• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, April 11, 2012

Tim Tompkins opened MediaPost’s Digital Out-of-Home Forum this morning with a great presentation showcasing the Time Square Alliance’s new “Times Square Moment” initiative – basically an attempt to program a network of signs in key locations surrounding Times Square with compelling, non-commercial content. Interestingly, the first example of it – timed to the Spring season in NYC – features a slow-motion video of flowers opening, then exploding into pollen. It was something bound to resonate in the minds – and noses – of any seasonal allergy sufferer (hence the reason for the this post’s headline).

That made me wonder why the Times Square Moment’s aren’t sponsored, because I could think of any number of allergy medication brands that would love that sort of adjacency.

Tompkins said it’s possible the “Moments” could develop pre-roll or post-roll type ad opportunities, but nothing has been formalized.

The main goal, he said, was to get the number of screens – about 20 now – up to a critical mass or at least 40 or 50 key Times Square screens within the next year.

Another interesting aspect of the “Moments” is that they are dayparted, and run each night between 11:57 to midnight, which wouldn’t necessarily be an optimum time in other media, but in Times Square, it’s more or less prime-time.