Betfair reveals world’s largest ad

Betfair has unveiled the world’s largest ad to mark the final stages of Euro 2008. It fills an area the size of more than 50 football pitches.

Football fans flying into Vienna International Airport will be able to see the message “No. 1 for football… and still growing”. The message is made up of different kinds of plants, which horticulturists have spent the last four months cultivating.

The site has been ratified by the Guinness Book of Records as the largest advertisement and it is officially listed as the world’s largest advertising hoarding. The ad measures 1,380m by 316m, creating a total area of 436,000 square metres.

It took nine tonnes of wheat seed, 53,000 marigold plants, 1.5km of cotton netting, as well as rape, camomile, mustard, clover, poppies and grass to create the ad. The individual letters are 44m high and up to 41m wide.

The area is equivalent to 62 times the size of Trafalgar Square, or 8.9 times the size of Vienna’s Ernst Happel Stadion, where the Euro 2008 final will take place on June 29.