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Logos to replace man in the moon, ad man predicts

Elinor Mills Former Staff Writer
Elinor Mills covers Internet security and privacy. She joined CNET News in 2005 after working as a foreign correspondent for Reuters in Portugal and writing for The Industry Standard, the IDG News Service and the Associated Press.
Elinor Mills

Ads are everywhere: on television, buses, store check-out displays, airplane banners in the air, in newspapers, on top of buildings, in the Nevada desert, and even on human beings.

Where do you go when the earth is saturated with marketing and the sky is the limit? The moon, predicts Scott G., consulting creative director at G-Man Marketing.

In a tongue-in-cheek column on the Advertising Industry Newswire, the rogue ad man predicts that advertisers will eventually aim high, using satellites and image projection to display ads and logos on what could become "the biggest billboard of all time."

"Oh sure, it will involve high technology and a lot of chutzpah, but just think of the possibilities: the Nike swoosh glowing in the night sky like a celestial neon sculpture. Or Apple's polished apple. Or Starbucks' flowing-haired queen," he writes. "Two thousand one hundred sixty miles in diameter. Sure, (the moon is) nearly a quarter of a million miles away, but there's an unobstructed view of it from every city on earth."

The idea appeals to some marketing types who have already contacted him about collaborating, he said in an interview on Thursday. He said he wrote the column to try to jar people out of their advertising-bombarded complacency and provoke some discussion.

"We've become horrendous in putting logos and brands on everything," G said. "It was starting to bother me because I make my living doing ads....I'm embarrassed at how successful we've become in marketing. It's too much."