Big-screen billboard launch set for July

A second attempt is being made to launch giant digital screen outdoor advertising in Auckland.

Promoters of the venture say a 20 sq m display will be screening TV-style ads from a site on west Auckland's busy Lincoln Rd by July.

Similar screens are planned for central Auckland and Christchurch.

Hawkhurst Media Services, a well-established magazine advertising sales company, has set up a new division, OnScreen Advertising Sales, to promote the venture to advertisers.

It is working with PopTech Media, the local franchise of C-Nario, a digital signage company based in Tel Aviv.

A previous attempt to launch a digital billboard in Auckland ended in February last year when the plug was pulled on a 5m by 4m screen on the corner of Fanshawe and Halsey Sts.

The company behind that venture, Digital Light Solutionz, was placed in liquidation at the end of a six-month trial of the screen.

The liquidators of Digital Light Solutionz said last year the liquidation was the result of "differences of opinion" around an informal joint-venture arrangement between New Zealand and American shareholders.

Tony Scott, business development manager for OnScreen Advertising Sales, said the unrelated earlier venture had been an "unfortunate start" for outdoor display screens.

He said backers of the new project had secured resource consent for the Lincoln Rd sign.

The screen planned for the site has been manufactured by Philips and is now en route by boat from Holland. It is expected to be installed around mid-June.

PopTech Media plans to install more screens at the St James Theatre in the Auckland CBD and Christchurch's Cathedral Square.

Future sites in Manukau, Wellington, Tauranga, Hamilton and Dunedin are also planned.