The Brave New World of Subway Advertising   What do American Express, Target Stores, Coca-Cola, Discovery Channel, Cadillac, Minute Maid, the Cartoon Network, and Calvin Klein all have in common? They are all breaking through the clutter of traditional ad spaces to grab the attention of potential customers. And in the process, they are dazzling them out of the boredom of riding the subway. Subway advertising has been around nearly as long as the subway itself. But advertising media pioneers Submedia, Sidetrack Technologies, and Motion Poster give the old venue a new twist. By employing an innovative technology similar to that of a childhood flip book, they are lighting up dark subway tunnels and turning them into valuable showcases for major advertisers. AT the core of this new method is a series of lit panels containing static images. The panels occupy 500 to 1,000 feet of space that normally contain only graffiti, grime and the occasional rat. When viewed fro a standstill, they appear as simple still images. But when a subway passes by, they come to life for riders as 15-to-30- second full-motion commercial. Having just another place to air a commercial might not seem so appealing to advertisers. But in a media environment where consumers are increasingly bypassing ads, the placement of these ads in subway tunnels presents exceptional possibilities. Advertisers are clamoring for opportunities to break through the typical clutter. And these ads are so unique, most consumers have never seen anything like them. “We think this will catch people so totally by surprise that when they see them, they can’t help but watch them, “ said Dan Hanharan, Royal Carribean’s senior vice president of marketing and sales. But the uniqueness of this medium is only part of the formula that gives these advertising agencies the belief that they’re creating a revolution. The rest is based on the nature of the subway audience: captive and bored. “Everybody overwhelmingly says it takes away from the boredom of the ride.” Said Joshua Spodek , founder of New York city Submeia. “It’s not like it’s taking away from a beautiful view, loke a billboard as you’re driving around a beautiful area in Vermont. A subway tunnel is a semi-industrial environment.” Whether it’s because the ads give a bored audience something to do or because this new wave of out-of-home advertisements is truly cutting edge, industry officials claim that the public reaction has been overwhelmingly positive. Transit authorities even claim that customers bombard them with compliments about the ads. Exaggeration? Wishful thinking? Not according to Gabe Grant, a regular rider of Boston’s Red Line. “Wow. They do think of everything. I’m pretty psyched about that it’s not the most exciting ride without it.” Comments like this make it easy to believe the claims of underground advertising agencies. One estimate asserts that more than 80 per cent of consumers remember the advertised product while only 20 per cent have that same level of recall for television ads. This means big ad revenues, and not just for the agencies. Mass transit organizations potentially can realize a big source of secondary income when thy lease out this unused real estate. Currently brightening the tunnels of numerous mass transit systems in North and South America, Asia and Europe, these advertisements represent something every advertiser dreams of: an ad that people go out of the way to look at. In a world that is becoming increasingly skeptical about too much advertising , this is an express ride to success.   Please answer the following question: Based on the factors that lead to adaptation, what should the ads’ creators consider to avoid the potential habituation to this medium?