I know that outdoor advertising isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. For example, Shanghai and Bejing have both removed all outdoor advertising in the run up to the expo and olympics respectively.
My view is more that clever use of outdoor not only ads to the urban environment, but can create brilliant ways to achieve cut through as well of course engagement, now that people inevitably post photos of what they have seen online.
Here are 4 of my own personal favourite and genuinely clever examples of outdoor advertising.
1. HSBC Global Warming
When HSBC in India wanted to demonstrate the dangers of global warming and that (as the world’s only carbon neutral bank) it is part of the solution, not the problem, the result was the following campaign. The campaign resulted in a 300% increase in traffic to the bank’s dedicated CR website.
An eerie image, created by sticking an aerial view and another view of a city to the bottom of a pool. Here is another photo:
… and a quick bonus billboard on the same theme, this one for the Armageddon movie the Day After Tomorrow. Interestingly, this was also in India.
2. Incredible Body Builders
Building works provide a great opportunity for outdoor ads. These ads, for Powerhouse gym equipment, make use of the inevitable similarity between weights in a gym and building construction equipment in a perfect way.
3. Sports in general
Football lends itself nicely to all sorts of outdoor, here as a few really nice ones that capture the imagination.
4. 3D ideas and campaigns
These are probably mu favourites, some really cool examples of using the billboard itself to create awesome 3D effects.
Now tell me that outdoor advertising isn’t awesome if you put enough creativity into it. Lots of people write about outdoor advertising, so if this interests you I suggest you also check out AllGraphicDesign and Joe’s blog and many more if you google search something lame like brilliant outdoor ads.
Really like the HSBC Global Warming!