Cadillac's Vinyl signAlthough neither Cadillac nor Sherwood...

Cadillac's Vinyl sign

Although neither Cadillac nor Sherwood Outdoor in New York, which oversees ad sales for 2 Times Square, would discuss the terms, it is estimated that Cadillac is paying US$1 million to US$1.5 million annually to lease the space (RM1 = US$3.80). Cadillac has an option to renew the lease in 2002.

There are six signs for Cadillac at the site, now pitching the Evoq roadster concept car and the brand's World Wide Web site (www.cadillac.com). The so-called flex-face panels of vinyl and fibreglass are wrapped around the cube-like structure directly under the familiar neon sign for Coca-Cola.

The site, which houses the Olive Garden restaurant and the Foley's restaurant of the Renaissance Hotel, previously carried ads for Broadway shows, Apple Computer and Amtrak.

The Cadillac display may be supplemented at some point with a metal version of the brand's crest, car headlights that would illuminate and even actual vehicles, mounted on a concrete platform on the roof of the structure.

Cadillac's arrival in what could be called the Cadillac of outdoor advertising venues is indicative of the boom that has brought many classic brands back to Times Square. Decades of decay had led blue-chip marketers to avoid the area until recently.

General Motors, which used to advertise Chevrolet above the site where Cadillac is now perched, joins Coca-Cola and other household names like Budweiser and Planters in returning to Times Square.

"The environment is a better place to be for marketers now," said Ms Kim Kosak, director for advertising and sales promotion at Cadillac in Detroit.

"We're trying to be more of a global player in the marketplace, and this is a great opportunity to reach a large global audience," she added. "With 1.5 million eyeballs a day passing by, global eyeballs, it's perfect for us."

A top executive at the long-time Cadillac agency echoed his client.

"It's a real statement being in Times Square, and we're delighted about it," said Mr John Farrell, president for the North American operations of D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles Communications, a unit of MacManus Group in New York.

Times Square "is very appropriate for Cadillac and where Cadillac is going to go", he added, referring to ambitious plans to revitalise the brand. These include campaigns asserting that Cadillac vehicles offer a blend of "art and science" with "world-class technology" and "new design and styling".

Indeed, if a decade ago the Times Square advertising business needed Cadillac more than Cadillac needed Times Square, perhaps today the reverse is true. Then, because of perceptions that Times Square was a seedy, perilous place, there was a buyer's market for signs. And Cadillac was the leader in American luxury-car sales, a status the brand enjoyed for nearly six decades.
Coca Cola sign:

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