This is a company that desperately wants to be purchased. The billboard is an attempt to make Rdio look bigger, flashier, and more glamorous (and successful) than it actually is.

The company is advertising everywhere, not just outdoor. Their digital campaign is upwards of $175k.

Their media buying agency, Horizon Interactive, probably suggested the outdoor placement as a way to "make a splash." I suspect the brand lift from the digital campaign will be a lot more effective once the Q4 initiatives end.

175k is so insignificant you can't make a dent with that amount.  

We're not talking about a blue ship advertiser here. $175k in premium and remant digital advertising a quarter is sizable for a relative small music startup that previously relied on word of mouth.

Blue CHIP.

*facepalm*

Its totally sizeable for them compared to how big their company is, but its super hard to move the needle in any big way with that amount.  If they do a good job of focusing their campaign on niche outlets they potentially could but if the creative is anything comparable to that Time Square ad it isn't going to connect.  I look at that ad and I still have no idea who Rdio is or what they do in anyway.  I can't even get the "feeling" for the lifestyle they're trying to sell.

175K is also inaccurate.

You actually spent time checking if this ad had any impact?

Can you not be happy or supportive of anyone? It seems you only get excited when people are getting laid off or companies are going under. Whats wrong with you man.

I can't be the only one that feels this way about DM lately.

You want a cheerleader who goes Gooooooooo team?  Go read billboard.

DMN is posing a very valuable question here which is the point that you're completely missing.  It's not DMN's job to support every over the top marketing effort.  

In an era where getting peoples attention is the hardest thing to achieve all DMN is pointing out is that these methods no longer work  

Yes, DMN, please only write nice stuff about nice people. We come here for cheerleading, not critical thought.

of course no one noticed. it's flashy but has no substance and is kind of odd. not the good kind of odd either like you know that asian girl that is really into cartoons and likes to dress like them, no way. I mean odd like the elephant mans face odd, like you look once and think 'oh god what have i done' odd.

So by odd you mean bad, right?

Saw the same design on the highway in SF.  I find it very difficult to read.  This kind of design works for Apple becuase people know what they do.  If you've never heard of Rdio and you see this you're just confused.  

That being said, I am rooting for them.  Do we really want a world with only Spotify and corporately owend servcies? 

How is Spotify the bad guy? How are Spotify & Rdio any different? You don't think Rdio has borrowed money?

So,

The hilarious part is that 90% of the billboards in Times Square are owned by Clear Channel.

The House Always Wins.

They have a side of a building in Brooklyn too, right next to the Brooklyn Bowl with Radiohead.  

The ad says 'Listen at rdio.com'.

On that point, I also checked the Alexa stats which track direct hits to Rdio.com.  It does show a modest increase -- nothing earth-shattering -- but you can tell something at least is going on.

/paul

I don't think pulsing Google Trends qualifies as the end all be all analysis of the effectiveness of a marketing campaign.

contrary to popular belief this isn't a good place for most brands, unless you are coke, pepsi, mcdonalds, or apple, to place an ad.  Virtually zero New Yorkers pay attention to these ads and the tourists could really give a shit either. They're simply in awe of the overall picture rather than any individual ads.  If the ad doesn't have something cool sticking out of it, it's even more pointless here. 

They could have spent a lot less money and done a cool street series of ads in more grass root NYC zones that would actually have some long term impact if no short term at all. 

The problem is Rdio isn't a big brand yet. So if anything this ad is probably assisting Apple with sales of their funky and colourful iPod touches. Advertising like this doesn't rely on words and so take away the words Rdio and consumers fill in the blanks.

This seems like a failed viral stunt to me.

Rdio is just not conducive to outdoor advertising. This is the thing you do, & then you send a press release out that says "Hey look out this outrageous thing we did!" But it doesn't seem to have gotten any traction outside a tweet by Snoop Dogg. (Oh is that what it means? Snoop Dogg listens to the Killers on Rdio? I would've never recognized him or figured that out in a million years. Can we play a game of guess who in the hell any of those people are? Apparently one is a Scissor Sister?) If they were trying to buy stories on DMN, Tech Crunch, etc, I'm not sure they got their money's worth.

Rdio, Spotify, Pandora and EVERY other legal new distribution channel must advertise in order to get people to use their service.  

Contrary to the opinion of many here, music does NOT sell itself.

Listeners do NOT form lines anywhere music offered (at least where monetization occurs).  It takes time, money, luck, sacrifice, experience, late nights, early mornings, and irrational dedication to build a successful company that monetizes music. Of course, those traits will sound very familiar to every professional musician, "successful" or not.  

You can be critical all you want, but when you attack LEGAL companies, you are criticizing people, like you, who are just trying to get listeners to pay for music.  You should think of these companies as your own Seal Team.  They signed up to get shot at all day long in order to fight pirates.  The one difference in this fight is that your Seal Teams are getting shot at by the Pirates and the people they are protecting.  

I started noticing the Rdio bus stop signs and billboards around but I have to say I only noticed them because I am an Rdio subscriber and thought it was interesting that they were actually advertising in this way. If I wasn't a subscriber I probably would have just ignored it or assumed it was an ad for iPods or something. 

It's just simply a bad add..

agreed.

Saw today that rdio has carpetbombed Brooklyn Vegan's site with ads - top, sides, and marquee boxes.

One of the images has a nice horsie about to get creamed by a car, with a lightning bolt in a guy's skull.

NOT very life-affirming.

Looks like you noticed... and spread the word. Not bad.