Advertisers in Cannes using digital signs

Many companies who score an advertising spot at the Cannes Film Festival this week will market their products to visitors using digital billboards.

JCDecaux SA, a leading outdoor advertiser, announced with the opening of the festival that it would be using "digital ink" technology from magink for its high-tech signage, according to a magink company statement.

The billboards "will feature an array of full-motion video advertisements and information on the City of Cannes. (Magink) digital ink is delivering full-color, full-motion, high resolution and high contrast images that use ambient light to enhance image quality and visibility -- just like ink on paper," the company statement said.

"Cannes, City of the picture par excellence, is proud to be the first town in the world to be installed with these new JCDecaux displays," the city's mayor, Bernard Brochand, said via the statement.

"We are honored to ... help improve the urban landscape with our digital ink display technology," added Ran Poliakine, the digital ink company's founder. "We believe it is apropos to do so in Cannes, where the world comes together to honor advancements in film and advertising each year."

Copyright 2006 by United Press International