Let’s be a fly on the wall at the meeting of a developer who’s planning a 63 story advertising tower with Las Vegas style LED billboards in the middle of a group of luxury high rise condos in the Miami design district.
“Let’s bring this meeting to order. First on the agenda is the name. It has to reflect what Miami is becoming. It’s the future! The chair recognizes Bob.”
“What about the ‘Towering Tower of Babble?”
“Good one Bob. Do you really think they’ll even notice it in a city where the ad is king? Everywhere you look we’re selling something. But really, let’s take the word ‘towering’ out. It will only be the 6th tallest structure here.”
“OK, get to the point, who do we have to ‘help’ to get some favorable zoning here? So far we’ve not only got the aunt of the Overtown CRA Chairman but a powerful campaign consultant on our team.
“Hey boss, we have elections coming up, do we have to start putting away some money to ‘donate’ to people who we want to love us?”
“No we have plenty from advertisers who are drooling at the prospect of commanding attention for miles around.”
“Mike, do you realize how many drivers we can distract with illuminated digital mesh screens of three 30,000 square foot surfaces, each with different ads flashing every 6 seconds? Not to mention the poor souls who purchase a condo within shouting distance of the monolith. They’ll have ads for sneakers and woman’s sanitary products leaching through their drapes 24/7. Forget about a view of the bay!”
“Bob, is there an upside to all of this?”
“Well, Mike, if you want to get drivers, pedestrians and condo dwellers to actually look up from their smart phones you’ve got to be the gorilla in the room.”
“Or the city, Bob!”
(Lots of laughter as the scene fades out to a sumptuous lunch with city planners at (Name the most expensive restaurant without video screens and background noise).
