12 of the ‘Best’ Outdoor Marketing Communication Campaigns

I love posters! They can epitomise great marketing communications. Like all communications they must impress clearly. But if viewed from a speeding car, the message must be recognised and understood in milliseconds.  From a technical point of view this requires a single-minded (and hopefully matching) marketing communication strategy and execution. Engaging and motivating via this medium also presents a myriad of creative opportunities.

With consumers exposed to an increasing panoply of media, and over a 1000 messages a day, the task of developing great marketing communications is more challenging today than it has ever been.

There are two key aspects to marketing communications. The first is the message and the second is the medium through which to communicate the message. Here we’ve gathered twelve examples from the world of outdoor (or ambient) media – because they can be easily illustrated, reviewed and used to make a point in a blog!

Araldite – UK. This is one of the first outdoor campaigns to create a stir. It appeared on the Cromwell Road – one of the main arterial roads into London in 1983. The message is that Araldite sticks – very well. Its success lay in the fact that it provided a compelling product demonstration. It also enlivened a medium that was once considered static.

Aquasun – UK. In 1983 water resistant sun lotions were new kids on the block, and this ad promoting swimsuits by Aquasun was developed by the Benton and Bowles ad agency and a rookie brand manager. The brand message is that you can get a sun tan while playing in the water. The ad ran in Bristol. It generated lots of attention from local passers-by and the national media.

Cingular Mobile – USA. In the early days of mobile telephony, US mobile (cell) phone company Cingular created this ad to promote one of the differentiating aspects of their service – a lower level of dropped calls

Bic Razor – Germany. Shaving closer has always been an important, but relatively generic benefit of razors. This poster dramatises the benefit and implies a degree of superiority. The poster is blank except for a small logo in the bottom right hand corner without which the brand association may be missed.

Adidas – Germany. This poster (billboard) was placed over a bridge construction site on the way to the Munich airport. Featuring a huge dive by the German goalkeeper, Oliver Kahn, it promotes Adidas brilliance and cool through the 2006 World Cup ‘Impossible Team’.

Pioneer Suspension – India. These large stickers of potholes were placed on the roads of Mumbai (2007). Drivers would slow down expecting to feel a bump but would feel nothing suggesting a very smooth ride. The message ‘feels like a Pioneer suspension’ appears a few metres along the road.

Babol Bubble Gum – Italy. Big Babol bubblegum is clearly communicated as … as it says … ‘big’.

FHM BMW/Mini – Germany. Nice headlamps. The message here is about … well you know. As it says on the bonnet “It’s a guy thing”. A creative collaboration between BMW/Mini and FHM – the men’s magazine.

Lego – Denmark. The name ‘LEGO’ is an abbreviation of the two Danish words ‘leg godt’, meaning ‘play well’. The brand message is about inspiration and self expression. This is one of a number of clever advertisements for its ubiquitous bricks.

Mr. Clean – USA. Mr Clean (Flash in the UK) is household cleaner made by Procter and Gamble. True to form, this ad dramatises the superior cleaning benefits.

Hot Wheels – Columbia. This lifesize funwheel appeared on a highway underpass in Bogota in 2011 and works both to dramatise a fun, engaging and immersive Hot Wheels experience. Similar executions include using huge posters of small boys posted over and alongside highways in Mexico (as if they were watching the cars).

Contagion – The Movie – Canada. The message here is positively revolting, disgusting. It makes my flesh creep yet it intrigues. To promote Steven Soderbergh’s movie Contagion (released September 2011), Warner Brothers Pictures Canada hired microbiologists and immunologists to create a billboard made of growing bacteria in an abandoned shop window in Toronto. Scientists innoculated two rectangular Petri dishes with live bacteria which grew to spell out the name of the movie.

You can watch the making of the Contagion bacteria ‘billboard’, and some of the passer-by’s reactions on the video below.

While we’ve identified just one example of this poster as you can see awareness via You Tube is growing!

Marketing Inspiration

As a checklist to create great marketing communications consider whether your ad (poster or otherwise) achieves the following:

• Cut-though; does it command attention, and engage or involve?
• Comprehension; do you understand the message?
• Benefit driven; does the message suggest a clear and tangible benefit? Does it meet a relevant need?
• Credible; is the benefit message believable, justified by one or more facts?
• Provoke a change in perception or behaviour; are you motivated to think about a brand, think differently about a brand or more inclined to try, buy or repeat buy?

If your poster or billboard campaign arrests in the second or so you have to grab attention outdoors, you have a chance of a winner on your hands. If it fails to arrest, that could be a portent for other media. Consider posters or billboards as a way to pressure test your marketing communication strategy and execution before investing heavily.

Remember Vance Packard’s words – ‘ the medium is also the message’ (1). The nature of the outdoor medium lends itself to high impact, creative executions which say something extra about brands. It’s also highly relevant to those brands that target an outdoor, travelling or car driving demographic, and those purchased more frequently, in other words where daily opportunities to see an ad could drive more regular repeat purchases.

Finally, investing in a single poster site can catalyse extra publicity via public relations.  To help make sure your message is spread by other media or goes ‘viral, try to find an unusual creative idea or ‘angle’ that challenges conventional wisdom, surprises, shocks, entertains or amuses.

Special thanks to Mark Hutchinson for inspiring this article!

References

(1) Packard, Vance; The Hidden Persuaders (1957)

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