6/3/05
The Chicago Transit Authority has launched a new type of advertising technology in the southbound Blue Line Dearborn subway tunnel between the Clark/Lake and Washington stations. Through the windows of the moving trains, customers will see a moving picture ad appear on the tunnel wall. This new advertising medium is expected to generate $100,000 annually in revenue for CTA.
"This innovative technology allows CTA to use tunnel space, which in the past has not normally been considered an attractive ad space for companies, to generate additional advertising revenue to support CTA operations," said CTA President Frank Kruesi. ?Advertising already generates $22 million annually, but we are always looking for ways to raise more."
In addition to this newest medium, CTA generates advertising revenue from buses, trains, stations and billboards located on CTA property. In 2004, CTA generated $20 million in advertising revenue and $2.1 million in billboard revenue.
"CTA is always looking for ways to increase non-fare revenue, especially in these tough budget times, and this is a great way for us to do that," said Chicago Transit Board Chairman Carole Brown. ?Plus, this will make our subway rides a bit more interesting. Advertising on CTA provides a great opportunity for companies to reach a large number of consumers from all across the city and suburbs."
The ad is actually a series of several hundred different still images that are slightly different, as in cartoon animation. As the train passes by, the human eye sees the different images making it appear as if the images are moving when in fact it is the train's motion that provides the special effect.
The technology for the tunnel ad display comes from Submedia, a New York-based company that has agreements for similar installations on nine other transit systems around the world including Atlanta, New York, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Bucharest and Istanbul, Paris, Moscow and Singapore.
A tunnel advertisement for Target stores is the first to appear in the Blue Line subway. Advertisers interested in advertising on the CTA's new tunnel ads should contact Submedia directly or log on to www.sub-media.com for more information.
# # #