Rock Climbing In Times Square For Toyota Rav4 Hybrid
Gail Chiasson, North American Editor
We sure haven’t seen rock climbing in Times Square before, but there’s a first for everything.
To promote the Toyota Rav4 Hybrid, Out of Home America Wilkins Media (OOHA Wilkins) of East Hartford created a 3D climbing wall on a billboard in New York City’s Times Square.
Climber half-way up the billboard
“This is the tallest outdoor climbing wall in New York City, and the first billboard of its kind in Times Square,” says Patricia Turosz, director of client partnerships at OOHA Wilkins.
Turosz worked in association with ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi LA beginning last September to make the billboard happen. The wall was coordinated with Saatchi & Saatchi’s ‘How far will you take it?’ campaign on traditional media for the Toyota Rav4 Hybrid.
“It took six months to arrange,” says Turosz. “First we had to find the right vertical space with a static board that could take 3D rock props, and then we had to get an outdoor vendor who was willing to allow a person to climb its billboard,” Turosz said. “Unsurprisingly, given the risky nature of the project, we were rejected by many big outdoor companies.”
OOHA Wilkins found the location at 47th Street and Seventh Avenue, on the Hilton Doubletree Hotel, bid the job to several prop makers, and spoke to a structural engineer to gain the assurance that the City of New York would approve such a project.
“We also had to get a special event permit from the City of New York and only obtained it two weeks before the wall went up,” says Turosz. “It was nail-biting time.”
A climber nears the top
The 6,000 pound climbing wall is more than 100’ high. The lead climber, David Morton, one of three professionals who climbed, was a consultant on the Everest film and has scaled Mt. Everest six times. The amateur climber, Christina Fate, had never rock climbed until five weeks before the event. The climb started on March/22 and the climbing event ran for three days. Installation had been done the previous week.
Needless to say, a lot of people looked up, winning lots of attention for the automobile.
The wall is up for about four weeks but will be dismantled any day now. The climbing transpired during the week of the New York International Auto Show.
OOHA Wilkins is believed to be the largest independently owned out-of-home media buying service in the U.S.. It is headquartered in New York with offices across the US.
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