Ideas We Love: A Love Letter to Outdoor

Issue Number 25: A celebration of all things 'OOH'

In the last seven days the IWL Whatsapp chat seems to have been dominated by ideas coming to life in one channel above all others: Outdoor.

In the last week alone we’ve seen a series of high profile activations break, all of which use Outdoor advertising to one degree or another.

We’ve seen work break from Heinz and Disney riffing on Mustard and Ketchup to mark the launch of Deadpool and Wolverine.

We’ve seen a new form of cashpoint from Monzo & Greggs dispensing pasties not pound-notes. (see above).

We’ve seen Nike take over the Centre Pompidou in sensational style to celebrate Sport in Paris ahead of the Olympics, hijacking arch rival Adidas’ official sponsorship in the process… and we’ve seen a series of ‘trashed’ Outdoor tableaus to mark the release of Hollywood Hurricane Horror franchise Twisters (below).

Now, whether this increased prominence is the result of a concerted effort from a shady cabal of executives lobbying the trade press for column inches on behalf of Big Outdoor or whether it’s just a coincidence, we thought that this week we’d take the chance to resurface some of our favourite Out of Home (OOH) executions and ideas.

Long-time readers of the newsletter may recognise this as a sort of ‘If you like this, you’ll love….’ section on steroids - a veritable feast of nickable inspiration and examples to take to your next client meeting or workshop.

From Pompeii to Programmatic ……

Part of the fun of working in media and communications is the speed of change. Things are moving all the time. And whilst Outdoor is often introduced in media inductions as ‘the oldest form of commercial advertising’ citing adverts for restaurants on the walls of ruins in Pompeii, change within this medium is rampant.

Change is being driven by the sales houses and landlords who are modernising their estates with hi-definition, hi-connectivity screens. The advent of the smart phone and social media has reshaped the way we interact with posters: a site in central London now has a ‘reach’ far beyond those physically exposed to the advertising, should the execution have sufficient appeal. Most recently, Generative AI allows creatives of all kinds to come up with concepts quickly and more vividly - and Outdoor or Outdoor adjacent media is often used to demonstrate these concepts as they might appear to a consumer in the real world.

Outdoor has long been a channel that can contribute to brand fame, reaching broad audiences and dramatising creative propositions through a mix of PR, Experiential and classic advertising craft. Accessing specific locations has long been one of OOH’s major strengths. It is an intrinsic part of the community - a relationship which the best outdoor creative exploits. Now, it is a digitally powered and altogether more dynamic channel as a result of new technology, ensuring a fresh relevance for advertisers as they look to fuse data and insight about their audiences with new creative canvases. For examples of this convergence in effect, look to The Sphere in Las Vegas (below) or London’s Outernet.

And whilst haters may be claiming that more and more of the things we see cut through from OOH are ‘staged’ or worse still ‘fake’ - that seems an awfully myopic and negative way to evaluate things. There is more than one way to skin a cat, after all. We like how people are starting to do their creative thinking out-loud. A concept for a piece of communication does have some intrinsic value - and places like Linkedin give creators a forum to share their work with a bigger audience.

What makes Outdoor so exciting for planners - at least to our minds - is how it’s operating at the fault lines of so many broader trends in our industry - and the tool kit now afforded to planners is as varied as it is vast.

If you like Outdoor, you’ll love these…..

Gee’d on by the recent spate of OOH-greatness, here are some of our favourite OOH based executions…. ideas which exploit the increasing variety of options available to advertisers, ideas which are bold in their execution, or just good fun….

As with all IWL based lists, some caveats and parish notices: other ideas are available and this is meant as a non-exhaustive collection…..

Ghostbusters’ Waterloo Takeover by Sony Entertainment

A brilliant example of how multiple different formats within the OOH toolkit can be planned in concert to create something bigger than the sum of it’s parts - this execution uses experiential, video and standard OOH assets as part of a high-impact activation to launch the return of Ghostbusters.

Oliver Khan by Adidas

It’s Oliver Khan. Masquerading as a bridge. To mark the World Cup in Germany in 2006. Really nice. No digital wizardry in sight. Sometimes the best ideas are the simplest.

Probably the Best Poster in the World by Carlsberg

A 96 sheet that dispenses lager. Lovely. A simple idea, but one that probably came with some ‘hoops’ to jump through in terms of execution given the category in question. A good reminder that ideas are often the easy part, having the tenacity and patience to execute them well is the hard bit.

The Economist’s Where Do You Stand?

Not the most famous Economist OOH advertising, but we think this is a low-key classic. A long-idea - updated with new topics over time - and one which represents some great media thinking. Long-form copy when people have time to read. Extra points awarded for the fact people typically use the same tube stops each day. Plus, who doesn’t love a X-Track 96 sheet?

Specsavers’ Should’ve gone to Specsavers

From one long idea to another. Here OOH is used as a way of ‘dramatising’ Specsaver’s brand platform to great effect.

Chilli Marmite by Marmite

Another brand with a clear platform thought at its heart…..

VW’s Fun Theory - the Piano Staircase

We have lost count of how many times we used this case as stimulus for client workshops. A great example of ‘lateral’ use of OOH - turning street furniture into an interactive ‘toy’ for people to interact with.

British Airways’ Look Up

A best-in-class example of how 1st Party data, location data and dynamic ‘creativity’ can come together in OOH to deliver something simple yet powerful.

The Big Issue’s The Street is My Store

We’re big fans of Global Street Art and the work they do with murals for Advertising. This work for The Big Issue uses their trademark street art to make a broader point about the charities work - the media becoming the message.

Nike Air Max Day 3D Billboard

The apotheosis of the ‘poster as social content’ trend and a sign we may yet be headed for a Blade Runner style future… this groundbreaking execution from Nike may have run in Japan, but was seen and admired all around the world. A great example of how technology is enhancing the creative canvas of OOH advertising.

Until Next Time….

As always, we’d love to know what you think. We really were spoilt for choice this issue and could easily have featured another 20 or 30 cases. What are your favourite examples of brilliant Outdoor advertising?

Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed it, please tell a friend….

Until next time, Cheerio.

Tom & Matt