Can a telecom company buy an emblematic central metro station in Europe?

This was the first time that an entire metro station, including its name, was leased for publicity purposes. The Lisbon Metro, which is a public company, sold the Baixa-Chiado station branding and naming rights to Portugal Telecom. According to sources close to the transport company, this is only the first of a series of such kind of initiatives, with other major stations already on the pipeline to have their branding and naming rights sold.

Besides renaming the station, Portugal Telecom (PT), which now manages the station’s public areas, completely overhauled the way commuters experience that transport infrastructure. Free Wi-Fi, a 365 day cultural and recreational agenda, a complete revamping of the ambient lighting, new media projections on the walls and ceilings and even an innovative blue led interactive system on the platforms, that signals the arriving and departing trains, are just some of the features of the station transformation.

This overhaul has been done around the blue color, which is the PT’s corporate color. With that purpose, ten kilometers of new fiber optics and power cables were laid, in order to proportionate the thirteen million passengers that use the station every year, a complete new futuristic experience. The tunnels are now illuminated with several shades of blue and, all around, on the walls and ceilings, there are media projections, ranging from the cultural agenda, to small movies and presentations. Moreover, the station’s new name not only incorporates the telecom’s acronym and blue logo, but also carries the Bluestation concept, which emulates the private company retail store chain’s name, which is Bluestores.

Making of video: click here

A day at the new station: click here