Check out www.mediacarta.org, the TV ads are viewable from the buttons on the left hand side.

Also check out the sister site, www.adbusters.org. They are doing almost the same thing you are talking about, and they do seem to have posters as well as tv stuff. Maybe you could contact them and work together on the idea, they seem to have some money and very similar ideas,maybe need a UK representative?

All the best,
Chris

 

How is this idea going?

Any further along with it?

Love Clairexxx

 

Hi i like your idea . Do you not think by saying things like "anti capitalisum", etc it is still forcing a idea/message?...maybe a good message but still its still invasive. What do u think about boards with just one vivid colour no message? good luck.