• Adweek, Monday, March 9, 2009 11 AM

Cash-strapped municipalities across the country -- their coffers depleted by a dwindling tax base -- are chumming up with companies ready to pay for the honor of having their ad, name or logo on high-visibility civic properties. And, as the recession deepens, more cities are likely to explore these measures, reports Robert Klara. "If it's true that you can't fight city hall," he writes, "you may soon be able to buy an ad on it."

The initiatives range from naming rights to massive vinyl ad wraps. Chicago is currently taking RFPs that would allow companies to buy the right to name individual stations stops on its "L" transit line. New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority has already wrapped an entire subway train -- inside and out -- with ads, in addition to selling space on station columns, turnstiles and even the floors.

Advocates say that such deals are a no-brainer. Brands get exposure in high-visibility locations, and cities get a revenue stream simply by signing a few pieces of paper. Opponents, however, maintain that civic property is no place for a junk-food ad, and the proliferation of public-space messaging is, in the words of Vanessa Gruen, special projects director at New York's Municipal Art Society, "unnecessary, visual pollution."

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