Triple badlander - for those who can't count. Google's prime number billboard versus BMG's trade poster.
Many people recall Google's prime number billboard of 2004, google even posted about it in their own blog.
The poster depicted here hung in downtown Seattle in fall 2004.
This math problem on a billboard was google's ingenious recruiting campaign - and positively everyone thought it was a brand new idea.
But we know better than that, don't we? ;)
Ground Zero did the same thing in the E3 Trade show program (Electronic Entertainment Expo) to attract top young game developers, back in 1998. In C++ they wrote "Does your publisher understand you?" and all those who could read it stopped by the booth for BMG, the sender.
Art Director: Brian Tortora Writer: Johhny Agnew 
Can't forget the EA Billboard in Canada that spelled out "now hiring" either.
Now currently I've seen ads on the same premise, with the concept that it's written in code and only the target market can read it.
However, I forgot to note down where I saw this so if anyone out there can help refresh my memory... (images can be posted in the comments!).
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Magnus on adlist suggetsed that it might be this campaign that I was thinking of. And while it is similar in thought, it wasn't the one on my mind.
In Sweden banners for Visual Studio 2005 are headlined with a touch of code to show it's better with Visual Studio 2005 - the usual If product = No -> then return 'fuckup', If product=YES -> then return no fuckup.
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PermalinkDice.com had been running an online campaign using a similar approach. Not sure if it's still live. All I could find so far was this.
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PermalinkDid I just dream that there was a third "code-headline" style ad campaign running currently? Say it ain't so.
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Permalinkthe caffeinegoddess just sent me this one.
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PermalinkEA had a recruitment ad in Canada with a similar idea.
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PermalinkYESSSSSssssSSSS! Ding Ding Ding! We have a winner! I knew there was another one that I had seen somewhere. Thank you, that was driving me batty.
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PermalinkThere's also this one, seeking coders for another job.
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