Planetizen called my attention to a mashup of Web 2.0, crops, bricks, mortar, trees, earthworks, walls, anything you can think of, as long as it’s big enough.

It’s an advertisement, of course.

Did your neighbor beat you out for that $3500/month rental of your roof for cell-phone transmitters? You can still use it to generate revenue by putting an ad on it — as long as it’s big enough to be seen by Google Earth. In Germany, Artfield will do it with trees and crops, and A Really Classy Outfit called RoofShout, which got itself featured in Wired, will do it on your roof. A nice spoof explains it all.

But these are all poor-men’s versions of the Best Ad Idea of All Time — the geo-stationary low-orbit object you can see from the earth. Something like a larger version of the Hessi solar-flare observing spacecraft, but with big panels arranged in a disc, appearing to be about the size of the full moon. A Nike swoosh over New York all night every night? The Star of David hanging permanently over Teheran? Fabulous! Amazing! Something new to pollute! I hope I’m dead by then.

If we’re lucky this Best of All Possible Ads is unfeasible, but maybe not. Richard Clar has already made a sculpture out of space debris. A low-orbit whale is hoping to provide you with wireless connectivity. You can already see the space junk, and they haven’t even tried to make it visible yet.

Coming back to earth, easily the best news about Google-Earth-viewable ads is that you can’t see them unless you use Google Earth. As a Hungarian told me on a recent trip, the best place to stay in Budapest is the Intercontinental — because it’s the only place you can’t see the Intercontinental.

Tags: advertising, rooftop ads, space ads, ghastly

Posted by Antony in: Media + Marketing