The end of tube train advertising?

[electroplated]

I noticed that too, but in another city in Bavaria (I can't remember whether it was Munich or somewhere else) they had ads in the tunnels. You'd sit there with the darkness of the tunnel passing you by outside, and then suddenly this old granny would appear outside the window! It was done in panels - like flip book animation I guess - and gave the impression that she was running along at the same speed of the train. Gave me quite a shock the first time I saw them.

I saw some of them on them in a tunnel on the Heathrow express!!! They freaked me right out

 

[kyser_soze]

Cool work Bristly

The LCD escalator display panels have been planned for about 5 years; it's taken this long to get planning rights out of LU for them, and quite honestly if I were an advertiser I'd not put my money in - they're smaller than traditional ECPs and because each panel runs in simultaneous synch with the others the effect of a single brand ad is visually overwhelming - they should be timed so you get different bits of the ad as you go up the escalator. And of course it's squeezing the more traditional ECP advertisers out since you have to buy a bank of 5 of the things instead of just one or two per escalator...

Re: Snowyagain's in tube thing...Viacom have been trying to get LU to do this, as well as a format called X-platform projection for years, but it keeps being rejected on safety ground by LU - the closest that came was about 3 years ago. eta...ahh, clearly the HEX operators have a more cavalier attitude to H&S than LU...

FWIW...tube advertising gets 80%+ approval ratings every year when LU/Viacom conduct the survey, so you're all in a very small minority here...besides, I've booked Tube card panel ads for a variety of insurance companies and they get some of the best response from display advertising across the board, so quite clearly some people want those services...

 

[GarfieldLeChat]

Elsewhere they're busy installing vile electronic screens on the tube.

what i can't understand is how the hell these can in any way be considered enviromentally friendly.

It bloody amazes me that in this day and age where everyone is being told that their perosnal actions are causing the death of the planet on any scale that the huge corperations take actions like this that minimise any action a person could take.

surely this will only increase the tubes carbon footprint enormously....

 

[ovaltina]

 

[rich!]

besides, I've booked Tube card panel ads for a variety of insurance companies and they get some of the best response from display advertising across the board, so quite clearly some people want those services...

*raises hand*

a couple of times I've got off the Piccadilly line at an overground stop, with a travel insurance number typed into my mobile, and got booking...

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Why do people have the right to buy public space and fill it with images designed to make people feel they need more stuff to be happy?

Those who talk about lost revenue completely miss the point. You're so entranced by the tune played by the pied piper of capital that you can't stop dancing to it.

We could surround ourselves with nothing but art for art's sake - designs, pictures, words all exploring the wonder of being alive.

But what do we choose instead? Ronald fucking MacDonald and the Direct Line telephone.

 

[kyser_soze]

Why do people have the right to buy public space and fill it with images designed to make people feel they need more stuff to be happy?

Those who talk about lost revenue completely miss the point. You're so entranced by the tune played by the pied piper of capital that you can't stop dancing to it.

We could surround ourselves with nothing but art for art's sake - designs, pictures, words all exploring the wonder of being alive.

But what do we choose instead? Ronald fucking MacDonald and the Direct Line telephone.

You're such an iconoclast and wevolutionary!

Can I join your group?

 

[Kanda]

But what do we choose instead? Ronald fucking MacDonald and the Direct Line telephone.

I choose to ignore it.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

You're such an iconoclast and wevolutionary!

Can I join your group?

Why the sarcasm?

 

[kyser_soze]

Cos your little outburst was predictable, tedious and it's a view not shared by the vast majority of tube users.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Cos your little outburst was predictable, tedious and it's a view not shared by the vast majority of tube users.

Really? In a survey, the 'vast majority of tube users' said that they would rather be sold things on the walls than have artworks there, did they?

The world belongs to people who appear determined to keep our surroundings ugly, and I find this really quite oppressive. How predictable and tedious of me.

 

[kyser_soze]

No, it's in the annual survey that LU do in conjunction with Viacom, which also includes stuff on art. You can actually find previous examples of said survey on the Viacom and (IIRC) LU websites. People like the ads on the tube - most express positive feelings towards them.

Which while it might not suit your personal opinion is what people seem to like.

 

[skyscraper101]

Really? In a survey, the 'vast majority of tube users' said that they would rather be sold things on the walls than have artworks there, did they?

The world belongs to people who appear determined to keep our surroundings ugly, and I find this really quite oppressive. How predictable and tedious of me.

Yeah...but the little red telephone!! In the Direct Line ads!! He's so cool! I love him

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Sometimes I think I was born in the wrong place.

 

[GarfieldLeChat]

Yeah...but the little red telephone!! In the Direct Line ads!! He's so cool! I love him

loads colt... kyser you got any more of these guilt free bullets...

 

[kyser_soze]

I patented them

 

[London_Calling]

I only really come into contact with advertising when I'm on public transport or on roadside billboards so I like this idea.

One of my few problems with the tube is the visual and aural overload - anything that tones down, what is for me, visual screaming is very good indeed. I'm using trains quite a lot more at the moment and I find that environment really very pleasant.

I don't mind relevant transport information so much.

 

[skyscraper101]

In all seriousness though, who really cares about the ads in tubes?

So long as my tube gets from A to B on time, I'm almost oblivious to them. I can't say I feel bombarded with ads any more than say, reading a newspaper or watching TV. Its just part of life.

When the new projected ads start coming in, it will make the underground look all futuristic and stuff. Much better than the manky 8 sheets they have down there now.

 

[catrina]

I reckon a cost-benefit analysis would show the digital screens to be more green than paper adverts in the long run. Week in, week out production of paper, not to mention moving the paper around in lorries, etc., is incredibly wasteful. The more paper out of circulation, the more trees saved, thus offsetting some of the energy consumed by the screens. And I don't think a few hundred/thousand extra lcd screens in London is noticeable, environmentally.

 

[Bristly Pioneer]

Hmmm,

I'm never certain of how impartial these surveys are phrased though, do you think a survey in conjunction with viacom is likely to be:

what would you prefer on the tube

a)advertising
b)art and poetry
c)nothing thankyou

I get the feeling its more along the lines of

would you prefer

a) no advertising and higher tube prices
b) advertising

 

[Brainaddict]

Its just part of life.

Not for the first 4 million years or so of our existence.

That might sound like a facile point but I hate it when people act like the environment we've created for ourselves is somehow inevitable. We made it.

I don't watch tv these days so perhaps I notice tube adverts more - as an unpleasant contrast to my largely ad-free life at home

 

[Maurice Picarda]

Which latter, to Bristly, is a fair question, considering that LU earns £1.1bn revenue from operating activities, of which £61m is advertising revenue.

Anyway, if you're annoyed by advertising on the tube, then you're travelling at a funny time or on your own private carriage. Otherwise, being crushed groin-to-groin against someone who is determinedly eating KFC for fifteen stops would kind of block the ads out.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

At the risk of sounding patronising (heavens forfend, eh, KS), I think many people genuinely don't realise how much nicer an urban environment is without advertising. If you experienced it for a day or two, you'd be able to make a proper judgement.

 

[GarfieldLeChat]

Hmmm,

I'm never certain of how impartial these surveys are phrased though, do you think a survey in conjunction with viacom is likely to be:



I get the feeling its more along the lines of

would you prefer

a) no advertising and higher tube prices
b) advertising

problem is that we get higher tube prices and still get advertising it's only so much higher it can get before it starts to be economically viable to buy a bus...

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Which latter, to Bristly, is a fair question, considering that LU earns £1.1bn revenue from operating activities, of which £61m is advertising revenue.

'It's only 5% of LU's revenues' is how I would prefer to put it.

 

[Maurice Picarda]

'It's only 5% of LU's revenues' is how I would prefer to put it.

And presumably, there are substantial rents from retailers on LU property, there are fees from licensing use of the tube map in publications and other non-fare revenue. Ticket prices, though, would have higher elasticity than these, and the impact on fare revenue if total earnings went down by 5% would be disproportionately high.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Passenger numbers are also elastic.

 

[beeboo]

Passenger numbers are also elastic.

Are you suggesting that there is anyone who actively avoids the tube because of advertising?

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Are you suggesting that there is anyone who actively avoids the tube because of advertising?

If the anecdotal evidence of people I know who drive is anything to go by, many people actively avoid the tube because it is unpleasant. Getting rid of advertising would be but one aspect of making for a more pleasant experience.

 

[beeboo]

If the anecdotal evidence of people I know who drive is anything to go by, many people actively avoid the tube because it is unpleasant. Getting rid of advertising would be but one aspect of making for a more pleasant experience.

I would imagine the reasons people dislike the tube are:

70% crowding
20% delays
9.9% BO, chewing gum on seats, beggers, buskers and other annoyances
0.1% advertising

So getting rid of the advertising wouldn't cause a rise in passenger numbers sufficient to balance out the loss of revenue. Even if you did attract some ad-haters, you'd drive out an equal or greater number of ad-ambivalent crowding-haters. Not withstanding the fact that a peak times the tube is largely operating something very close to maximum capacity.

I like the idea of not having advertising in the tube, but it would simply never work in the world in which we live.

And like Rich! pointed out, people DO make use of the advertising in the tube. We all need products like insurance - I'd sooner pick up a bit of info on the tube rather than spend my own time looking through the yellow pages or something. I'd sooner ads on the tube rather than billboards or TV advertising if it came to a choice.