29 October 2009

Gorillas barred from Opera House

SYDNEY Ã¢â¬' The Sydney Opera House Trust has rejected a $1 million offer to allow online hotel booking site CheapHotels.com.au to project its logo and brand name on the iconic sails for one week.

Braden Yuill, CEO of CheapHotels.com.au, said the offer was very serious.

Ã¢â¬ÅâœThe Opera House Trust lost $19.6M last year, thatÃ¢â¬â¢s a direct cost to taxpayers. Our offer goes some way to stemming the losses and provides easy income to the Trust.Ã¢â¬~

Ã¢â¬ÅâœOf course, it would be a major coup for our brand to appear on AustraliaÃ¢â¬â¢s most famous tourist attraction.

Ã¢â¬ÅâœPublic buildings all over the world accept advertising in exchange for revenue. Indeed, most events in the Opera House are sponsored.

Ã¢â¬ÅâœWe donÃ¢â¬â¢t see any reason why this canÃ¢â¬â¢t be extended to projecting a company logo on the sails,Ã¢â¬~ said Yuill.

Advertising on public buildings is not new. According to WikipediaÃ¢â¬â¢s entry on the Eiffel Tower, illuminated signs for Citroen adorned three of the tower's four sides as far back as 1925, making it the tallest advertising space in the world at the time.

CheapHotels.com.au wanted to project its logo and a picture of a large yellow gorilla, the company mascot, on the city side of the largest sail.

Yuill added, Ã¢â¬ÅâœWe are a hotel booking site and we are trying to reach out to tourists and Sydney residents. We can think of no better way to get our message out.Ã¢â¬~

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Your Comments (3)

At least the trust has class

couldn't agree with you more, J Hewson. The entire idea was in bad taste, but maybe in my humorous??? response that didn't come across. I was in Sydney last year and took some many Opera House photos I even did a website slide show, even though it's already one of the World's most photographed structures. John gray

By John Gray, Friday, October 30, 2009
At least the Trust has class

Unlike CHEAPhotels, at least the Opera House Trust showed class in refusing this cheap stunt. The Sydney Opera house is, to many, Australia along with kangaroos and koala bears.

By J Hewson, Thursday, October 29, 2009
Big Monkey Discussed Animal Discriminaton

Since we are all nothing but overgrown monkeys, I take great offense at disallowing my relatives to inhabit the Sydney Opera House for a few days. I've never been turned away from a movie theater, perhaps because I eat so much popcorn - just proving that we Primates can be good for business. I am nothing but an overgrown monkey - but if Cheap Hotels has a $1,000,000 to spend I wonder if they are really that cheap. You can send me the rejected revenue - perhaps I can swing down from the trees and replace my park bench naptime newspapers with some real moolah and find a home with real vines. Always sad to see any form of racial discrimination. Ling Yai (Thai for "Big Monkey")AKA John "Caveman" Gray

By John Gray, Thursday, October 29, 2009