Times Square as publishing platform?

“Times Square is becoming, in a way, a publishing platform,” said Peter Stabler, director of communication strategy for Goodby, Silverstein and Partners, an advertising agency that is part of the Omnicom Group. “What happens in Times Square is no longer strictly the province of location. You can experience things that are happening there, even if you’re not there.”

On sites like YouTube, Flickr and MySpace, an army of tourists and residents are spreading advertisers’ messages well beyond Manhattan, using their cell phones and video cameras as they walk through the marketing crossroads of the world.

Consumer brand companies are taking advantage of that by hosting elaborate events, fully aware that those events are great fodder for footage. Hosting events in Times Square, advertisers said, is like buying product placement in a TV show or a movie — except the cameras are held by consumers and the placement is on the Internet.

Experiential marketing, as the ad industry calls such campaigns, is intended to give people something they can try-out and photograph. Companies are holding such events in cities around the world, but advertisers said Times Square is unparalleled in its reach. People around the world recognize Times Square in photos and videos online and are more likely to view them, marketers said.

from NYTimes