Core77

You'd be hard-pressed to forget last year's "eggvertising" hype, where CBS custom-printed ads for their network's slew of TV series on the actual shells of eggs sold at your local grocer. This might not seem so out-there once we become complacent with the omnipresence of "alternative advertising."

The "alternative media" category represented $387 million in spending in the United States last year, up from $24 million in 2000, according to PQ Media, a research firm. But the 2006 figure still represented a tiny part of out-of-home advertising, which generated $6.8 billion that year, according to figures PQ Media compiled for the private equity firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson.

"If you reach consumers out of the house, they're more likely to act than if they're sitting on their couches," said Jack Sullivan, senior vice president and out-of-home media director at Starcom USA, an advertising agency.

These new-school mediums include a few things close to the familiar including digital billboards, indoor video screens, and surface projections. More unorthodox ad exploits, such as may subway turnstiles, airplane tray tables, and even the sanitary roll-paper at the doctor's office, could quite possibly push us over the edge. The real debate lies in the actual effectiveness and how receptive passersby are to these new fangled ads. "Some advertising executives say that as long as an advertisement is entertaining, people do not necessarily mind the intrusion - and may even welcome it." On the contrary, senior vice president of marketing at Perry Ellis, Pablo de Echevarria, sounds a little torn when stating, "We're always looking for new mediums and places that have not been used before - it's an effort to get over the clutter. But, I guess we end up creating more clutter." It looks as if we'll just have to wait and watch it all unravel before our own eyes...as if we had a choice!

read article at NYT