Big brands spend big bucks to get our attention. And with all of our electronic devices to distract us from looking at traditional ad placements like bus shelters, marketers have become more creative. Yahoo! installed its Derby video game in 20 San Francisco bus shelters – they were networked to compete against others waiting at other stops. (North Beach whupped the Tenderloin, btw.) Coca-Cola lined bus shelters with Velcro to demonstrate the soda’s new grip bottle. And 3M proved the durability of its security glass by piling stacks of cash into a bus shelter made of the glass.
But advertisers will have to think of something pretty clever to beat reality–and to evoke real emotion and loyalty. A few days ago, a woman gave birth at a bus stop in Chapel Hill, NC, with the help of a fellow rider-in-waiting. The new mother named her daughter after the woman who helped deliver her, Emily.