Drivers coming off the Bay Bridge in to the city during the last week of 2011 will probably recognize this curious billboard message from "The Bay Bridge". The billboard was part of a crowdsourcing experiment from San Francisco-based startup LoudSauce, the same company that took donations to place an Occupy Wall Street commercial on National TV and buy out a full page ad in the Chronicle a few weeks back.

The fairly minimal billboard design was selected from suggestions sent in via Twitter and Facebook during a series of microbrew-fueled happy hour brainstorming sessions at LoudSauce's headquarters. Those headquarters, appropriately enough are located in The Hub — the startup incubator tucked inside some unused office space in the Chronicle Building at 5th and Mission. The final design, which reads "Dear San Francisco, Thanks for making money, paying taxes, and supporting public infrastructure. - The Bay Bridge" and features the smiling faces of the generous folks who helped make the billboard a reality, was created by San Francisco-based Big New Ideas.

The ad space for the billboard, visible from the Interstate 80 skyway that runs through SoMa, was an especially good end-of-year deal we're told, but LoudSauce is still accepting donations to cover the cost of putting up the billboard. Those who donate get to say what becomes of the message when it inevitably comes down and is replaced by another ad for mid-shelf vodka or whatever, and there's already a plan in the works to turn it in to recycled tote bags.

Previously: San Francisco Startup Helps Put Occupy Wall Street Ad on National TV, Group of 99% Supporters Wants to Occupy Ad Space in the Chronicle
[LoudSauce Campain]