ADS GETTING IN ON THE GROUND LEVEL HUGE LAY-FLAT BILLBOARDS PLANNED FOR AIRPLANE FLIGHT PATHS, NEAR LAX.

Byline: ART MARROQUIN

Staff Writer

With the glut of advertisements hitting airline passengers everywhere from terminal walkways to in-flight magazines, companies will soon reach new heights in hawking their wares.

Signs the size of three football fields are expected to appear along the flight paths of Los Angeles International Airport and other international aviation hubs as part of a marketing blitz crafted by Ad-Air, a London-based advertising agency.

The signs are designed to lie flat on the ground and be spotted by passengers on inbound and outbound flights, said Kate Rosser, an Ad-Air spokeswoman.

The company plans to debut the ads next month in the United Arab Emirates, then branch out to London's Heathrow, Chicago's O'Hare, Tokyo's Narita and Paris' Charles de Gaulle airports.

The signs could come to LAX as soon as next year, she said.

"We'll be reaching millions of airline passengers in their seats and millions more through the power of word-of-mouth," said Paul Jenkins, Ad-Air's managing director. "Ad-Air will be offering advertisers a simply unprecedented marketing opportunity and creative agencies a unique canvas to work with."

Ad-Air executives said they hope to grab the attention of passengers during take-off and landing, when tray tables are locked, personal electronic equipment is turned off, seats are in their full and upright position and there's not much else to do except look out the window.

However, the content of such mega-sized advertisements may actually turn off some airline passengers, who tend to be more educated and earn more money than the average consumer, according to Ira Weinstein, president of Airport Interviewing and Research, based in White Plains, NY.

"There are some things that are in good taste, but something like this sounds really intrusive and won't be very welcomed by the discerning airline passenger," Weinstein said. "These signs might be effective in getting the word out on a new product, but it's a bad idea because it just might reflect poorly on the airport, the city and the residents."

Officials at LAX said they hadn't heard about the proposal, but they expect it will be met with skepticism by the airport and those living in the surrounding communities.

The supersized signs will be posted on private property, but Ad-Air executives declined to say who they are negotiating with.

The giant ads will be printed on a mesh-type fabric and suspended on low-level scaffolds to ensure that the signs are displayed flat and evenly.

It could cost companies about $160,000 or more a month to post the large ads, with contracts lasting six months to a year, according to Rosser.

art.marroquin(at)dailybreeze.com