A World without Ads

I came across this a while back, but only now found the YouTube video that went with it. Back in January 2007 the city of Sao Paolo placed a ban on all outdoor advertising and signs. The result is shown in the video below and also in this flickr set and is detailed in this International Herald Tribune article.

The question is, is the city better off without them? The city, in my opinion, in many respects now looks dull and lifeless. I would argue that there is a case for banning the very large billboard style ads perched high in the air blocking views and the sun etc., though as you can see from the Video, when the ad goes, the ugly skeleton of the supporting structure remains. Which is better?

There also are many parallel arguments regarding freedom of speech, choice, lost revenue and lost business, but I don't have enough time to go into them here. I believe a happy median can be achieved and that creative advertising can be entertaining, enlightening and informative.

As an aside, I'm not sure which came first, but Sky Movies created an ad paralleling this new cityscape of Sao Paolo to promote the fact that they have no ads in their movies - but then again, you do have to pay for their movies.

So the choice is there - No ads, but paid for content, or ads and content for free? Would you accept interesting, relevant and targeted content on your mobile for free if it contained a small ad? Or would you like to continue to pay either exorbitant data rates, or "price per clip" to the mobile operators? The debate starts here!

I'm with you Eric...

At the World Economic Forum in DAVOS, Switzerland last week, Reuters reported the following under the headline "Google CEO bullish on mobile Web advertising"

The arrival of a truly mobile Web, offering a new generation of location-based advertising, is set to unleash a "huge revolution", Google Inc Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said on Friday.

"It's the recreation of the Internet, it's the recreation of the PC (personal computer) story and it is before us -- and it is very likely it will happen in the next year," he told a panel at the World Economic Forum.

Something must have rubbed off on him when I passed him in the canteen line at Google last December on the Paddy's Valley tour - he's speaking my language! He also went onto say...

"...the mobile Web was reaching a tipping point."

and the article continued -

Google aims to be a prime mover by bidding for coveted airwaves to launch an open U.S. wireless network, pitting it against established telecommunications players. The move will take the Silicon Valley-based company well beyond its core Web search and online advertising franchises. Some analysts are worried at the high costs involved but Schmidt said he was confident location-based advertising -- which could, for example, direct hungry travelers to nearby restaurants -- would be "a very, very good business".

I'm right there with you Eric, so you know where to call next time you're in the Google office in Ireland. Only too glad to meet with you - if I have a free slot in my schedule that is ;-) You can read the full Reuters article here