Bright Lights Big City

In the city that never sleeps, the concrete jungle where dreams are made of, flooded in a sea of yellow taxis and in between the hustle of bustle and world famous landmarks lies a city like no other, the city of New York! The city speaks a thousand words and symbolises an array of different meanings. It's buildings and people have countless stories to tell and it it inspires and excites me every time I visit.

Its been a while since my last post so I thought there would be no greater time than to use my trip to NYC for a spoon full of inspiration and make it the subject of my next post. 

Like most important American things (fries, hamburgers, shakes, pretzels) advertising in NYC comes in one size...XXL.Times Square is quite obviously the spectacle of New York advertising with billboards and digital screens standing tall and proud on almost every tower block and building. The volume and clutter of all the outdoor formats makes me wonder how advertisers can gain any standout at all. But then you see something like the Captain America Ad wrap around to the left and realise that the only limitation is your imagination.

Advertising formats in NY although pretty similar to London do showcase some subtle differences. The main one I noticed was the wrapping of ads around the corners of tower blocks and buildings like in the picture below:

Painted wall mural style ads were also quite popular offering an element of authenticity contradicting the bright lights and animated digital screens sweeping over Times Square.

Considering Americans were late adopters of smartphone technology compared to us Britons, I noticed QR codes  plastered absolutely everywhere on every imaginable ad format - from plastic shopping bags to sky high inaccessible billboards and even saw them filling the window spaces of tower block buildings (see right).

Although many would see advertising as polluting a city's skyline so to speak, I actually think that the advertising in New York beautifully forms part of the city landscape, adding to its iconic views.

My time in New York flew by but I managed to pack in a vast amount of sight seeing, gallery and museum browsing, cocktail sipping, bar hopping, shopping, beach strolling and roof top pool partying. Sad as it may seem, one of my highlights was bumping into none other than Gossip Girl's most recognised actor Ed Westwick who plays the heart throb entrepreneur Chuck Bass!

Like a star obsessed school-girl, meeting and chatting to Ed Westwick made the trip complete but if I were to choose a serious element it would be Alexander McQueen's exhibition 'Savage Beauty'. Not only were his fashion creations complete works of art, but the depth of inspiration and narrative behind each collection was beyond anything I could ever imagine. One quote in particular left with me as I exited the exhibition "You should demolish the rules but keep the tradition"

Perhaps when it comes to brainstorming for pitch ideas or when developing media plans for our campaigns we should reflect on McQueen's statement to help aid our creativity. After all, as I stated earlier, the only limit lies within our own imagination.


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