British Airways billboard points to overflying planes
Digital displays tell drivers to look up
The UK’s flag carrier airline, British Airways, has unveiled a set of digital billboards that notify drivers when planes are flying overhead.
The billboards will normally show a regular ad, but when an aircraft passes by, the display shifts to an image of a child pointing at the plane flying overhead, and letting the drivers know its flight number and where it’s arriving from.
That’ll be accompanied by a marketing message that’s relevant to each flight, like “Fly the new A380 to Los Angeles”, or details of the temperature at the destination or the lowest fare that you can get on that flight.
British Airways says that “custom-built surveillance technology” is what makes this possible, which we’re guessing is just a server that knows where the company’s planes are and where the billboard is. It was developed by marketing agency Oglivy 12th floor.
Head of marketing for British Airways, Abigail Comber, told the Drum:
“This is a first, not just for British Airways but for UK advertising. We all know from conversations with friends and family that we wonder where the planes are going and dream of an amazing holiday or warm destination. The clever technology allows this advert to engage people there and then and answer that question for them. We hope it will create a real ‘wow’ and people will be reminded how amazing flying is and how accessible the world can be.”
Drivers: as fantastic as it is that British Airways is echoing our message of the importance of looking up, we’d feel a whole lot better if you kept your eyes on the road. Leave this one for your skygazing passengers, yeah?
