Having witnessed the appeal of electronic digital sign (EDS) systems in the United States and Europe, Mexico�s outdoor-media companies have initiated their own EDS systems, which primarily serve as advertising networks and community media centers. The displays also post general-interest items and replay popular sporting events.

Atenti Publicidad, a Mexico City-based media-planning company, manages its own EDS system. Jorge Borobia, Atenti�s vice president of business development, said the company was established in 1997 to create an electronic-billboard network to modernize Mexico�s outdoor-advertising marketplace.

In its initial development phase, Atenti�s co-founder, Ricardo Lopez-Franco, collaborated with Coca-Cola to introduce electronic outdoor advertising. In launching this first part of the system, Atenti was responsible for sign operations, sign-content creation and distribution.

�Although Coca-Cola is also a founding partner, the signs are available as a general advertising service to the Mexican and international business community,� Borobia said.

Atenti has installed 17 video billboards throughout Mexico. Young Electric Sign Co. (YESCO), Salt Lake City, built 11 LED displays; Ad Art (now defunct) built four, and TechnoVision (Milan, Italy) built two. Six EDS displays stand in Mexico City, three in Guadalajara, two in Monterrey, and one each in Chihuahua, Ciudad Juarez, Nuevo Laredo, Acapulco, Leon and Tijuana. All displays measure 29.5 x 23 ft. (9 x 7 meters) in every city except Mexico City, which has at least five different-size displays.

Borobia says its EDS signs are placed in maximum-traffic areas. The company�s content-development department, D�Signs, helps clients plan and format their advertisements.

�At least 32% of all the advertising we receive is properly formatted for electronic billboards. Some clients provide previously produced television ads. Television and electronic billboards are two different media,� Borobia said.

He explained that most of Atenti�s spots are full-motion videos. Also, the EDS displays lack sound, which further differentiates the displays from television content and drives the need for newly designed content.

Katia Marambio, Atenti�s chief resource officer, said the company also advises clients to vary content on each board to avoid �billboard burnout� � seeing the same billboard ad repeatedly. Clients should show several different ads at various times during their advertising cycle so that passersby don�t always see the same ads, Marambio said. Because the company offers EDS advice to clients, its educational plan concerning EDS deployment, scheduling and content design has succeeded.

�Atenti�s client mix is now a combination of national and smaller, local companies, who now see the value of electronic outdoor as within their reach, as a way of finding new customers and increasing their visibility with the public,� she said.

A virtual private network

Atenti�s inclusive EDS system is managed through the company�s Virtual Private Network, which simultaneously distributes sign content throughout the system. Each sign is assigned a unique address, which allows system-wide, regional or single-city content distribution. Clients can buy time on any part of the system in various, day-part situations � a client can even advertise on one sign for one day, if needed. Spots tend to run five to 10 seconds.

Atenti�s more than 40 clients include Telcel, Coca-Cola, Hewlett Packard and Apple Computers. The company also promotes Melate, the state lottery, and announces winning numbers twice weekly.

Atenti�s EDS displays are installed along roads and on rooftops. At least 90% of sign placements are in the city, as compared to a few roadside placements. �Mexico City has grown so much,� Borobia noted, �that many freeways, once built on the outskirts, now pass through the city�s various metropolitan areas.�

Although roadside signs have been transformed into building-side locations, metropolitan traffic density approximates freeway circulation. �Traffic is so slow [sometimes as slow as 15 mph], our signs wind up with very long dwell times as drivers gradually pass the signs,� Borobia said.

The Mexican company faces similar EDS installation issues as its U.S. counterparts: widely varying local municipal sign codes and community managers who view signs as visual clutter. �Some municipalities feel their communities have reached a saturation level where they have more than enough signs in place and don�t want any new signage added to the area,� Borobia said.

In that situation, Atenti can buy a local, static billboard, dismantle it and replace it with an EDS version.

Officials in other cities where EDS boards are more welcome, such as Mexico City, Guadalajara or Tijuana, see the signs� promotional value in advertising local city programs as well as company products.

Atenti�s content mix, or �playlist,� constantly cycles across each board. A typical playlist is divided between 60% advertising and 40% editorial content, which comprises such public-service announcements as news headlines, time, temperature and exchange rates. The Consejo de la Publicidad (National Advertising Council) works with Atenti to promote a program which reinforces ethics and moral standards within the community.

Atenti recently enhanced community rapport by broadcasting an important soccer game. Borobia said, �Because this was a very important game [Chivas, played against the Brazilian national team in Guadalajara], not only did we have a pre-game celebration with a mariachi band and a big parade, but the local city officials closed down the plaza near our Guadalajara sign, from which we broadcast the soccer game to local citizens who couldn�t get to the stadium. At least 12,000 people watched the game on our screen.� Also, for the last two years, Atenti has aired a live broadcast of a Mexican, pre-Olympic, walking, qualification race on one of Atenti�s other screens. Atenti�s electronic signs have reached such importance that citizens reportedly set their watches to them. The time signal is supplied via the Internet from the Atomic Clock.

�Even though people have watches, cell phones and cars that tell time,� Borobia said, �our sign clocks have become the standard to which people adjust their other clocks.�

A Puma sportswear advertising campaign recently ran exclusively on the Atenti boards. An ad-recall study found that up to 32% of the selected interviewees remembered the company�s electronic billboards as the ad source.

The global village grows

Marambio and Borobia envision as many as 50 additional electronic billboards deployed throughout Mexico City. In addition, they�re evaluating the effectiveness of various display sizes and shapes to capture more viewers. The company, which takes to heart its community involvement, plans to develop a freeway-traffic messageboard system that broadcasts roadside-driving conditions to assist traffic management on Mexico City�s freeways.

Atenti�s outdoor EDS network has helped wire Mexico�s business community to the roadside �information highway,� while the global village plugs in around them.

Louis M. Brill is a journalist and consultant for high-tech entertainment and media communications. He can be reached at (415) 664-0694 or lmbrill@earthlink.net.