As we begin to understand our world in greater detail, big brands are taking to the sky. Or is that from the sky? Americans are becoming better acquainted with top-down aerial views, and savvy companies are responding in kind. Scroll down for high quality aerial imagery examples, or read on to learn why they care about what's up there.
All the world's a stage, but why would corporate brands go large and face the heavens? Let's explore how and who they hope to attract with these massive-scale logos:
First arising in the 1540s, the term Geography is defined as "the science of description of the earth's surface in its present condition," from the Latin geographia and Greek geographia. Christopher Columbus' travels to the new world were the subject of much excitement, and word was spreading that the earth itself was spherical and not flat.
The concept of latitude was well known from the sun's position relative to the horizon throughout the day, but a deeper understanding of longitude would take much longer. Magellan's circumnavigation of the globe from 1519 was a start, and further exploration began to map the earth's surface over the ensuing years. That Geographical system of earth measurement employed coordinates representing both latitude and longitude, or x and y. Now get ready for z.
Today's understanding goes well beyond – did you know our earth isn't exactly round? It's close, but we're spinning away our days while orbiting our sun each year. Centripetal force is greatest at the equator, where the surface bulges outward from the core. We've moved far beyond study of the earth's surface, too. Geospacial Technology adds height to the equation, giving rise to three-dimensional point maps referencing both the ground below and the sky above.
So what's the future for this named stadium space? In a word, scale – as aerial survey technologies deliver ever greater resolution and clarity, it's forseeable to see a tipping point where top-down views of known and upcoming brands become at once both commonplace and familiar. Aerial imagery use cases across government and industry are growing at a rapid pace, and with them comes the ready-made B2B audiences for targeted aerial brand impressions and accrued equity.
Business is looking down, and for once that's a good thing.