Our Top 3 Creative OOH Advertising Campaigns

Written by Chinaka Pierre

When you think of Out-of-Home Advertising, sometimes the image of cluttered roadways and the saturation of colorful billboards may come to mind. Brands seeking to gain the attention of the audience hurriedly going about their daily routines. However, this medium of advertising continues to be utilized because despite the noise of countless brands vying for a viewer’s 5 second glance, it stands as an effective tool in a brand-safe environment. As we continue to see the growth of the integration of traditional and new marketing media, we explore some noteworthy outdoor advertising campaigns that included or activated action within the social and digital marketing space.

#CancelSouthPark Billboards – September 2018

In September, 2018 the creators of South Park sparked outrage as they utilized OOH to promote the cancellation of the beloved adult comedy cartoon. Without any major design elements, the shock element of the message stood relevant to the brand of the cartoon and its target audience as its fans and followers caused the hashtag to go viral and created a huge conversation about the show’s return.

What can you  learn:

1. Grab attention with messaging that’s important to your customer/target audience
2. Keep. It. Simple.
3. Incite Action

Your Spotify Wrapped – December 2018

At the end of 2018, Spotify launched a “Your 2018 Spotify Wrapped” campaign which featured a Digital Billboard that showcased top fans and their Spotify Music statistics in the middle of Times Square. It showed a level of commitment to the brand’s fans to be all about them and they definitely ‘walked the walk.’ What made this campaign possible is hugely based on the type of data that Spotify gathers on its users however it’s easy to find creative ways that you can gather customer data in a way that celebrates them.

What can you learn:

1. Incorporate your customers through customer data gathering initiatives.
2. Let your customers/users be your ambassadors

Delta – June 2017

Delta in partnership with Tinder brilliantly created a “Dating Wall” featuring images from landmarks all over the world for a campaign that encouraged both customers, passers-by and basically anybody to interact with and willingly share their creative campaign by being a part of it. Stephanie Rogers of MERGE, Bostin commented, “It’s a great example of how human insight (selfie culture and the desire to look well-traveled), media and creative can come together into one amazing effort to create cultural relevance for the brand.”

What can you learn:

1. Creating interactive OOH elements help give your campaign legs with less effort.
2. Humans naturally want to be able to share their story, message or experiences.

Out-of-Home Advertising doesn’t need to follow the same mold as everyone else. If you’re ready to take your OOH Advertising to the next level schedule some time with us to show you how you can take these lessons and turn them into your next successful campaign.