Betfair grows world's largest billboard

The world's biggest billboard has been grabbing the attention of football fans flying into Vienna Airport for the closing
stages of Euro 2008 this week. The reason is a gigantic garden cum advertisement covering an area larger than 50 football pitches and sponsored by online betting company Betfair.

Experts employed by the firm have spent the last four months growing different kinds of plants to spell out the message 'NO. 1 FOR FOOTBALL AND STILL GROWING!' with a Betfair logo in what has been officially ratified by the Guiness Book of Records as the biggest advertisement yet.

With dimensions of 1380 metres by 316 metres and a total area of 436,250 square metres, local farmers and horticulturists have been working on the field since February. It can be easily seen by passengers on aircraft on the final approach to Vienna International Airport.

Betfair have released a few numbers to give an appreciation of the magnitude of the task:

• It took nine tonnes of wheat seed, 53,000 marigold plants, 1.5 kilometres of cotton netting as well as rapeseed, camomile, mustard, clover, poppies and grass to create the living billboard.
• The individual letters are 44 metres 'high' and up to 41 metres wide.
• It's equivalent to 651 tennis courts; 62 x London's Trafalgar Square and it is larger by 8.9 times than the Ernst Happel Stadion (venue for the final).

Work started on the mammoth task on February 18 this year. The cost of the project is not at present known.

Source: InfoPowa News