It's called "station domination"--the practice of renting every available surface in one of downtown San Francisco's underground BART stations to a single advertiser. Results have been mixed; I remember entering one station a couple of years ago during the famous Dove Intensive Firming Cream campaign and being surrounded by images of beaming, near-naked, cellulite-free giantesses. Unsettling, it was.
This week, though, the Montgomery Street BART station is dominated by Perrier, the century-old mineral water company that last made significant waves here in the 1980s. Last October the company launched a fizzy new ad campaign that has finally gone subterranean. The copy tweaks the famous Perrier logo and name by substituting English-language adjectives: crazier, flirtier, sassier. It's clever enough on paper, but look at how effective it is on these signs:
That's "Easier" over the escalator, "Speedier" over the stairs.
While you're waiting for your train, you can enjoy the childlike line drawings and verbal humor of the wall posters:
Update via MJF: With BART trains in parlous condition, maybe Perrier should add a sign that reads "Filthier."
For those of you of a certain age, the Perrier ads may recall a long-running print ad campaign for Napier costume jewelry. That campaign also played bilingual games with the -ier suffix, as in a 1974 ad currently for sale on eBay:
Other headlines read "Napier Is Sexier," "Napier Is Earthier," and so on. In this case, the word play was a pronunciation guide, telling us to say NAY-pee-ur. I'm not certain Perrier actually wants us to say man-lee-AY, but maybe we can start something.
We've got 'station domination' here in Boston. Apparently someone wants us to visit Montreal, because there are hundreds of subway ads telling us to do that.
Posted by: Rhea | June 13, 2007 at 08:31 AM