ARLINGTON, Va., - Beginning today, the Air National Guard will be featured prominently at the crossroads of the world.
Capt. Rondal Perry, the chief of ANG’s marketing and advertising branch, said two, 15-second advertisements will be shown every hour, 18 hours a day, for the next four months on the 26 by 20 foot CBS “Super Billboard” in New York City’s Times Square.
“It is unbelievable,” Rondal said. “We have become the division of ‘Why not?’ As long as it is positive and has a good message and could potentially generate leads – Why not?”
Rondal said his office was contacted by Neutron Media, because the previous advertiser had paid for the space, but decided not to use it. All the Air Guard had to pay for was the remaining deposit.
The CBS screen is strategically located at 42nd Street between 7th and 8th Avenues and presents more than 1.5 million impressions daily in full motion and full color on 520 square feet of viewing space.
The animated neon and LED signs are one of New York's iconic images, and Times Square is the only neighborhood with zoning ordinances requiring building owners to display illuminated signs, according to a book titled, “Great White Way: Planning for a Brighter Times Square” by Alan S. Oser.
The video for the space was quickly produced earlier this month by the ANG’s Creative Team, based in Burlington, Vt., and it was an especially challenging job since it had to be an advertisement with no audio, Perry said.
During the 15 seconds, the ad will include a special uniform resource locator (URL) created for this venue: www.airguardjobs.com.
“So, we will see if anyone even looks at it (by the number of hits on the URL),” he said. “If it does generate some leads of some sort, maybe we will do more later.”