In a certain sense, subway advertisement is a great untapped medium in New York City. A business looking to reach a captive audience could do far worse than renting out some space in a subway station or on board a train, and yet, the vast majority of the MTA’s advertising seems to come from pulp fiction novels, community colleges and ESL programs. Over at Flavorwire, Paul Hiebert a few weeks ago profiled ten innovative subway advertisement campaigns. Some of them involved turnstile branding; others involved in-station set ups; and one even focused on the straps and poles within a train car. Not surprisingly, none of them were in New York City. As the MTA is looking for ways to expand its revenue base, I hope the marketing department is paying attention to some of the more involved and creative underground campaigns out there.
Highlighting some innovative subway advertisement
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In the case of most of those pictures, it is not clear what city it is from.
I’m so curious now.
Ben, do YOU know what are the cities?
Most of the ads are from other countries. The Lays ad is from Chicago.
I’ve often thought that the MTA rider demographic profile is wealthier than its ads seem to suggest. In most of the US, transit riders are on the whole a pretty poor segment of the population. Not so in NYC. I wonder if the firms selling ads for the MTA know this? On the other hand, the poorest people have the longest commutes in New York, so I guess they’re the ones staring at the grinning Cash for Gold Uncle Sam for an hour on their way up to the Bronx.