Monday 18 June 2007

Mr Kipling



I came across this roundabout a few days ago when I was driving into Rugby. You see a lot of signs such as Welcome to .... or the odd sculpture occasionally, but for some reason this just made me smile.

I like the fact that it is a sculpture made of shrubs not simply plants arranged in a pattern. Its such a simple form of brand awareness but given the fact that it is on one of the main commuter routes in the area, I imagine it would be successful. It made me wonder how many other companies could do something like this. Martin highlighted in his blog that there is so much "dead space" surrounding us and this in my opinion is one area that could be used effectively.

3 comments:

Lauren Davis said...

This reminded me of the type of sculptures Claes Oldenburg created, large objects put in unusual locations.

Many of Oldenburg's giant sculptures of mundane objects elicited public ridicule before being embraced as fun additions to public outdoor art. I think that this roudabout looks very effective especially because they have used outdoor plants to create it.

MDelin said...

How come some people think that roundabout art is useless? Is it because we do not want to be bombarded by visual stimuli at all time? Could it be that we actually like it when things are plain and simple? Some people could argue that the roundabout art in particular could be a danger to the safety of the drivers - a distraction.

Do we need 'nothingness' to appreciate 'something(ness)'?

Paddy McEntaggart said...

I think you raise a valid point Martin with regards to distraction when driving.

Speaking of distraction, I'm not sure if you guys are aware of this but Mini USA have special chips in them which you can store your name and then certain electronic billboards can detct you before you get to them and personalise the message on them.

http://motoringfile.com/2007/01/10/mini-usas-motorboards/