Hyundai Motor will replace Japanese electronics firm Sanyo in Piccadilly Lights in the heart of London this July. The Financial Times on Sunday said the Korean automaker recently completed a deal with Land Securities, which owns the outdoor hoardings in Piccadilly Circus. Sanyo has been advertising on the electronic billboard overlooking the tourist hub since the early 1970s.
Hyundai reportedly agreed to pay 2 million pounds (W3.6 billion) a year for its logo to flash on 1,250 sq.ft (116 sq.m) hoarding. Piccadilly Circus is frequented by over 34 million people each year and is one of the most coveted and iconic advertising spaces in the world. The price is also one of the highest in the world, according to the Financial Times.
Coca-Cola has been the longest tenant of Piccadilly Lights, where its logo been seen laboriously constituting itself from rows of red and white light bulbs since 1955, and only some 50 firms have managed to advertise there over the last century. Samsung Electronics is the only other Korean company to do so, replacing Panasonic in 1994.
