New digital billboards will be lighting up several bridges and highways around Vancouver just in time for the Olympics.
The Squamish First Nation has approved a proposal to install digital billboards on its lands in Vancouver, West Vancouver, North Vancouver District and Squamish–land that is exempt from municipal restrictions on billboard advertising.
The three-metre by nine-metre billboards (10 ft. x 34 ft.), one situated on the route between Vancouver and Whistler, feature LED lighting and will display six static ads per minute, changing every 10 seconds.
Astral Media Outdoor will build and operate the digital boards for the First Nation and promises its technology allows instant updating of the signs to provide emergency traffic information or Amber Alerts.
The billboards are slated for several First Nations properties, including land near the Burrard, Lions Gate and Ironworkers Memorial bridges in Vancouver. It’s expected the billboards will pump millions of dollars into Squamish Nation coffers.
Astral already operates 10 digital “spectaculars” in Montreal as part of its “Digital Network,” which now includes the nine new boards in Vancouver as well as three in Toronto.
“Advertisers now have access to the latest outdoor advertising technology in Canada’s top three advertising markets,” said Luc Sabbatini, president of Astral Media Outdoor, in a release. “Our digital board technology provides valuable savings to advertisers by eliminating the cost of printing and installation.”
