Have you ever looked up in the sky and saw “Marry Me Shelby” written with puffs of clouds?
If you’re like me and the thousands of others looking up at the same time, you probably wondered, “Who the heck is Shelby?”
This type of advertising is actually quite common. One company in New York writes more than 50 marriage proposals in the sky each year.
“Sky-typing” as an art form has been around for over 100 years.
In the past, sky-typed messages were written with only one airplane. However, it was incredibly time consuming. Each letter could take more than 2 minutes to type.
Today, sky-typing is performed with five planes and is significantly faster.
However, Google has patented an invention designed to return sky-typing duties to a single plane.
Will this “type” of advertising survive in the digital age?
The high cost of maintaining five planes and pilots, together with growing public frustration over intrusive ads, could spell the end of the industry.
However, perhaps Google’s invention or high-altitude drones will create tomorrow’s sky-typed ads.
If so, it may lower the cost of sky-typing a message.
This will undoubtedly lead to more questions about the Shelbys of the world.