Trend: Train spotting

Riding the subway in Tokyo recently I looked out of the window in the tunnel. But, what’s that? Where it usually is pitch black dark I suddenly could see a kind of movie or commercial flickering. These so called motion ads started on the Ginza subway line in June last year.

They are made up of 150 panels which are illuminated from behind and give the passenger the illusion of watching a 15-second full-motion mini-commercial when the subway-car speeds by. The idea is based on the 19th century zoetrope, which is basically a large scale, rounded flip-book, which creates the illusion of moving images when spun around.

According to the technology’s licensor, Submedia Asia Ltd., the motion ads might be up in Europe in within the next year, displays are already set up in Atlanta, New York and Hong Kong. But the motion ads are not the only new marketing trend which might surprise train spotters.

BMW Japan was one of the premiere automotive companies to capitalize on this innovative new form of advertisement when it launched it’s BMW 1 series in Japan in January 2005 with the help of the subway motion adds.

Click to view a movie clip (5.4MB) of the BMW campaign.

Artists from the Universitaet der Kuenste in Berlin have created a “train spotting” art project called Parasite by loading a Mac mini, a projector, and a battery power supply into a suction-cup equipped suitcase that they then attach to the side of a subway train. The system projects video of an imaginary world onto the tunnel wall as the train races along.

Click to view videos of Parasite: [Low] [High]

Subway marketing has come a long way. Toyota Motor Corp.’s put up life-size images of the Prius hybrid on subway cars. The door of the Prius was positioned in spot that gave the passengers the illusion to walk right into the car. Sunotory Ltd was the first to also use the inside of subway-carriages to advertise their products innovatively. For example they turned subway-seats into ad space.

These are just some examples of innovative marketing ideas. As the rising number of DVR’s makes it more and more difficult to reach consumers right in their living room in front of the TV, marketers are discovering a wide variety of new, effective ad spaces. And given the huge number of people who commute by train in big cities, railway facilities have been one of the biggest magnets for ads.

Also see Trend: Ambient Subway Marketing

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