Phoenix ‘Times Square’ Signs Nissan, Qwest

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The Westgate City Center, an $850 million development on 223 acres near Glendale, Arizona, which has been touted as being second only to Times Square in terms of signage, has signed its second major advertiser. Nissan North America will become the Official Automobile of Westgate City Center. Qwest also inked a category exclusive deal with the city.

Westgate City Center is being developed by The Ellman Companies; advertising is being sold by Clear Channel Branded Cities, a division of Clear Channel Outdoor.

Nissan’s category sponsorship will include signage on three 100-foot tall “media boards,” a live events package that gives Nissan the right to host test drives at a 10-event concert series, placement and signage outdoor performance venues like WaterDance Plaza, and a presence near adjacent professional and college sports venues.

David Groff, president of Westgate Entertainment and Sports, says that Westgate is looking for events that will bring people in “365 days per year. “When Fox Sports or ESPN comes in to set up a remote studio and they need a car, we’ll recommend a Nissan. If they need telecoms, it’ll be Qwest we promote. If it’s beer, well, we have a beer partner coming as well.”

The city projects 22 million visitors annualy for its cultural, commerce and sports events.
The concept is an offspring of Clear Channel’s Spectacolor division, which handles about 55 percent of the signage in Times Square. With 20 to 30 multimedia boards, Westgate will have the greatest concentration of such outdoor media outside Times Square, according to Clear Channel.

Westgate is touting itself as having “movies like Hollywood, restaurants like San Francisco, fountains like Las Vegas.”

Another such city will open in the fall of 2008 near the Texas Rangers baseball stadium and the new Cowboys football stadium outside Dallas. Glory Park is a $600 million venture between Steiner and Associates and Hicks Holding.