"It is neither ugly nor beautiful but simply necessary," Massimo
Cacciari, the mayor of Venice, said in a statement. "We are forced to
move in this way because we have limited resources. We need to take
care of the buildings and monuments that make up the artistic beauty of
Venice, but to do so we need a hand, and the city's cultural
authorities are looking for sponsors."
It's unclear how the city is going about finding advertisers,
or how much the billboards will cost, but there appears to be interest.
"The screens in St. Mark's will be a great chance for high-end brands
to reach a largely upscale audience," said Mike Segrue, global chief
client officer at Kinetic Worldwide, an out-of-home company owned by
WPP Group. "The careful vetting of copy and creative should allow
Venice city council to retain some control and, of course, in the end
important renovations will be completed. It is probably a relatively
harmless necessary evil."
Venice: Would you like crass commercialism with your gnocchi?
Today, electronic billboards in St. Mark's Square in Venice. Tomorrow, McDonald's ads in the Coliseum; Verizon banners whipping in the wind athwart the Statue of Liberty; and Nike spots in the National Gallery of Art. Yeesh.