Tuesday, January 17, 2006

SEE ROCK CITY. Now v.2.0.



Growing up in the South, it was almost impossible to go down an interstate or highway without seeing a barn roof with the words "SEE ROCK CITY" painted on them.

As the Web site Two-Lane.com shares:

It all began in the 1920's, when Garnet and Frieda Carter developed a garden walkway on their estate atop Lookout Mountain, in northern Georgia, overlooking Chattanooga. America was in the Great Depression when the Carters opened their gardens to the public in 1932. In what would become one of the most unique advertising gimmicks ever, Carter hired Clark Byers to paint "See Rock City" on hundreds of barns located along highways leading to Chattanooga.

Clark Byers died February 19, 2004 at age 89. From 1937 until his retirement in 1969, Byers painted over 900 barns in 19 southern states.


Seems as though roof advertising is coming back in vogue, although in a slightly different fashion thanks to Google Maps. Got a big, flat roof? Free advertising thanks to the Google "eyes in the sky!"

Via Gizmodo, TheInquirer.net and Adverlab.

-aB

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

That Target logo has been on that roof for years! Long before Google Maps... and probably longer than even Mapquest, etc.

That Target is just across the tollway from the end of a runway at O'Hare Airport here in Chicago, and the target is visible to landing planes.