Global, TfL and London's advertising

Part 8 of Eco Emergency

Have you heard of “Global”?

It’s the umbrella organisation responsible for shows including The News Agents and LBC.

Global is partly responsible for turning Carol Vorderman into a political star:

Perhaps you know all this already. But I bet you don’t know that Global is a huge player in the outdoor advertising space, in September winning a massive contract with TfL:

Whose advertising seems to be going really well (a coincidence?):

Last week, while researching the article below, I first discovered that Global runs something called “The Outernet”.

You may have spotted it around Tottenham Court Road; a huge virtual display that tourists sometimes sit/ stand in to watch.

outernetglobal

A post shared by @outernetglobal

It was used to encourage young people to vote:

The Outernet and the Mayor of London are partners…

… and more recently Sadiq Khan used the Outernet to promote Black History Month:

The Independent also collaborated on the project:

outernetglobal

A post shared by @outernetglobal

And not for the first time. In March it had an exhibition for International Women’s Day that featured Vorderman among other women:

Today I spotted an interesting development in the TfL advertising space (aside from the Communist advert earlier in this piece).

I don’t know if this is related to Global but Led by Donkeys posted about the London Underground advertising their book:

Outdoor advertising is, of course, pretty central to their campaigning.

Then there was the fact that, last week Louise Haigh made a big song and dance about Euston Station’s advertising board being switched off.

There was something disproportionate about her announcement and the subsequent coverage.

Given the amount of things wrong with London that Labour constantly ignores - even people being stabbed to death - why did an advertising board become such a big story?

Is it to prepare us for another big advertiser - say Global - filling the space?

Last point: I couldn’t help notice that the papers that got “the story” about the advertising board were The Evening Standard, which backed Khan for Mayor, and London Live.

Both are owned by Lord Lebedev, a Russian-British businessman, an investor in The Independent (which has twice collaborated with the Outernet).

Small world!