I was driving my supervisor to a meeting on Friday and she pointed towards a new billboard focusing on our recent American Idol successes. I was not able to see it because of driving, but I said what I thought the sign would read, and she told me that it read something different. I figured that I would check it out over the weekend.
I discovered that there were in fact two billboard campaigns being rolled out in conjunction with the Idol auditions coming to the Magic City for the first time. One is based on the campaign I’d heard of at the end of season 5, focusing on the city of Birmingham. This campaign is sponsored by Fox 6, the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce and Lamar Advertising. An image of this campaign billboard is below.
The other campaign has been created by the state’s tourism office. It focuses on America finding its musical voice in Alabama. An image of this campaign’s billboard is below.
Both campaigns seem very interesting. The idea of playing up our recent success in a national talent competition is a good one, especially considering the pending resurgence of Idol Fever sweeping the nation during auditions. N.B. Today’s auditions are in East Rutherford, N.J.; Birmingham’s is scheduled August 21. While they focus on two different aspects, they both talk about our current musical success. One may wonder why both were not combined into one, showcasing the Birmingham area. No matter, when cameras invade the Magic City next week they’ll see these and know that we’re proud of our guys. It would be nice to play up some of our musical heritage as well though, including Erskine Hawkins and the soon to be released compilation CD showcasing The Birmingham Sound, talked about in this post.
Speaking of posts, here are links to posts from a very prolific weekend (as some friends of mine would say)
- Art for the People: 2006 Artwalk Preamble
- Random Shots: Riding towards a rebirth
- Get a taste of the Birmingham Sound… the original Birmingham Sound
- Comparisons to the Second City: A look at the alternatives… no, really
- Neon in B’ham: Lighting up 20th Street with music
Enjoy the day.
Cheers.
