Piccadilly Circus Billboard Targeting Drivers

A new giant electronic billboard in London’s Piccadilly Circus is due to flash into life and will be targeting drivers using cameras concealed in the screen to deliver more targeted adverts.

Wired reported on the innovation, which will look at the make, model and colour of passing cars and then flash up more specific adverts. The screen itself is larger than three tennis courts, and has a resolution that’s greater than 4k.

It’s replacing six separate screens that previously wrapped around the buildings at Piccadilly Circus, although the news provider noted that it can be electronically carved up, enabling different adverts to be displayed.

However, the advantage is that one big advert can be displayed without the display being cut up by the edges of the different screens.

Vasiliki Arvaniti, Landsec portfolio director, told Wired that “for the first time ever brands will have the opportunity to take over the entire screen”.

As well as providing advertising opportunities, the screen will also deliver free public Wi-Fi to people in the area, although advertisers can also sponsor the Wi-Fi landing page.

Landsec, the operator of the screen, already has a number of big brands lined up to take advantage of the custom LED displays. Among them are eBay, Hyundai, Samsung, L’Oreal and Coca-Cola.

eBay was the latest company to sign up to take advantage of the new technology this month, with the online auction site planning to use the screen to share its Fill your cart with Colour campaign.

The lights in Piccadilly Circus have been switched off since January while the renovation work is carried out and Landsec is not releasing the date of the switch on because it doesn’t want to cause traffic problems in the area.