Billboards on Paulo Alcazaren's Wish List

	11 resolutions for Metro Manila CITY SENSE By Paulo Alcazaren (The Philippine Star) Updated January 01, 2011 12:00 AM

It’s a new year and a time for new beginnings. If the metropolis were a person, 2010 saw it making most of the mistakes of the previous year and, if fact, the last 10 years. Cyclical urban disasters, mostly manmade or exacerbated by human ineptitude, have defined Metro Manila and other urban centers in the Philippines. This year and the next decade should be a time for change.

Yes, this is a list. It is my list, as an urbanist (or more specifically a landscape urbanist) and therefore focused on physical changes. These changes, however, are dependent on basic transformations in our constructs of governance and institutions as well as the mindset of civil society.

It is a wish list for the city, so by the end of 2011, it will start to make more sense than it does now:

6) Billboards need their own space on this list. The problem has not been resolved since they first killed and maimed people a few years ago. The one billboard at Guadalupe (billed as the largest in the world) has seemingly run out of its lease agreement. The rusting hulk of steel is ugly to behold and may cause danger from its diminishing structural integrity if left unattended and unmaintained. One wonders, who checks the condition of all the thousands of others that continue to be used?

The safety of gigantic billboards can only be questioned in an environment where shoddy construction is the norm and inspections can be bought. The rise of high-tech billboards using LEDs and other technology over the more simple tarpaulin-based systems also imposes structural loads hundreds of times heavier and more dangerous in the event of collapse.

How can outdoor advertising be effective if we suffer from sensory overload? Studies have shown their decreased effectiveness because of this reality. I’m not for a total ban (though the cities that have shunned them have become top tourists destinations) but for management and strict control. If left to breed like viruses, they can cause traffic distractions, fall on cars and people and prevent other, more important, street signs to be read effectively.

Edsa is its own ad medium

When you drive down Edsa, you’re looking at a P300 million business opportunity.

Almost overnight, like waking up after a nightmare, a long stretch of Edsa has become a haven for giant billboards and banners calling the attention of motorists and commuters who are stuck in traffic at all hours of the day or night. While this may mean huge profits for the ad agencies, there are questions on the legality of the structures.

Outdoor advertising arrived in the early ’90s when a new technology—astrovision and trivision—was introduced.

Computer-generated astrovision, a plasma-type screen which can be seen in selected malls in Metro Manila, is the most expensive, costing more than P1 million for the apparatus. In contrast, it costs P500,000 to build the frame for a billboard on Edsa.

Joel Callao, president of outdoor ad firm MediaPool Inc., said the top 10 players of the industry earn an average of P150 million a month. This translates to profits coming from more than a hundred giant billboards (40 x 60 ft) and smaller ones (20 x 40 ft) erected along Edsa.

“If we consider the overall monthly billing basis of the whole industry we can come up with an average of P300 million per month. This proves that the industry has surpassed a dramatic increase of 70 percent in seven years. From 30 (giant) billboards in 1995, Edsa now carries an average of 100 giant billboards,” Callao said.

According to a survey conducted by advertising firm McCann Erickson in 1999, 80 percent of Metro Manila’s population leave their homes to work or play or do errands. This represents a daily average of 175,000 vehicles passing on Edsa and 400,000 riders of MRT.

“People who pass along Edsa are the target market of these ads. These (billboards and banners) are very effective in creating product recall to target consumers especially during traffic hours,” Callao said.

Due to the high cost of placing ads in broadcasting and print, more and more advertisers have shifted to nontraditional media because they find it practical and effective, said MediaPool general manager Irma Bernabe.

“Billboards are practical and cheaper and very effective when placed on strategic locations such as Edsa. Ortigas down to Magallanes-Makati is considered a high-end location for outdoor ads,” she said.

Location, location

Giant billboards on a prime location such as Guadalupe-Makati cost P200,000 to P250,000; those on secondary locations like South-Superhighway-Bicutan-Alabang and from C-5 to Kalayaan cost P150,000 to P200,000. In Cubao, small billboards (20 x 50 ft) cost P100,000 and up. “But the dominant average-sized billboards (30 x 50 ft) are commonly placed on Edsa-Guadalupe, Cubao, Monumento and Magallanes—where the bulk of the spectators can see them. Small billboards in the provinces cost P20,000 to P70,000.”

Since most outdoor agencies accept a minimum one-year contract with one-month free exposure of the client’s product, MediaPool Inc. signs contracts on a yearly basis, with 50 percent down payment of the total cost of the project.

On the other hand, a television ad can cost P500,000 to P10 million on limited airtime while a full-page print ad (broadsheet) costs P130,000 per publication.

Advertisements on MRT property are priced P275 to P300 per square foot, including the banners and posters posted in MRT stations.

Trackworks, an outdoor ad supplier with an exclusive contract with MRT, facilitates and conceptualizes all advertisements posted in all MRT stations. MRT gets a profit-share per ad contract closed by Trackworks.

Maria Fe Barreiro, Trackworks executive vice president for sales and marketing, said the company has maintained a list of good advertisers since 1999 and is expected to double the number this year.

“Nobody has canceled a contract since we started. But we are very strict accepting clients because we don’t favor political and religious ads. Trackworks strictly implements the advertising code of conduct where an ad company is restrained from accepting materials with obscene messages, biased political and religious context, and scandalous images,” she said.

Trackworks’ clients prepare the ad materials. (Conclusion tomorrow)

This was taken from a posting by a raizah on Multiply.com

EDSA Guadalupe Mother of all Billboards

Indeed, is at his vilest when he throws a billboard in front of beautiful scenery. The dismantling thereof is therefore a reason for exultation for people like me who think that Metro Manila is already blanketed by tarpaulins of various shapes and color.

I was Googling more items on billboards in the metropolis when I came upon a post by a certain Lloyd Tronco, who seems to have recorded a feat about billboards and outdoor advertising in the Philippines in his blog, http://outlookph.blogspot.com .

In one of his posts, Tronco mentions about the resumption of dismantling of the EDSA Guadalupe "mother of all billboards". This is a relief to those who want to see more greens on the highway. The removal of the billboard will soon expose the verdant side of the San Carlos Seminary. Furthermore, it reveals the statue of Christ which has long been obscured by advertisements for Coca-Cola, Nokia, and Sony.

EDSA Guadalupe will never be the same again. Thank God.

Read the article here: http://outlookph.blogspot.com/2011/01/guadalupe-billboard.html