SAN DIEGO, Aug. 27, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- They're coming. The next time you look up in the sky, don't be surprised if your eyes suddenly focus on a new and unusual sight -- a low-flying mini-airship created by SkyMedia Airships, Inc. (www.skymediaairships.com) to take aerial advertising to new heights.
Greater San Diego merchants soon will be among the first nationwide to be able to display their promotional messages day or night, in the form of banner ads, commercials, or full color video presentations. They'll be seen on 30-by-60 foot display areas on both sides of the new 144-foot long airships, built to fly at altitudes of 500 to 1,000 feet and at speeds of 35 mph.
Advertising research has shown messages displayed on airships have the highest recall rate of all compared with newspapers, radio, TV or billboards, and now are about to be offered with the lowest lease costs in the industry.
While most consumers are used to seeing the giant Goodyear blimps hovering over major sports events, or providing other high profile coverage, beaming down messages displayed on their sides, advertising costs for such exposure have been prohibitively expensive for all but the largest multi-billion dollar companies.
"Our goal is to offer the same kind of exposure, but at a fraction of the cost," says Paul Cohen, President and CEO of SkyMedia Airships. "We have a new target market -- we call it the Fortune 100,000."
After two years of development and a series of successful test flights commencing last June, the privately funded company has moved into a post-R&D, pre-marketing phase. Its first airship -- SMA 1001 -- has already received its Federal Aviation Administration airworthiness certificate and authorization for airborne advertising.
The company's current focus is on increased utilization and marketing of its first airship, as well as construction of the second in SkyMedia's projected fleet of several dozen airships to be built over the next four years.
Because it uses hot air instead of helium, the airship deflates and can be packed up and stored in less than an hour, traveling from one venue to another in its own transport vehicle faster than other airships can fly. This portability will afford clients more time in the air above targeted market areas, since SkyMedia airships will not be subject to weather delays enroute.
Since operations are comparable to traditional helium ships, but at a much more affordable cost, SkyMedia expects this will ultimately permit a much larger advertising market sector to participate in airship advertising.
The airships, piloted by two-person crews, will carry large advertising banners during the day. During the evening, they will feature the world's only 1,600 square foot video/digital projection screens, allowing SkyMedia to fly the first full color video billboard as high as 1,000 feet in the air. The messages can be purchased in 15 to 60 second segments, and be digitally programmable by the airship's ground controllers.
SkyMedia Airships hopes to have its first and perhaps second airship ready to be visible to attendees at the next Superbowl in San Diego's Jack Murphy Stadium, as well as to hundreds of millions of others worldwide who'll be tuned into the premier event.
To date, without any advertising of its own, SkyMedia has received more than 300 inquiries from companies in 35 countries, all of them interested in taking their messages to the air via SkyMedia's pioneering airships.