Nissin Cup Noodles Steaming Billboard

Region

United States

Associated With

Nissin Foods - advertiser

Defining Feature

A projecting Cup Noodles cup with illuminated real steam

Status

Discontinued - original campaign reported as running through 2006

Overview

Nissin’s Cup Noodles steaming billboard projected from One Times Square with real steam above its rim.

Debuting in April 1996, the three-dimensional sign paired a projecting, back-lit cup with red neon and illuminated vapour. Its steam was reported to come from generators inside the building.

It occupied the north face of One Times Square amid the district’s changing displays. A Nissin Foods USA executive later recalled the original campaign running until 2006; the company’s 2024 Times Square return was separate billboard activity.

Why It Mattered

Times Square’s signs were themselves sights to photograph, and the Cup Noodles display offered a changing effect rather than only a message to read. A photographer singled out the real steam in 2005. By making the product image visibly active on the building’s façade, the billboard became a piece of street theatre.

Billboard Construction

• Supermarket News described the installation in June 1996 as a three-dimensional billboard 60 feet high; the figure referred to the billboard, not demonstrably to the cup alone.
• Its projecting cup was back-lit, with red neon and separately illuminated steam.
• The sign occupied the north face of One Times Square.

How the Steam Worked

• A New York Times report from 1 September 1996 attributed the operating steam effect to generators inside One Times Square.
• A secondary transcription of a January 1996 planning report describes a proposed connection to Manhattan’s live-steam network; it predates the documented debut and does not establish the operating system.
• The exact creative, fabrication and engineering responsibilities have not been established.

Campaign Timeline

• Nissin’s chronology dates the Times Square debut to April 1996; the exact first operating day is unknown.
• Karan J photographed the sign on 1 July 2005 and noted its use of actual steam.
• Nissin Foods USA executive Brian Huff later dated the original campaign to 1996–2006; its exact removal date and reason remain unknown.
• The company’s 2024 Times Square return was separate later billboard activity, not an established reinstatement of the original sign.

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