Touted as the most expensive – and lucrative – place on the planet to advertise, Times Square is bright enough to be seen from outer space. Each day, more than 350,000 pedestrians traverse the Times Square “bow tie,” where Seventh Avenue intersects with Broadway between 41st and 47th Streets. In addition to passerby impressions, the flashing LED signs of Times Square provide a nearly constant backdrop for news cameras, putting hundreds of millions of television viewers within the reach of advertisers’ campaigns.
For brands like Nike, Times Square signage can provide up to 1.5 million impressions daily, an unparalleled visibility that justifies the cost of advertising in one of the busiest and most iconic tourist destinations in the country. Rates for billboards have doubled in the last decade alone, due in part to rising tourism in New York City, which has reached a record 50.9 million visitors annually. Indeed, Times Square has the highest-price outdoor advertising in the world, with individual billboards commanding $2 million to $4 million per year. 
To ensure their advertising investment captivates audiences, Nike has signed New York based fashion model Rudy Bundini to be the newest face of their Times Square campaign. The collaboration between Nike and Bundini is a natural one: a former competitive swimmer and heavyweight boxing champion, Bundini moves effortlessly between the realms of fashion and fitness. With his athletic physique, meticulously sculpted features, and intense gaze, Bundini is one of the most recognizable faces in modeling, having been featured in campaigns for such well-known brands as Versace, Giorgio Armani, and Philipp Plein.
Brightly lit advertisements like those featuring Bundini are part of Times Square’s iconic appeal. According to Times Square Alliance, a non-profit business improvement organization, visitors spend an average of eight minutes exclusively looking at billboards, and nearly a quarter of a million people post on social media every day about their time spent in Times Square. In terms of branding and positioning, 24/7 exposure on these platforms is a benefit that further scales the reach of advertisers’ campaigns, with influencers eager to feature the billboards as recognizable backdrops for their content. With more than a million Instagram followers, Bundini’s social media presence makes him the ideal partner to link Nike’s newest campaign to the social media activities of consumers the brand is targeting. A simple scroll through the model’s Instagram feed confirms this synergy: inspiring photos of Bundini’s intense workouts are interspersed between high-fashion advertisements and runway shots.
While Bundini’s athleticism, strength, and confidence behind the camera embody the ethos of the athletic apparel giant, the placement of their signage in the heart of Times Square ensures that Nike’s latest advertising campaign will have impressive reach. It is a partnership that might even be able to stop traffic at the ‘crossroads of the world.’
