Yes, the TTC has billboards all around Toronto advertising nothing other than the TTC; no, they’re not costing you a thing.

A few readers have emailed to ask about the big, simple, black, white, and red billboards with a TTC logo sandwiched between the TTC’s website and phone number. Like most others we’ve found, the billboard above, at Queensway and Islington, isn’t perched over TTC property, which has led a few Torontoist readers to ask us how much the ads are costing the TTC.

Rage not: the ads are part of the TTC’s existing advertising contract with CBS Outdoor. CBS Outdoor, if you were unfamiliar with them, supplies ads like this and this and this and this to the TTC. According to outgoing TTC Chair Adam Giambrone, “there is no cost to TTC,” since “production and media cost is covered by CBS.”

We called CBS Outdoor Director of Marketing Michele Erskine for additional information (how many of the billboards are scattered around the city, how CBS determines where to put the ads) but she told us that she couldn’t comment on any contract her company had, even when it came to things like locations of ads. Giambrone had explained earlier, though, that the billboards’ locations are entirely at CBS Outdoor’s discretion, and are “unsold space,” meaning that the TTC’s billboard ads are filling billboards that would otherwise be empty. Next time you see one, don’t wonder what it’s costing you—wonder what other ad you don’t have to see instead.

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A large, electric-blue banner featuring an oddly tattooed youth and the question: “Does God care if I’m gay?” has been voluntarily removed by the Christian group behind the campaign after a flood of public complaints.

Bus Stop Bible Studies, whose stated mission is to put “God on every bus” in Canada, unveiled the ad on March 18 as part of an ongoing campaign featuring panels with twenty different “God questions” and a link to a website offering a corresponding answer to each. After receiving a number of complaints about the “Does God care…?” poster, the TTC sent the offending ad to its advertising review committee to evaluate whether the panels should remain posted. But, says TTC Director of Communications Brad Ross, “That point is moot now that Bus Stop Bible Studies has voluntarily decided to remove the ads.”

While Torontoist could not reach the group’s president, David Harrison, for comment, Ross said that Bus Stop Bible Studies’ request to remove the ads was made sometime between Wednesday night and early Thursday morning. As reported in the Star on Wednesday, the original content of the website was replaced yesterday with an apologetic dispatch that “It seems that the whole message of God’s justice and grace was being misinterpreted,” in addition to a note from the question’s alleged creator explaining that he “does not endorse or agree with the response” provided by Bus Stop Bible Studies, but “understand[s] the answer’s origin.”

According to Ross, it will take advertising agency CBS Outdoor a few days to completely remove the “Does God care if I’m gay?” ads from the vehicles. The other ads from Bus Stop Bible Studies’ question-and-answer campaign, however, will continue to be displayed on buses and streetcars citywide until November. We’re sure Ashley Madison thinks that’s fair.

The new CBS Outdoor Canada platform txt2go has a magic number.

The OOH company announced yesterday it has added text-messaging functionality to its outdoor campaigns, allowing viewers to short code 77888 and a keyword to receive promotional information, location-based offers, contests or discounts. Clients can monitor the results of the SMS campaigns via a new mobile website, developed for the company by New York-based Rip Road.

“It’s a mobile call to action,” CBS Outdoor Canada’s director of marketing Michelle Erskine tells MiC. “It enhances outdoor’s ability to reach the audience with an interactivity we didn’t necessarily have before.”

With the world becoming increasingly adept at text messaging, Erskine says the time is right to launch the service, as its appeal ranges from youth and young adults to parents who have picked up the practice to stay current with their kids. Because of its low cost, it’s a media tool that appeals to smaller businesses as well, she says.

“It’s an ideal time to offer this because you’ve got a strong number of people who are active text messengers, and since we’re reaching people when they’re out of the house, reaching them with an interactive component is just a nice marriage,” says Erskine.

“A short code and a keyword are easier to remember than a phone number and a URL,” she explains further. “So much of the world now is mobile. Life is happening outside of the house, and for those that are living off their mobile device, this is the best way to reach them.”

From the National Post
The TTC has rejected a bid by the Ashley Madison Agency, a website that promotes adultery, to wrap a streetcar with ads promoting the controversial site, along with the slogan, “Life is short. Have an affair.”

The commission’s advertising review committee, comprising six city councillors, made the decision this afternoon after being made aware of the potential ad campaign by the TTC’s ad agency, CBS Outdoor.

“This is an issue about community standards,” said Councillor Joe Mihevc, a TTC commissioner. “We are, at the end of the day, a public body and the citizens of Toronto own the TTC. In this case, the reason why I voted not to accept the ads was because they violate a basic community standard around cheating.”

“When it’s a core fundamental value around cheating and lying, we’re not going to let those kind of ads go on.”

Yesterday the TTC revealed it was considering running the ads on one streetcar, a proposition that evoked criticism from pro-family organizations.

“People are generally outraged by that type of a lifestyle and to advertise it in such a public fashion, in my opinion, is wrong, said Dave Quist, executive director of the Institute of Marriage and Family Canada.

Earlier today, Noel Biderman, CEO of Ashley Madison, offered to drop the fare by 50 cents for any rides taken on a streetcar with ads for his company.

TTC spokesperson Brad Ross said such a proposition was impossible, given that TTC fares are policy decisions.

From Marketing Magazine (November 25, 2009):
Outdoor ad campaign takes on Toronto’s outdoor ad tax

In response to an impending new law that would tax billboard advertising in Toronto, the Out-of-Home Marketing Association of Canada (OMAC) has launched an outdoor campaign to bring the issue out of city council chambers and into the streets.

OMAC objects to the estimated $10.4 million in new taxes, which it claims would outstrip estimated industry earnings of $8.8 million.

The new law goes before a council vote on Nov. 30 , and is scheduled to go into effect in July 2010.

The association put up 139 billboards yesterday–provided by Astral Media, CBS Outdoor and Pattison Outdoor–that drive curious passersby to CityBillboardTax.ca.

Copy on the billboards say “How can the City tax an industry more than it earns?” and “Any tax affects you. Even one on billboards.”

Rosanne Caron, president of OMAC, said the tax will act as “prohibition” on outdoor advertising, driving costs up for businesses and charitable groups that receive donated ad space.

“We feel it is critical to communicate what is truly at stake if the new sign by-law and tax are passed into law,” Caron said in a statement.

OMAC has asked the council to postpone the vote for one month to examine the law and “reach a workable solution for all stakeholders.”

Toronto Adscapes has been following this story. For related posts, check out…
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