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Breakfast of ChampionsNew information medium invades public transport
By Ma Ka Wa
LCD videos: The latest advertising innovation on public transport.
Still advertisements in MTR stations are gradually being replaced by moving pictures.
Besides their obvious commercial value, these moving pictures are believed by promoters and advertisers to serve as a source of entertainment during otherwise dull journeys.
Initially, multimedia displays served to provide passengers with useful information.
A central control unit manages the display systems by creating or editing messages, schedules and issuing commands to the remote display devices.
Now, the wide range of information display platforms, which include plasma screens, full colour liquid crystal displays, projectors and video walls, have been getting attention in the advertising industry.
Said Roctec Technology Limited Consultant Ivan Fong: “It is a big transformation.
“The traditional way of just using a hard copy poster is rather static and boring.
“On the contrary, our innovations provide sound and moving images.
“More important is that it attracts quite a large number of people to the audience.
“A win-win situation can be attained because, besides guaranteeing a good revenue for the company, it also benefits the public.
“You may notice that there are screen doors that have been installed in many MTR stations recently.
“These screen doors block the way of the projection.
“I guess there may be a more advanced substitution very soon.”
Indeed, in other projects, colors are being added into the dark MTR tunnels.
Adidas was the first advertiser to use the Motion Poster medium, in Budapest in June 2001.
Since then, it became a new dimension in advertising media.
Motion Posters are images that appear to be moving inside the dark MTR tunnels between Admiralty and Wan Chai along the Hong Kong Line, and between Kowloon and Tsing Yi along the Airport Express Line.
A 15-second moving series requires more than 400 images.
Travelers can see short advertising motion pictures through the carriage windows of a moving train.
Between the stations of Admiralty and Wan Chai, advertisements for Cathy Pacific and Visa were being shown recently.
Between the Kowloon and Tsing Yi stations, a promotional clip for Adidas was being shown.
These are a series of pictures fixed to the tunnel walls.
When the train is passing by the picture frames at a high speed, each picture is lit up for a fraction of a second.
The changing images appear continuous to the eye, so visually the image becomes a single moving picture.
The computer display and the train speed have to match each other for the effect to work in such a way that each of the motion pictures is lit up at just the right moment to give a smooth, in-tunnel advertising series.
Sally Leung of Admiralty, a clerk, said that the moving advertisements are not easily discerned.
Said Miss Leung: “The motion pictures are too small, and they just run too fast.
“I cannot read them clearly from inside the train carriage.”
Lenny Chan of Wan Chai, a social worker, said that the new innovation is fascinating.
“It scared me when I saw it the first time.
“I thought there was someone saying ‘Hi’ to me in the dark tunnel, and I just could not believe it.”
