Light in the tunnel

What an amazing use for large graphics! These advertisements are starting to pop up in subway tunnels around the world. Two companies Submedia and SideTrack are leading the way in this new utilization of, what used to be, dark empty stretches of tunnel thousands of people pass each day. They are created by placing either illuminated prints or LED monitors in succession in the tunnel that when viewed at the right speed from the train look like a movie.

Subway tunnels the latest ad billboards; by Daniel Terdiman, Staff Writer, CNET News.com

If you've been in a subway car in San Francisco, London, Boston, Rio or one of several other cities recently and thought you saw a short film playing along the dark walls of the tunnels, you're not going crazy.

In face, what you saw was one of the latest forms of advertising technology, which is slowly taking over one of transit riders' last refuges from commercial messages....

...And to those in charge of some of the rail systems using the ads, they're working.

"It's everything and more that I wanted it to be," said Graeme Hay, the commercial manager for London's Heathrow Express, which connects the British capital to its main airport. "I've had customers who said to me, 'Wow, that's fantastic. What is it?'"

To see it in action on London's Heathrow Express check out this video.