Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Sign of the Times: Another building billboard pops up in Detroit

From the mural that adorns the Cadillac Tower and stands over Campus Martius Park, to the Broderick Tower billboard that hawks cellphones to folks at Comerica Park, building-side billboards seem to be a growing trend in downtown Detroit.

Before you go popping off with a real clever "At least they're using that building for something!" comment, our latest sighting graces the side of 1001 Woodward, not one of the unused towers downtown.

Visible from the north side of the 1001 building is a huge ad for the 'Droid, a fact that tells us much about people in today's world. One, we must like smart phones. And two, we must really like smart phones. In fact, if the cellphone marketing competition track record holds true, I expect we'll soon see an ad for the iPhone plastered all  over the RenCen.

Before you get too stirred up thinking that these billboards indicate the over-commercialization of downtown Detroit, sit tight. We hear the city is selling naming rights to The People Mover stations. Up first? The MetroPCS Greektown station.

More cell phones. We should've known.