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As part of my job, I review "new media" on a regular basis... When I saw this, I almost died laughing. The picture is worth more than a thousand words... 
The latest low-technology billboards along highways in the Netherlands are startling enough to prompt motorists to indulge in U-turns.
Or make that ewe-turns. These ads are walking, woolly flocks of bleating sheep. Early this month, Hotels.nl, a Dutch online reservations company, began displaying its corporate logo on royal blue waterproof blankets worn by sheep.
The company spends 1 euro, or about $1.23 a day, per sheep and sponsors about 144 sheep in flocks throughout the Netherlands. But commercially branded sheep roaming the bucolic meadows of the northern Netherlands have prompted a reaction.
On Saturday, the town of Skarsterlan began fining Hotels.nl 1,000 euros a day for putting branded blankets on sheep. Advertising on livestock violates the town's ban on advertising along the highways.
"My first reaction was a smile; it is very creative," said Bert Kuiper, the town's mayor. "My second reaction is that we have to stop this. If we start with sheep, then next it's the cows and horses."
Hotels.nl said that it would pay the fines, but that it planned to fight the ban in court. Since the advertising strategy started, sales by Hotels.nl have been up 15 percent, and so have visits to the company's Web site, said Miechel Nagel, chief executive of Hotels.nl, a four-year-old company based in Groningen. He plans to increase the number of sheep sporting the company's logo and is searching for locations where there are frequent traffic jams.
"As a company in modern times, you have to take some risks," Mr. Nagel said. "You cannot be everybody's friend. Let's say 25 percent are against this. But we can't have all the Dutch people as customers."
Hotels.nl did not originate the idea of sheep as billboards, but it was the first company here to use the technique. A Dutch horse breeder, André Groen, dreamed up the concept, and Easy Green Promotions, based in Leiden, created what it called "Lease a Sheep Shirt-Sponsoring."
With a goal of expanding to 25,000 branded sheep in the Netherlands, Jozef Mazereeuw runs the project for Easy Green Promotions, which is trying to strike deals with more farmers. He is promising the farmers a share of the fees paid by Hotels.nl.
Easy Green designed and owns the blankets, which include a layer of insulation washed in citronella to repel insects, and Velcro strips that allow the logos to be changed.
In the next few months, Mr. Mazereeuw said, Easy Green Promotions hoped to offer blankets for horses and cows — just as the mayor of Skarsterlan feared. But Mr. Mazereeuw has broader ambitions, too: he says he is negotiating with potential partners in France and Britain.
Or make that ewe-turns. These ads are walking, woolly flocks of bleating sheep. Early this month, Hotels.nl, a Dutch online reservations company, began displaying its corporate logo on royal blue waterproof blankets worn by sheep.
The company spends 1 euro, or about $1.23 a day, per sheep and sponsors about 144 sheep in flocks throughout the Netherlands. But commercially branded sheep roaming the bucolic meadows of the northern Netherlands have prompted a reaction.
On Saturday, the town of Skarsterlan began fining Hotels.nl 1,000 euros a day for putting branded blankets on sheep. Advertising on livestock violates the town's ban on advertising along the highways.
"My first reaction was a smile; it is very creative," said Bert Kuiper, the town's mayor. "My second reaction is that we have to stop this. If we start with sheep, then next it's the cows and horses."
Hotels.nl said that it would pay the fines, but that it planned to fight the ban in court. Since the advertising strategy started, sales by Hotels.nl have been up 15 percent, and so have visits to the company's Web site, said Miechel Nagel, chief executive of Hotels.nl, a four-year-old company based in Groningen. He plans to increase the number of sheep sporting the company's logo and is searching for locations where there are frequent traffic jams.
"As a company in modern times, you have to take some risks," Mr. Nagel said. "You cannot be everybody's friend. Let's say 25 percent are against this. But we can't have all the Dutch people as customers."
Hotels.nl did not originate the idea of sheep as billboards, but it was the first company here to use the technique. A Dutch horse breeder, André Groen, dreamed up the concept, and Easy Green Promotions, based in Leiden, created what it called "Lease a Sheep Shirt-Sponsoring."
With a goal of expanding to 25,000 branded sheep in the Netherlands, Jozef Mazereeuw runs the project for Easy Green Promotions, which is trying to strike deals with more farmers. He is promising the farmers a share of the fees paid by Hotels.nl.
Easy Green designed and owns the blankets, which include a layer of insulation washed in citronella to repel insects, and Velcro strips that allow the logos to be changed.
In the next few months, Mr. Mazereeuw said, Easy Green Promotions hoped to offer blankets for horses and cows — just as the mayor of Skarsterlan feared. But Mr. Mazereeuw has broader ambitions, too: he says he is negotiating with potential partners in France and Britain.
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