Mean Brooklyn
The last issue of Creativity offers Jeff Goodby’s point of view on outdoor advertising in the context of a rather funny anecdote about a recent mishap. Before telling his story, Goodby shares with us his “Warholian” vision of this controversial medium: “Make it public, talked about, outrageous, challenging, beautiful, resented…” If you are interested in examples, please do get you hands on Galvin Lucas and Michael Dorrian’s brilliant Guerrilla Advertising, which has a strong focus on outdoor communications and compiles some of the greatest initiatives of the past few years, a must read.
Interested in another source of inspiration? Well, all you have to do is take a walk and pay attention to what street artists are doing in your area. Street art, as a communications discipline and an art form, has a unique ability to digest the feeling and personality of the community and spit its messages in the kind of outrageous and challenging manner that Goodby referred to in his note. This form of communication is driven by a necessity to stand out from the clutter [legal and illegal] as opposed to be passively and orderly integrated with the urban environment. When done right, it can contribute to reinvent public space in a way that is not only memorable but that actually depicts local culture from the inside out.
After climbing ¾ of a mile on the Williamsburg bridge from Manhattan via Brooklyn, bikers and pedestrians are greeted by a sign that is meant to inform people of where they are [New York City, etc] and who built it [the corresponding department]. Locals decided that this information, while relevant, is redundant and for years have opted for enhancing the sign and adding another dimension to its message. This “welcome” sign is far from static and changes rapidly according the mood of the community. Here is its latest iteration, kind of bittersweet and certainly cheerful, after all spring is already here.
