Nestle Quik Flipbook Ad On DC Metro Walls Is Kinda Magical
As the DC red line train I rode last week shot through a tunnel, a happy brown bunny jumped up and down on the walls, lofting up a bottle of Nestle Quik. It wasn't a video, it was a series of back-illuminated panels, each one a successive frame in the animated cartoon. It was like running through flipbook in real life. I found a clip of it on YouTube, posted inside, the cartoon starts at 15 seconds in.
The image isn't great but it gives you an idea of the effect. Who's got the backstory on who made this ad and how it came to be? We bemoan the intrusion of advertising into every living surface, but it's cool to see a little piece of magic like this in an otherwise boring situation.
Post a comment
Comments:
@Hamtronix: Where on the T? I've ridden it quite a bit when I've visited my brother in Boston. I'll have to keep an eye out for it next time.
@OmniZero: On the Red line, inbound between Harvard and Central. We had the nesquick ad a few months ago. Also a lame Vermont ad, that didn't really use the technology to its full potential.
Just a reminder that Nestlé values profit over the lives of children in developing countries.
I remember going through between Gallery Place and Union Station for work every day and if I remember right the first one I saw was a target ad on those displays. This was roughly a year ago or so. There was also a Honda one as well after they took down the Target one.
@Hamtronix: The Red Line Subway in Boston has had an ad like this running for months to promote vermont and every time i go by it i sit back and enjoy it and it certainly gets me to watch the ad.
I thought of this 8 years ago taking the BART across the bay into San Francisco. Stealing my ideas again...
@concordia: Name one company that doesn't value profit over the lives of children in developing countries. And what makes nestle different than ford?
wow, how many backlit panels is that?
We bemoan the intrusion of advertising into every living surface
I catch your drift and agree to an extent. But... I don't see how this one was intrusive? It would have otherwise been a blank dark wall. So given the choice, I'd rather watch a clever animated commercial than watch a black wall. Plus, if you'd rather not watch the ad, look away.
They already have this on BART coming into SF. I first noticed it last year coming back from a Warriors game.
DC has had these for a while. The PATH had them in New York too, between 14th and 23rd St. I remember a Lexus ad and a Fantastic Four ad.
It's already frightening enough with that bunny appearing in the least likely of places to repeatedly shove marketing material in your tired face. As the back-lighting cuts out, everyone gets to see their astonished mug staring back at them through the glass like the end of those "stare long enough and you'll see the ghost/car/boobs" pranks.
Is this really what they want to associate with Nestle Quik?
@RAREBREED:
They also have it in the Embarcadero station on the way to the East Bay.
It's never bothered me because I found it rather unobstrusive. It's much better than the wall-to-wall advertising in the Montgomery station.
They've been doing this awhile here in dc. The first I saw was for target atleast 1.5 year ago, but i never saw one before that only because that's when i moved here. It does look like backlit lcd panels for some reason in that video, but i'm almost positive it's just like a movie theatre style ad you would see outside the place, a poster in a frame with a florescent tube to light it up.
Target did this on the Path train in New Jersey in 2001-2002.
@mdoublej: In order to figure that out, you'd need the speed of the train, the length of the "clip" and the framerate at which it was rendered.
Metro started doing this about 8 months ago, maybe longer. First it was a semi-static image, kind of like a billboard that filled up all the windows. They were testing it between certain stations on the red line.
Around the same time, many cars - in some cases whole trains - were wrapped in advertising for Chevy Chase bank (local bank), Bank of America, a local news station, etc.
Also in the Chicago El (On the Blue line, leaving the Clark/Lake stop heading toward the Washington stop). It's been showing an ad for Speed Racer for the past 6+ months.
The company for the one on the Chicago El is Submedia ([www.submediaworld.com]), though they use something other than backlit images. METROvista ([www.aapglobal.com]) also does a similar product, though its a bit more complex than the one on the video. The one on Boston's T is from SideTrack ([www.sidetrack.ca]).
This isn't a new idea. Stroboscopes have been around for a long time ([en.wikipedia.org]). But using them on a Subway for ad purposes is a relatively novel idea. I hope they improve the technology though...the one here in Chicago kinda sucks.
Bill Bland did this 28 years ago as an art installation in what is now the Q/B tunnel leading up to the Manhattan Bridge in Bklyn... it was just restored at the end of october:
That's been there for a few years now -- although the actual ad changes every so often. I think there's one between the Metro Center and Gallery Place stops on the red line. At one point it was a Microsoft ad, for quite a long time.
I take the Red line into the district almost daily, they've been doing these for several years now (2 or 3 maybe, I'm too lazy to look at the press release). I've seen tons of ads. Target, Lexus, Fantastic 4, Etc. They mostly pop up around the Judiciary Square and Metro Center stops along the Red line, though I suspect some of the other stations have them too. The main problem I have with them is that the trains have to drive by them at a certain speed, other wise the image is either blurry or choppy. I don't mind the ads, but I can't stand it when its just a bunch of out of focus colors on the wall. Now, if they would only use that ad revenue to cut my commute cost down from $6, we'll be in business.
that's a very good idea. Someone in their advertisement division needs a raise.
I saw that just two weeks ago! I was hoping there would be others, but I didn't see any.
@pb5000: I agree-it could have been made much worse. A while back engineers and advertisers (adgeneers?) grooved a road such that if you drove a Honda Civic over it at 55 mph, you would hear the 1812 overture. That was intrusive advertising-at least for those who lived by the road. This subway ad? Just as clever, but less intrusive.
@Hamtronix: about 4 years ago, the ad between South Station and Broadway was for Royal Caribbean cruise lines...and they ran it during the winter. Every night everyone on the train longed to be on that boat where the weather was warm.
@courtarro: Yeah, but not when it's a tunnel. At least if there's advertising on it they have some incentive to clean it.
@HeyThereKiller:
I remember seeing it once, years ago (maybe 1989?) on a rare trip to Brooklyn, and being so shocked and delighted. Then, no one else had heard about it and I thought I was dreaming. I researched it a few years back and was happy to see I wasn't misremembering. There is a website showing the animation here:
[www.bboptics.com]
I am glad to hear it's back!
Brandon Savage found this press release: [www.wmata.com]
Motion picture-like advertisements debut in Metrorail tunnelsTravel Channel and Lincoln/Mercury are first to purchase tunnel ads
Metrorail riders traveling from Metro Center to Gallery Pl-Chinatown or Gallery Pl to Judiciary Sq will see Metro's first tunnel advertisements today on the Red Line. The ads look like mini-motion pictures to riders looking out of the windows.
The Travel Channel, part of Discovery Networks US, and Ford Motor Company are the first the first two companies to advertise on Metro tunnel walls.
The advertising displays in the tunnels are a series of static images that appear to move as a train rolls by. Riders will see what looks like a 15-second, silent motion picture.
Submedia, LLC, developed the technology for the "moving" tunnel advertisement displays. The company's patented system for the in-tunnel advertising technology was inspired by the 19th century circular children's toy called a zoetrope.
"We are excited to be here and look forward to entertaining riders during their commute," said Submedia CEO Peter Corrigan.
"These ads will generate an important source of income for Metro that we plan to use to improve service for our riders," said Metro Assistant General Manager for Customer Communications Leona Agouridis. "We're excited to see this new form of advertising in our tunnels and hope it makes the ride a little more entertaining for our passengers."
In-tunnel advertising is expected to generate $100,000 this fiscal year and $700,000 next year.
Metro plans to use the advertising revenue on customer enhancements such as bomb-containment trash cans, a telephone-based Spanish language Trip Planner, a remote monitoring system for the Passenger Information Displays, a new sales and service center and new signs for busy rail stations.
Tunnel advertising is one element of a series of advertising initiatives including ATMs in Metrorail stations, wrapped trains and buses, and video monitors on buses and trains designed to generate non-passenger revenue.
Between Metro Center and Gallery Pl-Chinatown on trains headed toward Glenmont, riders will see a man being pulled on a sled by a team of dogs. The ad promotes the Travel Channel's program, "Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations."
In the tunnel between Gallery Pl-Chinatown and Judiciary Sq in the direction of Glenmont, the Ford Motor Company promotes its new Lincoln Zephyr. Metro riders will see a red carpet roll out to greet the driver of the luxury car.
Submedia has worked with several transit agencies including MARTA in Atlanta, PATH in New Jersey and the CTA in Chicago.
Dumb or not, this ad has got a bunch of people talking about Nestle Quik. So it worked.
@pb5000:
Add or no add, that's better than a boring tunnel wall. I can't believe it's takne so long for such an idea to take hold. I hate the corporate takeover we suffer through just as much a sanyone else, bu that waws very clever.
Wow, beer and fast typing do not go together at all. "waws"?!! LOL "takne" ?!! LOL again. I'll just stop while i'm ahead.
Growing up my Mom always boycotted Nestle for this very reason.
I'm sure I could figure this out for myself or ask my Mom but what are the details?
Does this advertisement or others subsidize the cost of Metro such that ticket prices are reduced?
@SadSam: There's a famous (ongoing) boycott of Nestle, and in a nutshell the message is "Nestle=dead babies."
The story is that Nestle would offer ZOMG FREE! infant formula to new mothers+babies in developing countries while mom was recovering in the hospital. In fact (they say) the nurses wouldn't even wake mom to nurse the baby; nurses would just feed formula to the baby. So by the time mom was out of the hospital she had ceased to lactate, but then the formula was no longer free. So the family had either (a) regularly to buy baby formula, or (b) baby would starve. No money? Plan b then.
@LandruBek: I'm sorry but I see the hospitals and (lesser so) mothers at fault in your example. If we were given unlimited free candy, would the company be at fault for us all getting sick because we were eating 100% candy and no real food? No, it would be our fault for not eating a proper diet.
However, I read that wiki link you posted and there were some huge legitimate problems with Nestle there (like marketing formula that needs water in areas that have no clean water... yuck). As well as more idiocy on the part of mothers, but that's to be expected and should not be blamed on the company.
They have something similar in the Boston T underground.