I'm not sure why this struck me so oddly, but when I walked into Circuit City this weekend this is what I saw:



It seems like this Verizon ad is a big banner ad -- not on a web page but here on a building.

This banner ad is somehow different, and it reminds me of the subliminal ads that got so much publicity in the 1980s. It is not subliminal -- I guess you could say it is completely liminal. It is right out in the open for all to see. But we are so immune to ads now that many of us probably don't even notice it.

So you walk into the store, and you have been branded by Verizon as you enter. If you are buying a cell phone, does that message influence you at all? I would imagine that a hundred focus groups and a million dollars of research indicates that it does.

The other thing I am wondering is this: will we now start to see other forms of web advertising "crossing over" like this? Will CC start selling more and more ad space inside the store, treating the store, essentially, like a big web page? More banner ads? Popup ads? Interstitial ads? Roll-over ads? It will be interesting to watch.

# PermaLink - Comments: The big ads that you see on the floor in the grocery store are another example.
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