Painting Rooftop Advertising for Google Maps?

The web is abuzz today with a theory that businesses are painting logos on their rooftops in order to gain exposure on Google Maps. Interesting theory. Considering how old the Google Maps photo data is in Minneapolis (2-3 years?), businesses would have needed to lay paint before Google Maps was born.

Castle Medals O'Hare

Castle Metals Rooftop Logo near O'Hare Airport

Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Watch explains that this probably has more to do with airplane flight paths than Google Maps, and supports his theory by citing a rooftop painting service's web site that positions itself solely for marketing to air travelers. Of course, the painter's sales pitch may change now that businesses realize their roof is being viewed virtually.

Here are a few rooftop painting examples:

The Minneapolis/St Paul (MSP) airport recently completed a new North-South runway that takes travelers right past the Mall of America on approach. I didn't find any advertising, but wouldn't be surprised to see something once Google updates their photo data.

MSP and Mall of America

An IKEA has popped up on the empty lot to the North of the MOA. Will IKEA put their gigantic rooftop to work?

UPS and Fed Ex both have recognizable logos and large buildings near almost every airport in the US, if not the world, so are perfectly positioned to take advantage of this advertising medium.

How many people see this type of advertising?

Using 2004 passenger statistics for MSP, I came up with the following estimate:

Annual Passengers (MSP)	36,713,173
Daylight Landings	29,370,538
Correct Side of Plane	14,685,269
Passenger Looking out window	7,342,635
Roof Not Snow Covered	5,506,976
Correct Runway Approach	2,753,488
Potential Views Per Year	2,753,488
Google Maps & other online maps	+X?

Is that enough to justify painting your roof?

What do you think?

Does rooftop advertising leave an impression on viewers?

Will Google Maps take rooftop advertising beyond airport approach routes?

Have you found other rooftop ads on Google Maps? If so, share them in the comments.

We are looking at painting our rehearsals.com logo on the roof of our building. Anyone have any recommendations?

Werner General Contracting can add a logo or advertisement to your current roof or have it infused into your next single-ply roof. I think their number is 404-604-6574.

We at duro-last roofing make a white single-ply roofing material that is easily printed on and changed. We are located in the Northeast. If interested go to duro-last.com and look for rep in your area.

Comments

1. Posted by: Razlan on January 18, 2006 9:10 AM:

Personally I don't find the idea to be effective. Perhaps there will be some buzz about it when it get started, but really... how many people actually look out of their windows in flights? As if we don't have enough advertisements inside the aircraft as it is

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