Telefonica Cathedral Building Wrap

I apologize for continuing to deviate so far from the original theme of this blog (Advertainment solely in the United States)...but it is tough not to post about that which I see here in Spain...as with many other things, namely fashion and design, marketing innovations also seem to start over here in Europe. Once they are adapted on a relatively widespread basis here…the (often more conservative) marketing and advertising firms and agencies across the pond in the U.S. start to try them out. So, in my defense, many of the campaigns and Advertainment oddities are well worth their while here, and deserving of a post on this blog.

While the concept of the building wrap is anything but new, the approach that Telefonica, a Spanish telecommunications company that has monopolized (in the truest sense of the term) the market here has taken to the traditional building wrap is pretty neat.



The Catedral, (Cathedral…if you don’t already get the pretty obvious cognate) is an enormous, gorgeous Gothic church which was built in 1298. It is a massive structure that draws in hoards of tourists regardless of the season. But perhaps the key to the Catedral is that it is located relatively centrally in the city of Barcelona; with a large open courtyard in front of it through which numerous people walk through daily (not only tourists, but also Spainards, who are the people that Telefonica most needs to reach).

Right now, renovations on the Catedral are being done; renovations which are likely to take at least a year or more. So, as is often done, Telefonica bought ad space on the building wrap that hides the construction. However, what I personally find neat is that the building wrap itself depicts what it is hiding…the parts of the Catedral that it covers.

This is clever on Telefonica’s part for two reasons:

1. For the aforementioned reason, that it is not necessarily an ugly ad…and due to the fact that it shows the Catedral behind it, it makes the construction itself less obnoxious.
2. The ad itself says “Telefónica dóna suport a la restauració de la Catedral,” which, loosely translated, means “Telefonica donates to support the restoration of the Cathedral,” so Telefonica also comes off looking like a Philanthropist here…adding to the social good…and they may have even received tax cuts for their philanthropic efforts for the Catedral restoration.



Marketing can’t solve a company’s management problems, but it is a pretty important piece of the puzzle, and in the case of the Catedral building wrap, Telefonica seems to have done something right.

Motorola Razr2 Sidewalk Art

Apparently my previously bi-weekly postings have devolved into a once monthly affair, and for this I act contrite. Things are somewhat overwhelming across the pond over here in Barcelona right now; travel, work at ACV Global, and school have been keeping me pretty tied-up, and away from US Advertainment. However, it is always in my mind…in fact, through many of my travel exploits, having a camera in hand has been a positive for this blog. In fact, while the campaigns that I have seen here are not of the American variety, I feel as though some of the cool things (namely guerilla marketing tactics) that I have seen first-person here in Barcelona merit a position on this blog.

Recently Motorola had a nice little event down by the Mediterranean in Barceloneta (actually very close to my place) for their Razr2 (the new generation of the Motorola Razr being marketed with hopes of resurrecting the success of the initial model…and doing so much more than the Krazr even did). The best part of the event was a bit of sidewalk art. I have always been a Julian Beever enthusiast, as he is one of the best sidewalk artists that I have ever seen. I am not sure who exactly created this piece for Motorola, but it is of extremely high quality as well, and it was even better before the bicycle wheels, and people’s feet got to it and distorted it a bit.



I have always found sidewalk art to be a great unconventional marketing technique. While the exposure is obviously sub-par, the impact that the ads have is enormous. The other obvious problem is perishability, as the less-than-excellent picture above shows…if people don’t see the ads quickly, they aren’t likely to see them in good quality, if at all. However, I still believe that they are an excellent way to generate awareness, and spur a lot of good word-of-mouth. This is exactly what Motorola will need to break into the already over-saturated cell phone market with their Razr2 here in Spain.