A new use for traditional advertising channels: the FBI began a campaign (as of dec. 07) to help identify and apprehend criminals using the sheer number of people passing through public places. http://www.nytix.com/Blog/newyorkcity/2010_01_01_archive.html Missing children, etc. will also be displayed on the billboards. The campaign has over 1,000 billboards in 20 cities, and has already lead to over a dozen criminals being apprehended.
The FBI is not necessarily ‘marketing’ their service but they are using marketing or advertising techniques in order to improve that service. The publicity is improved even more by the fact that the ‘ads’ stand out so much compared to most billboards. I think this is a good example of finding a new application for an established medium: the kind of innovation an effective marketer needs to develop.