News Articles London’s red buses go digital with Litelogic technology

Viacom Outdoor is bringing the digital technology revolution to London’s iconic red buses. In a UK media first, from November 28th a fleet of buses will hit the streets carrying the first-ever full-colour mobile digital advertising screens on the outside of the buses.
    
Online travel and lifestyle brand lastminute.com is the first advertiser to use the new high-tech buses, with its digital ads being carried around central London for twelve weeks in a campaign planned by Smarter Communications media agency.

Twenty-five London buses have been fitted with state-of-the-art LED screens created by Litelogic, which take up half the advertising space on the pavement side of each of the buses. Litelogic, who have a long history in providing bespoke digital solutions for large scale outdoor events using LED technology, tendered for the trial against the market’s leading providers in association with Hive Associates.  The Litelogic solution was the thinnest, lightest and most energy efficient solution yet seen in the transit market.  It is also the highest resolution and the most visible in sunlight.

The technology, BusLite 1, is based on Litelogic’s innovative Flatlite technology and supported by its sophisticated LiteCast operating system which allows advertisers to change their bus side displays remotely.

Advertisers will be able to remotely update each of the twenty-five screens, allowing them to send the public different messages and product offers at different times of the day – or as often as they wish. In the future, technology upgrades could even see the use of Global Satellite Positioning (GPS) systems allowing advertisers to run different versions of an ad depending on the location of the bus, bringing us a step closer to the sort of personalised digital advertising portrayed in the Tom Cruise movie Minority Report.

Stuart Parish, media planning & purchasing manager at lastminute.com commented: "lastminute.com is delighted to announce that we are working alongside Viacom Outdoor to launch digital advertising on London’s buses.

"Developing both new and innovative ways to reach our customer is always at the forefront of thinking for lastminute.com and this opportunity certainly fits the bill.

"The sites will offer us a stand out and impact that will be hard to ignore and I’m confident they will be a huge success for us. It goes without saying that when lastminute.com paints London buses pink with its cheeky advertising messages, it'll be hard to miss."
Nicky Cheshire, Sales Director, Impact at Viacom Outdoor added: “Our LED buses bring enhanced flexibility and dynamism to the world of outdoor. The ability to change messages at the touch of a button will allow advertisers to play on modality and truly engage with consumers as they move up and down the high streets of London”.