But Reuters and Nasdaq, whose buildings face each other across Broadway and Seventh Avenue at W. 43rd St., are in a unique position to combine their advertising assets.
THE Reuters sign and the Nasdaq Tower in Times Square are two of the most valuable advertising spaces in the world.
Now, with a deal to be announced today, advertisers can rent both spaces at once — and create a virtual roadblock on the south side of the square.
It is a partnership that the two companies hope will leverage both ad spaces to stand out even more in a sea of advertising.
Reuters and Nasdaq made the deal late last week, just as advertisers are beginning to roll out more outdoor advertising to take advantage of warmer weather and higher foot traffic.
Advertisers will have the option of running the same ad on both signs, or even half of the ad on one building and the other half on the other building. Or the two signs could work in tandem. “It just made a lot of sense to put the two together,” said Bruce E. Aust, the executive vice president of the corporate client group for Nasdaq. “You’re getting two of the most dynamic towers in Times Square.” The companies dubbed the deal “Times Square, Squared.
“We’re neighbors, we look at each other’s buildings all day every day, we got to talking and realized the power of the two together was probably more powerful than the power of them separately,” said Walker Jacobs, a vice president and the head of media sales for Reuters, calling the deal a “one-stop shop where buyers can pick up the phone and roadblock Times Square.”
“We think it’s going to change Times Square advertising,” he said, adding that most campaigns involving the signs would be priced in the mid- to high-six figures, with some possibly rising into seven figures, depending on the length and complexity of the campaign.
One thing is for sure: it is the high season for outdoor advertising, when the warm weather causes more pedestrians to flood the sidewalks, cars to fill the roadways and marketers to conjure up ever more provocative ways to grab attention through outdoor spectaculars.