La Noche en Blanco

This Saturday, September 11th 2010, La Noche en Blanco took place in Madrid. As I anticipated the night in the week prior, I took notice of the success of its advertising campaign, how its producers were expecting people to find out about it, and of course, the news coverage. Obviously, word of mouth takes the #1 spot in terms of successful advertising. It's a Saturday night in Madrid, and you're going to go out with your friends. You'll tell everyone you know about La Noche en Blanco.

Other media utilized to advertise this night included periodicals, pamphlets available to take in subway stations, outdoor signs and banners, and the most useful medium was arguably its very own website, which is pictured above. The website (like the pamphlets that were passed around on Friday, the 10th) serves as a way to learn more about the event, in terms of where and when individual events and concerts are occurring.

The actual campaign design was very simple, and a similar design was used last year. With clean block letters and a sleek circle representing the full moon (a symbol of "la locura"), there are no details or information available because nothing else really needs to be said. It is intriguing enough that it is assumed one will ask around or search for more information regarding what this event really entails. Instead of serving to inform the public, the true purpose of the advertising is to remind Madrileños when La Noche en Blanco is occurring.


With anticipated numbers of attendants at somewhere around 2 million, the rate of success was not as high as expected, with an actual attendance number close to 717,000 people (reported yesterday by El Mundo). So was the campaign successful? Did it intrigue the extranjeros while reminding Madrileños? Well, that's something we'll never really know.