Corona connects Times Square billboard to Facebook.

Bron: www.screens.tv
Beer company Crown Imports is linking a digital billboard in New York’s Times Square to the Facebook page that promotes its Corona Light brand.

It will hire the 40-foot-high billboard from 8 November to 6 December as part of its campaign to encourage people to click the Like button on its Facebook page.

Already, the number of Facebook users “liking” Corona Light has jumped from 3000 in August to nearly 90,000 today. That may reflect its success as one of the few light-beer brands to have grown sales in the U.S. over the last year.

And when the digital billboard goes live, Facebook members who “like” Corona Light will be able to upload photos for display in Times Square. Images of the billboard will also be shown on Facebook.

The new campaign is not the first time that a digital billboard has been hooked up to Facebook – LocaModa, for example, has used a Times Square screen to display Jumbli, its game that can also be found on the social-networking site. But Corona’s decision to pair the two media appears to be confirmation that such linkages have moved beyond the proof-of-concept stage into commercial reality.

The campaign, devised by agency Pereira & O'Dell with media buying by Horizon Media, is part of a push to engage customers in their twenties and early thirties and position Corona Light as more dynamic than sister brand Corona Extra, which is promoted with a laid-back vacation theme.

“The long-term strategy is to have this programme help us build a base of consumers we can re-engage throughout the year, thus developing long-term relationships and dialogue,” Jasmine Summerset, strategy supervisor at Pereira & O'Dell, was quoted as saying.