A rough landing for the ad industry

Poet, essayist, biographer and critic Samuel Johnson is the most quoted of English writers after William Shakespeare, and I'm going to add to his tally. You see, he was also a dab hand at industry-watching, and in 1759 came up with the following nugget: "The trade of advertising is now so near perfection, that it is not easy to propose any improvement." Naturally, that hasn't prevented people trying.

Last month, it was announced that the boffins at UK-based firm Ad-Air are aiming to reach high flyers through huge adverts the size of three football pitches, which can be seen by plane passengers coming in to land at some of the world's busiest airports.

The first site will be set up near Dubai International Airport next month, with an unidentified real estate developer as the initial advertiser. Moreover, the US$10m venture has spent five years securing sites around the world's busiest airports including London Heathrow, Paris, Geneva, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Tokyo and Abu Dhabi.

Ad-Air aims to create an advertising network of 30 airports worldwide, with advertisers paying US$50,000 a month for one of the introductory sites. Prices at busy airports will eventually go for up to US$162,000 a month, while cash advertisers will get a plastic mesh advert 20,000 square metres in size, which will sit on a metal frame low above the ground. Officials at Ad-Air have already confirmed that the adverts could produce a moving image that starts up every time a passenger-packed plane soars overhead.

I suppose that Ad-Air should be applauded for its creativity at a time when ad agencies are feeling the pinch. Worldwide, advertising spending trends tend to follow an economy's downturn as well as its recovery - and just now forecasters aren't too optimistic that the industry will be able to shake off the globe's current economic malaise.

Robert J Coen, senior vice president and forecasting director at Universal McCann in New York, has been watching the industry for the past five decades, and earlier this year lowered his previous estimate for advertising spending growth in the US.

He admitted to being overly optimistic, also predicting a worldwide ad spend of US$630.1bn - up just 4.2% from 2006. While that figure still represents growth, the rate is slowing dramatically as firms tighten their belts -and the first budget cuts are usually in the area of creative offerings similar to that dreamed up by Ad-Air.

"Sometimes those experimental budgets do go," admitted John Osborn last month. Osborn, who is CEO of advertising agency BBDO New York -whose clients include heavyweight corporations including the Bank of America, General Electric, and FedEx - emphasised that in times of economic trouble, advertisers typically revert to more tried and tested methods.

Unsurprisingly, industry watchers have warned that tough economic times could spell trouble for spending on experimental media, as it doesn't have the track record of TV commercials, for instance.

Viewing figures are more easily quantifiable than airborne sightings, and we're not even taking into account the legislative backlash against outdoor advertising that appears to be taking place in some markets. For example, São Paulo recently made history by banning ads on billboards, neon signs and electronic panels, and now Rio de Janeiro is considering a similar measure.

I'm all for creativity, but there's a part of me that is secretly hoping Ad-Air's brainwave might soon prove too adventurous for advertisers, or too gaudy for town planners. The first sight of a new city, snatched through the porthole-like window of an airliner, is one of modern travel's undisputed highlights - and as I come in to land, I'd far rather see the Eiffel Tower or the Burj Dubai, than I would ‘The Coke Side of Life'.

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