April Fool’s Day Comes Early With Extra-Terrestrial Ad
A company called Vollebak has apparently created the first-ever billboard for Mars. Standing 45 cm high, the billboard is small, crafted from corrosion-resistant materials, and completely invisible to anyone on Earth.
Vollebak founders Nick and Steve Tidball created the billboard to launch the company’s new 3-dimensional V logo.
“Launching a new logo is kind of risky when you’re a big brand. Everyone laughs at it, tells you their kid could have done it, and then gasps at how much money you spent,” said Steve Tidball.
“Luckily we’re not a big brand, and we can do whatever we want. We design clothes for an extreme future on and off planet Earth, so we thought the perfect way to launch our new logo would be to create the kind of billboard that can survive life on the harsh Martian surface.”
The billboard was hewn from aluminium 6082T6, a corrosion-resistant metal often used in high-stress engineering applications.
The billboard is also designed to be assembled by a clever robot, as well, being made from 11 individual pieces that lock into place with an ancient Japanese joinery technique called tsugite, apparently.
“Instead of screws, nails, welding or glue, tsugite relies solely on interlocking joints and counter tension to produce astonishingly strong structures. Once you’ve put the first 10 pieces of the billboard together, the Vollebak V logo is the last piece in the jigsaw that locks the entire billboard in place,” said Nick Tidball.
“The simplicity of the tsugite method means that the billboard can be disassembled and packed up, either for terrestrial or interplanetary transportation. So we’ve also built a custom flight case for the billboard to travel in.”
“We know it’ll be years and perhaps decades before we’re able to send the Mars Billboard on its journey to Mars,” says Steve Tidball. “So in the meantime, we’re asking our customers to help us take the Mars Billboard on a World Tour of Earth. That way it will be the first billboard to visit two planets.”
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