Dubai makes record books with world's biggest ad

UK advertising firm Ad-Air has made its way into the record books with the world’s largest advertising banner at Dubai International Airport.

The advertisement for Sorouh Real Estate measures 200 by 100 metres and covers 20,000 square metres, equal to three football pitches in sizes.

It lies flat on the ground along flight paths where it will be viewed from the air by an estimated 14 million people over the next year.

Over 360 tonnes of concrete was removed to level the ground for the poster. The site will be lit at by 6 x 30m light poles carrying 48 x 2000 watt stadium lamps using 150,000 kw from on-site generators.

The site was independently verified by a Guinnes Book of World Records inspector and has been awarded ‘world record for banner size’ according to The Guardian newspaper.

Stephen Jones, managing director of Ad-Air Middle East told The Guardian “It is fitting that our first advertiser should be a real estate company, given the current explosion of property development in the region”.

Sorouh aims to fill the site with one million faces as part of a corporate charity initiative. The company will donate $1 to the UAE Red Crescent for every photograph collected. Photographs can be uploaded to www.sorouhfaces.com at no cost.

The advertisement is the first of a planned series of mega-ads at international airports by Ad-Air with four new sites set to be launched in Europe and the US in early 2008. The company has rights to 30 airports including London Heathrow, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Los Angeles International, Chicago O’Hare and Tokyo Narita.

Paul Jenkins, MD of Ad-Air said last month the advertisements would appear in “clutter-free environments and moments free of any other commercial messages”.

The price of the ads ranges from £40k to £80k per month depending on location.