So You Want To Set A World Record? Get Your Soldering Iron
Do you want to set a new world record and get you name into the Guinness Book? Nothing easier than that. Simply build a billboard with more than 183,024 LEDs and measuring over 28.0 meters in length and 6.2 meters in height, thereby exceeding a surface area of 174 sqm, and the world record for the largest illuminated advertising sign (indoors) will be yours. Until you do that, the record holder will be Nissan.
As part of its worldwide brand campaign that focuses on airports, and that apparently tries to SHIFT_ harried flyers into cars, Nissan put the monster billboard into Terminal 3 of Dubai Airport. It shows the world’s fastest man, Usain Bolt. The Olympic sprinter, himself 1.95m tall, had to crouch to fit on the world’s largest indoor poster.
Bolt himself was unimpressed: ”I continue breaking world records, because that’s what I do.”
( Slow newsday at The Nikkei[sub]. Nissan released the story two weeks ago. O.K., we also overlooked it.)
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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I had the opportunity to meet Ursain Bolt when I was in Jamaica. He had just won at the commonwealth games and to be honest I didn't know who he was. Fortunately, he had his gold medal around his neck. Although our encoutner was brief, he impressed me as a decent young man at the time. He still strikes me that way. He is a credit to his family and to Jamaica.
That'd be Usain Bolt, no "r".
"It shows the world’s fastest man, Ursain Bolt." Umm, he's a sprinter, not a bear.
errr, what does it do? I thought if you made the worlds biggest led advertisment, at least it could do something animated? Mr Bolt sprinting, the car moving? Could made it a lot cheaper with a roll of printed vinyl.