Aap! - Alternative Advertising Possibilities

Aap!Stripes, parking stripe advertising, and the benefits of direct ambient campaigns featured in MediaLife Out of Home Magazine

Read full article

Avinor, the Norwegian airport operator is using Aap!Steps, escalator step advertising to wish riders in Norwegian airports “Nice flights!”. Simple effective and eye catching.

Escalator Step Advertising from aapglobal on Vimeo.

Submedia and Aap!Global have been hard at work on the next generation of in tunnel advertising displays.  Final prototypes are currently being tested using the latest digital hardware and lenticular technology.  Designed for tunnel conditions worldwide, the modular systems display realtime advertising, communication or announcements, in HD quality to passing trains or subway cars at any speed from 5km to more than 100km.  We’re excited for 2009 and the future of digital tunnel advertising.

Learn more about MetroVISTA

Fuel, Submedia and Aap!Global are bringing Aap!Motion, lenticular motion panels to the United States.  The first units have been placed in New York City for retailer Target.  A rollout of nearly 100 displays will occur in 2009 throughout the top 10 Major DMAs bringing animation to static billboards in a cost effective and unique fashion.

Learn more about lenticular motion panels

Tzu Cheng, native of Taipei, Taiwan worked traditionally as a photojournalist before choosing to focus on artistic pursuits. His new work focuses on the delicate balance between the local and foreign.  At Aap!Global we’re big fans of Tzu Cheng’s work “Sadako” and the “Weird Kingdom,” explorations of difference.

This month’s inspirational interview invites Tzu Cheng to share his work with Aap!Global.

Q: Could you start with a brief thematic introduction to your work?

My works mainly focus on the foreignness under the American texture.

Q: Tell us a little about your background?

I was born and raised in Taipei, Taiwan. I am now thirty-three years old. I moved to the US for grad school in August of 2005. Prior to the move, I was a photographer for newspapers and magazines in Taiwan.

Q: How did you get into photography?

When I had to pick a major during my freshman year of college I chose to be a photographer. It seemed to me that a photographer has a good amount of independence, as opposed to something in the film industry, which I was also interested in. When I was hired as a photographer by a magazine in 2001, I felt the confirmation of photography as my lifelong career.

Q: How do you decide on locations & subjects?

Most of my work was made during road trips, often near inter-state highways. I usually pull over, park, and start walking around to scout for locations and wait for the right subject to appear.

Q: We’re big fans of your collection “Sadako’s Trip”.  Tell us a little more about this project?

Sadako is the ghost figure of the classic J-horror(�??Japanese Horror�?�) movie “Ringu” (1998).  Before the “Ringu”, the skinny hair dangling figure had already haunted Asians for centuries. The whole project originated from the idea of the ghost image, which had also been a hot topic in numerous TV shows and publications for almost two decade in Taiwan, Japan and Korea.

For Sadako’s Trip, the relationship between the ghost figure and the innocent subjects is a potentially interesting metaphor for the relationship between foreigners and this country.  In American society, foreignness can become a formality, the line between citizens and foreigners are blurred and hard to recognize.
Q: We couldn’t help but laugh with the reference and some of the humor the work has - were you intending it to have this humor - this “Where’s Waldo characteristic?”

Not until a recent critique did I learn the meaning of  “Where’s Waldo?” The visual arrangement is derivative of the pattern of the ghost image in which the paranormal often appears in an obscure spot within the image, which may be hard to recognize at first glance. The visibility of the ghost indicates one’s vulnerability within the context of the environment. It is a tactic for me to invite the audience to scrutinize the image, focusing on the bizarre landscape and interesting individuals.

Q: As a foreigner in the United States - do you think that maybe you in a way are “Sadako?” - Do you feel displaced in the “Wierd Kingdom” or America as you call the country?

I came to the States first in 2005 when I was thirty. To adjust to the new environment and language, I had to go through the process like we all did as kids, learning how to socialize and build up the knowledge base of the larger environment. I was handicapped in a way. I used to be very vocal back in Taiwan, but here, I have to conceal that part of me and become reserved. In other words, I was forced to shut up and it made me feel like a ghost.

I don’t feel displaced because I was not meant to be an American to begin with. That is how I mentally prepared myself. As a visual artist, I simply came here to be an observer with an outsider’s perspective.

Q. Do you feel that your identity changes when you lift the camera to your eye? Do you act differently?

A camera at hand seems to legitimize the act of approaching someone you don’t know. And it feels even more so to photograph in a foreign land. (I think I would stop here.)

Q: What sort of equipment and software do you use?

I used a Cannon 20D in the early stages of the project, inherited from my photojournalism days in which I felt more comfortable with a digital, mobile and smaller format camera. I am now using a Pentax 67, a medium format film camera.

Q: Would you give a brief walk through your work flow?

Seek consistent lighting conditions, I usually photograph in the morning before ten or an or two before evening.  I  am shooting mostly film now. After processing and scanning the negative, I adjust the image and proof it via the computer. I then produce files with different sizes of the same image for archival, web and print purposes.

Q: Is your work political, anthropological, commercial, artist? What is your goal in your core work?

I am a combination of those types except for the commercial part. As a commercial photographer, you need the capability of reading peoples’ minds. Your client, a paid customer, might not necessarily appreciate what you are, the message you want to put across as a visual artist.

I find myself fascinated by the idea of using photography to define a bigger context of a city or country. On the other hand, despite the fact that my work can be categorized geographically, I would like it to come across as something that everyone in part, can relate to.

Q: Who are some of your mentors, role models, and aspirations? Q. Which photographers have influenced you most?

I photograph people on the street and have looked at the work of photographers in that realm- Robert Frank, Steven Shore, and William Eggleston.

I admire the work of Martin Parr. He confronts and flashes his subject head on without hesitation. He comes up with a vivid definition of the location and the subject. There are qualities of street photography but along with it his mastering of calculated precision. Those are all tools and traits I would like to put in my pocket, at my disposal.

Q: What are your thoughts on commercial, advertising related work?

The one thing that separates art photography from commercial photography and photojournalism is that as an artist you need to have a statement, a viewpoint of your own. When it comes to commercial photography, there is always something you have to sell for your client. The assignment has already been defined before it’s been made. In this perspective, the challenge of commercial photography would be more straightforward, though definitely not easier, as oppose to other types of photography.

Q: What is your relationship with the poses individuals? Are they strangers, models? Aside from Sadako - you mainly take pictures of strangers - is this on purpose?

Most of them are strangers, people I encounter on the street. I keep my eyes these people and think about all the possibilities of posing them. I always bother my subjects as much as possible. For that I am grateful to all the strangers that I’ve met along the way for their willingness to spare some of their precious time to help me.

Q: Is your work available for sale and if so let us know for our readers?

People are always as much welcome to give me response with their thoughts as to buy my work, though I actually don’t price tag my pieces at this moment.

My work is available for sale, please contact me at autumniac@gmail.com or drop a line to let me know what you think!

Thank you.

More @ http://www.liutzucheng.com/

Aap!Motion, lenticular motion panels are now available in South Africa.  The first units have been assembled for the hit American Show Futurama.  A rollout of 50 displays will occur in 2009 throughout the top 5 major South African markets bringing animation to static billboards in a cost effective and unique fashion.

Datakjeden, a large Scandinavian electronics shop is using escalator handrail advertising to drive traffic and lead customer visits in a busy holiday season.

With the rising price of copper, a worsening general economy, thieves are turning to unusual places for profit.  A thief in New Zealand has taken 15 specialty transformers (valued each at over $5000) from billboards owned by OTW.  The transformers contain roughly $150 worth of scrap copper.

Infuritated by the theft, the billboard company has responded by placing a security photo of the suspected thief on its own billboards and offering a $500 reward.

The firm has recieved dozens of calls over the billboard, and are getting closer to identifying the man. The billboards will stay up until the police make an arrest.

There’s a news video report here.

[Via Boing Boing ]

DDB, ClearChannel and distributor Medialoop have effectively introduced Aap!Steps, the escalator step advertising system to Sweden via installation in Swedish metro stops; the campaign promoted a joint McDonalds and Coca Cola promotion.

The campaign won the Best Alternative Media campaign from magazine Resume.Se for August 2008.

Softbank Mobile, NTT Data and Hitachi and Dutch smart chip maker Gemalto are testing a new technology that aims to replace printed QR Codes and provide participats digital information by simply swiping their compatible cellphone or laptop near posters or other advertisements.

The first “field test” for the NFC or Near Field Communication, a short range, high frequency wireless communication medium is being conducted in Chiba, Tokyo in WALL-E and Tinker Bell movie posters embedded with the new technology tags.

Test participants will be able to receive and view digital content such as movie stills and trailers simply by holding their NFC-compatible phones (containing NFC-USIM cards) next to the smart posters. Along with the digital content, users also receive an access code that, when transferred to a compatible Hitachi HDTV at home, allows them to view a WALL-E trailer in high definition (via Hitachi�??s content distribution service).

The tests, which are designed to help the companies evaluate the effectiveness and potential of NFC smart posters as a promotional medium, could be a sign of things to come in the field of poster advertising. Should NFC smart posters become cheap and easy to produce, they have the potential to replace the ubiquitous QR (2D) code that commonly appears in Japanese advertising posters. NFC is seen as more convenient than QR code because the user does not have to scan a code and visit a separate website to view the data. Instead, digital content can be accessed directly with a simple swipe of the phone.

NFC aims to provide improved accessibility when compared with traditional QR code because the user does not have to scan a code and visit a separate website to view the data. Instead, digital content can be accessed directly with a simple swipe of the phone.

The technology sounds great, but the added cost of additional tags installation, a non universal platform, and additional required content may limit the potential of this technology.

[Source: Nikkei Net, NTT Data]

More on NFCs

General information on Near Field Communication - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

NFC - Industry Forum @ http://www.nfc-forum.org/home

Industry Coverage @ http://www.nearfieldcommunicationsworld.com/