For work or in our leisure time, some people spend several hours a day in the car. Whether it’s to meet clients on the South Shore, in Greater Montreal or on the North Shore, we spend a lot of time on the road.
It is therefore easy to notice outdoor advertising and large format billboards in our travels, especially when we are stuck in traffic. We then have plenty of time to observe the landscape. These take many forms and offer various technologies and mediums.
The most visible type of signage along highways is obviously the large 40 foot by 16 foot signs, often referred to as “Pattison signs” or recently for the past five years, digital “Outfront” signs.
The trend shows that now, the old traditional Pattison billboards in printed paper with a blue backing containing the glue (also called “Billboard”) are increasingly replaced by digital billboards, like gigantic televisions. This last display mode is more up-to-date, brighter and has total versatility, being able to present infinite visuals without any need to move the teams of installers as in the past.
Historically, Montreal has always been a hub for large companies and for international trade because of its port and airport. The city attracts global industrial giants, large chain stores, the entertainment industry and also, in another dimension, promotional displays for political parties and government messages.
Thus, for the past ten years, there has been a sharp decline in interest from large companies in the display of traditional printed signs. Large chains such as Tim Hortons, malls and some more upscale chain stores have already transitioned to advertising “Outfront” signs, Pattison’s division that handles digital signage.
On this subject, Outfront understood the enthusiasm of companies to invest in digital signage and consequently acquired Dynamic Display on June 14, 2017, thereby considerably increasing its digital signage network everywhere. in the country.
Apart from the large highway signs, we can also count on the “wild posting”. This type of display is visible on construction site barricade panels, usually made of plywood. They are simply paper posters plastered with liquid glue by roller. The company that holds the monopoly of this type of display in Montreal is Publicité Sauvage. This type of display is mainly used to promote cultural offerings in Montreal: new repertoire films, dance performances, upcoming Cirque du Soleil performances or cultural programming from Astral or Spectra. You can find several on Saint-Laurent, Iberville and Sainte-Catherine streets and in several other places downtown where there are construction sites, which is not uncommon!