About the video: Who knew that by publishing an innocuous little blog one might become the focus of international financial intrigue? It seems that without even meaning to, I have added another job title to my resume: international advertising analyst. Some of you might remember a recent entry I wrote on the “Disneyfication” of Times Square. I know not many of you probably keep up with the comments around these parts, but a few days after I posted that entry, I got a comment from someone. I responded and thought the person probably lived in NYC. Well, I was a little off – the person lives in Australia! The person owns stock in the company that constructed the sign: Lumacom. If you are interested in the comments, go back in time here. He expressed an interest in having me take some more pictures and if possible, video, of the sign. Who was I to say no to my new part time job? My camera does have a video capture feature, but unfortunately it is pretty limited. The zoom function has a very limited default setting. I did try to take a video of the sign, but it didn’t turn out too great. Sorry Lumacom folks, but this is the best that I could do. I know, pretty pathetic. I seems I may have to purchase other equipment if I want to take my new job seriously. The video is so small that I probably should explain it. Basically the promo is for the Lion King, Simba’s face, starts large and then envelopes the whole board. It then spins around and the words “Lion King” follow. There are actually many different videos that are running on the sign: everything from the company Logo, to scrolling letters (This Is A Test), to fashion models strutting down the runway. The video is actually of very good quality for such a large sign. As far as still shots, my camera does okay in that category. Below are some pictures I took during the day and at night. See captions for my feedback. The Lumacom sign without any zoom 7 times zoom 11 times zoom Sumo Advertisement . . . didn #8217;t know there was Sumo in NYC. Not a good choice, how about an advertisement for NYC #8217;s largest commondity, pizza? Stock market ticker. Well, getting better, but isn #8217;t that what CNN Financial is for? The company that owns the board. Good promotion, get your name out there. Appropriate, The Lion King production is practically below the sign This is a test, the words scroll from right to left Good clarity Credit card company, gee, like I don #8217;t get enough of those offers in the mail Now, as far as my feelings about the sign, they are mixed. First of all, I think the sign is a good idea and the quality is good. I live probably one mile from the sign as the crow flies and I can see it very clearly with the naked eye (well, I do wear glasses but you get the point). But, the sign IS on the top of a building. I am not sure that the largest group of people in New York City can see the sign: pedestrians. I’ll have to walk around and report back, but I very rarely find myself staring at the tops of buildings. Maybe it’s because I’m a local, but if all locals are that way, that leaves tourists. Tourists are more worried about where they are going than paying attention to ads I think. Besides, tourists pretty much have their mind made up about what they are going to do before they get here. So, I’m 50-50 on the whole venture. Would I buy stock? Perhaps. The skyline of the city does draw a lot of attention, but it’s seems the board might be placed in view of more people. Maybe the sign can be seen from hotels, I don’t know, I don’t stay in hotels. Overall Times Square is signified by gaudy advertisements, so I guess this one fits right in because it is higher and brighter than all the rest. I guess I do have one final comment. More people visit the Empire State Building than about any other place in all of New York City. And if you stand on the top of the ESB, you can’t see the sign because the sign is on the west side of the building and you can #8217;t see that side from the top of the ESB. Just my thoughts. I could be entirely wrong. After all, I’m new at this job. Recent .mov files found by Blogdigger