Victory's Mass-Media Message

DALLAS-With more than advertising revenue at stake, Ross Perot Jr. is betting on the best-of-the-breed of high-definition LED to spread the word near and far that Victory Plaza is Dallas' place to be.

"The investment in the technology will be as much as the buildings themselves," Jonas Woods, president of Hillwood Capital, tells GSR. The pair of four-story, mixed-use buildings flanking the street in front of American Airlines Center will sport 10 LED panels, with more pizzazz than the Coca-Cola sign in Times Square, he says, and an advanced directional sound system with invisible zones so continuous-feed messages ring loud and clear.

Victory Media Network, the name for now, will be the gatekeeper for the LED kingdom and whatever else evolves from the play. "Unlike Times Square, where the LED signs are controlled by disparate groups, this will be controlled by one group," Woods says. "We will have the ability to create really dynamic messages and impressions...and to dominate the message to the consumer."

The subliminal message is every tourist will remember the LED scene and be sure to spread the word to others as a must-see attraction before making a trip to the "Big D." Not even Tokyo's building advertisements can match what will become Victory Plaza's beacon. "We want them to say 'you've got to go to Victory to see the LED panels,'" he says. "It's unparalleled in this country and there's nothing else like it in the world."

The West and East Plaza Buildings, spaced about 125 feet apart, each will have four 15-feet-high by 25-feet-wide LED panels, horizontally positioned side by side. A tower on the West Plaza Building will be topped off with a fifth panel, 30-feet high by 20-feet wide, while the East Plaza gets a 20-feet-high by 30-feet-wide board on the structure's southeast corner. Inside the buildings will be a high-brow mix of restaurants, nightclubs, bars and even some office space.

Advertisers can rent one board, multiples or the whole shebang. Air time contracts can be one minute or several years. To sweeten the prospects, LED panels can be butted to create a 50-foot-wide streaming ad in a Hollywood-style production with a Madison Avenue avant-garde stamp.

Woods says the high-tech, hard-sell LED story board is the outgrowth of advertising sales for American Airlines Center. "We had a really good experience when we were selling the advertising at that building," he says. "We felt this (Victory Plaza) was an opportunity to do a Times Square feel."

American Airlines Center's panel sponsors are Dr Pepper, UPS, Ford Motor Co. and naturally the airlines and sports teams. Woods says talks have begun for the new venue--a deal could be inked in the coming months. "It doesn't do us a lot of good to sell that space too early," he says. "It doesn't need to be pre-leased...like office or retail." He's not saying too much about who's doing the talking, but did acknowledge another vehicle manufacturer is interested in Victory Plaza's primetime placement. "Every imaginable consumer product company is a prime candidate for this kind of inventory," he says.