Let’s Celebrate Women’s History
The Project X Newsletter: Volume XXXI
There are so many notable accomplishments made by women throughout American history, and one of the most prominent was Rosa Parks, sparking the start of major changes in this country. She helped initiate the civil rights movement when she refused to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery Alabama bus in 1955. Her actions encouraged local leaders in the Black community to coordinate a bus boycott that lasted more than a year, and was led by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The boycott ended when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that bus segregation was unconstitutional, and Rosa Parks became a “national symbol of dignity and strength in the struggle to end racial segregation.”
Rosa Parks stated, “People always say that I did not give up my seat because I was tired but that isn’t true. I was not tired physically. The only tired I was, was tired of giving in.” In 1999, Parks was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honor the United States bestows on a civilian.
When she died at age 92 on October 24, 2005, she became the first woman in the nation’s history to lie in honor in the U.S. Capitol.
Read more about Rosa Parks and other Women who transformed our nation at the National Women’s History Museum.
Market Update: Los Angeles, CA
This week, we turn our attention to the west coast, and check-in to see how things are progressing in the City of Angels. While the pandemic peaked later in LA than New York, Los Angeles was hit just as hard. In East LA, a hot spot of infection, 1 in 10 people tested positive for COVID-19 as recently as December, marking the highest recorded tally of any region in the country. But as we push through March 2021 and into Spring, there have been some recent trends that hopefully signal their road to recovery.
Currently, in Los Angeles, restaurants are only permitted to offer outside dining along with take-out, drive-thru, or delivery, while wineries and breweries may also provide outdoor tastings. Indoor malls and other non-essential retailers are allowed to operate up to 20% of their occupancy, and essential retailers are allowed to operate up to 35% of their occupancy, with all non-essential retail businesses required to be closed between the hours of 10:00pm to 5:00am. And while gyms and movie theaters remain closed, they may begin to open starting next week, which is a positive sign of things to come. This will coincide with the reopening of indoor dining, as California is expected to have vaccinated 2 million residents of its most disadvantaged areas by the end of the week.
Similar to New York, air travel and mass transit in LA continue to lag. For example, according to Apple’s consumer mobility data, transit is down 55%, compared to walking (-7%) and driving (-6%). This is likely not to change much until vaccines have permeated the market and there is less risk to traveling in close quarters. Vehicular and pedestrian travel however remain close to the pre-covid baseline, and those numbers are justified by the recent traffic on the 405, 10, and 110. This coincides with prime large format and highway inventory starting to see their highest occupancy levels since last summer, especially in areas such as West Hollywood, Santa Monica, The Wilshire Corridor, and Downtown LA . As we get further into spring, eye-level placements such as kiosks, wildpostings, and transit shelters will be key formats to consider to reach consumers throughout the LA market as large format reaches near-sellout levels. As expected, experiential activations remain touch and go given the circumstances, but this is something we continue to closely monitor as more brands look to get back in front of their audience with product experiences.
We will continue to provide updates on various markets across the country in the coming weeks, and if you ever have specific questions, you can always reach out to hello@pjxmedia.com.
Out-of-Home Spotlight: Design Tip #2
Lead with your logo. When your audience is driving or walking by your advertisement and they only have time to comprehend one element, the place most people start reading from is the upper left corner. Place your logo there.
Hey Guideline - It's time to brag about your OOH creative!
Seated's logo has the best seat in the house.
Campaign Freeze Frame
Questlove teaches music curation and DJing in his MasterClass.
LA drivers on a quest to see the latest MasterClass board on Sunset.
News & Views
Pot Billboards Banned on Interstate Highways (via SF Weekly)
A new ruling in California is banning cannabis billboards on any highway that crosses state lines. The cannabis industry thinks the ruling represents terrible policy.
Buccaneers fans try, fail to troll Saints with New Orleans billboard (via Saints Wire)
You see sports teams or their fans buying a lot of billboards lately. It is great for the industry, but once this billboard owner received the creative they declined to post it and provided a full refund to the buyer.
Spring is the new Christmas as brands prep for the return of roaring '20s consumerism (via Adage)
Marketers from every vertical, including retail, airlines, and hospitality, prepare to unleash media spending in anticipation of an explosive sales uptick as the weather warms and consumers rush to resume their everyday lives.
