Piccadilly Circus to receive new LED display

Piccadilly Circus in the heart of London is one of the world’s most famous centres for big screen advertising, rivalling Times Square in New York, thanks to the number of displays that are mounted on the buildings.

Now a new space for an LED display has been created as part of the Piccadilly Lights setup and it is likely to attract interest from major brands looking to cement themselves in the London landscape.

The space is known as One Piccadilly and occupies the area above a Barclays bank and a Boots retail outlet, according to WIDN.

The LED display which is likely to be placed in this position will measure 25 metres across and 5 metres high, based on current plans. This significant scale should help it to attract the attention of the tens of thousands of pedestrians who pass through Piccadilly Square each day.

Organisers expect to have completed the installation of the screen by December, by which point the sole advertiser should also have been chosen.

Originally, the planning permission did not permit a single screen solution, but amendments were made to make this possible.

Each week it is estimated that Piccadilly Circus plays host to about two million people, over two thirds of whom are pedestrians.

It has been more than a century since the first display in the Piccadilly Lights arrangement was switched on, with Perrier being the first brand to take to the stage there. The longest serving advertiser is Coca-Cola, which set up in Piccadilly Circus in the mid 1950s, while the most recent addition is car manufacturer, Hyundai, which joined the fray in 2011.

The new space for an LED display will no doubt be occupied by an established brand, which feels that it could benefit from a higher profile.