VIENNA, AUSTRIA: Officially ratified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest advertisement ever seen, the world's biggest billboard has been grabbing the attention of football fans flying into Vienna Airport for the closing stages of Euro 2008. Covering an area of more than 50 football pitches, online betting company Betfair has spent the last four months growing different kinds of plants to spell out the message 'NO.1 FOR FOOTBALL AND STILL GROWING!'
With dimensions of 1380m by 316m and total area of 436 000m2, local farmers and horticulturists have been working on the field since February 2008. It can be seen on the final approach to Vienna International Airport. The advertisement's official record title is 'The World's Largest Advertising Hoarding'.
It took nine tonnes of wheat seed, 53 000 marigold plants, 1.5 kilometres of cotton netting as well as rape, camomile, mustard, clover, poppies and grass to create the billboard. The individual letters are 44 metres 'high' and up to 41 metres wide.
The billboard area is equivalent of:
- 50 football pitches
- 651 tennis courts
- 62 x London's Trafalgar Square
You could fit approximately 4 847 222 footballs in it, or Vienna's Ernst Happel Stadion (venue for the final) 8.9 times. The length is the equivalent of the Eiffel Tower laid end-to-end 4.2 times or…
- 5.7 London Canary Wharf tower
- 7.5 London 'Gherkins'
- 1.7 Burj Dubai (when finished - world's tallest building)
- 135 London Routemaster buses (length), 314 by width
The size of the letters is 44 metres high x 21- 41 metres wide.
Plants used:
- "No.1" & "GROWING" = rape (8kg of seed) + mustard (10kg seed)
- "FOOTBALL" = Grass (40kg seed)
- "AND" = French marigolds (more than 53,000 plants)
- "STILL" = Poppies (10kg seed)
- "FOR" = Earth
- Border = Camomile (70kg seed)
- Background = Wheat (9 tonnes of seeds)
- 'Betfair' logo = Cotton - 1.5km x 5.8m wide
Time frame:
18 February 2008: Measuring of the field
28 February: Sowing of camomile and wheat
Early March: Measuring of the letters with a total of 650 measuring points, duration: two days. Afterwards ploughing of the slogan
25 March: Sowing of the grass
7 April: Sowing of rape/mustard/clover
15 May: Planting French marigold
1 June: Creation of Betfair logo with lime and cotton geomembrane.
For more, go to http://billboard.no1forfootball.com.
