On my way into work today, I was listening to our nations broadcaster (otherwise known as the CBC) where I heard a fascinating story on Sao Paulo Brazil. It seems that this large Brazilian city has implemented “Lei Cidade Limpa” or “The Clean City Law” for those of you who don’t speak Spanish. The Clean City Law is meant to… well… clean up the city, removing all forms of pollution. To start, the mayor decided to remove “advertising pollution” and ban all forms of outdoor advertising (you should probably see where I am going with this post). As of April of this year, all major billboards, signage, window advertising, outdoor video screens, ads on busses, posters etc have been removed from the cityscape. Even pamphleteering is illegal! To date, almost $8 million in fines were handed out to violators of the new law.
So… If you speak Spanish, would like to re-locate to Brazil, own a scooter, and have some sense of how to market and sell paid search or pay-per-click advertising – I imagine you could snag yourself a job in Brazil.
The cynic/conspiracy theorist in me says Google has their red, yellow, green and blue hand in the middle of this little pie!
Here is a news story with more details