Electric Signs

Air New Zealand Launches Interactive Billboard

Premier at the Staples Center features responsive character

Published

16 years ago

May 21, 2009

Jacob Rieskamp Signs of the Times May 2009 Issue

Air New Zealand (ANZ) is advertising its roundtrip, Los Angeles-to-London fares through what it calls “the nation’s first human interactive billboard,” controlled by mobile users. The digital-billboard projection, which launches May 21 at 9:30 p.m. at the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles, will feature a 1970s-style airline pilot holding a sign that reads “Txt what you want me to do 310310. The pilot will respond to the short code by performing more than 150 actions, including eating, moonwalking and attempting to strip.

Roger Poulton, ANZ’s VP, the Americas, said, “We are open to any medium that allows customers to interact with us in a way that’s meaningful – whether that’s through an iPhone application, body-painted employees, our ‘cranial billboards,’ themed flights and now our first human interactive billboard.

The next message will be displayed May 22-23 in Santa Monica, at Colorado St. and Ocean Blvd.

Mars Bravo: The Most Interesting Name in the Sign Industry

Mars Bravo is not the kind of name you hear very often in the sign industry — the kind of name more likely to follow, “Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage…!” In this episode, Eric interviews Mars to find out about her start in the sign industry and her ideas for the future, first with how she got her name.