• The Wall Street Journal, Monday, September 14, 2009 10:27 PM

As out-of-home ads and digital screens proliferate, blank public spaces may become a premium. That seems to be the thinking in a $2.2 million, 3-year subway ad deal in South Korea. Financial-services company Hyundai Card and Hyundai Capital bought all the ad space in a new subway line, in three adjacent stations and in four trains serving the line.

The marketers decided to leave the ad space largely blank. Inside the stations, giant wall signs are all white, except for a small icon for one of the company's services plus a small company logo. At the doorways, giant white panels have a pink eraser in one corner and the text: "The world is flooded with too many ads. For a short while, we want to leave it empty for you."

For Hyundai Card and Hyundai Capital, the mostly empty ads marked the culmination of an identity campaign that started in 2004. Executives at the company haven't decided how long they will keep the ad space empty. They say they are working on new ideas for the space, including art installations.

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