Billboard and Outdoor Advertising

Rexona, a perfume company, introduced a new scent and wanted to make sure that every woman on the street got a chance to smell it. Placing advertisement posters on the side of bus stops, they overlaid the perfume bottle graphic with sample squares perfumed with the new scent. The sample squares were attached like sticky notes so that curious women waiting for the bus could take squares home and experience the new fragrance for themselves.

Given the usual odor of bus stops, this one must have been an olfactory paradise. I wonder what they did if it rained? Short of opening an umbrella over the whole bus stop, I can’t see how Rexona’s ad could escape becoming a soggy, papery mess…

[via IBelieveinAdv]

During the 2006 World Cup in Germany, this ADIDAS ad targeted drivers en route to the Munich airport. Attracting drivers’ attention on one of the world’s busiest and fastest highways is no mean feat, so it’s no surprise that this billboard was part of their “Impossible Is Nothing” campaign. The sportswear company attached a massive billboard shaped like the German team’s goalkeeper, Oliver Kahn, to a half-constructed bridge spanning the highway, and drivers got a massive eyeful of team spirit. Realistically-sized promotional t-shirts would just look pathetic next to this–and imagine how many people could fit inside just one of those tube socks–but size isn’t everything–Germany only took third place in the tournament.

Donato’s Pizza took their billboard advertising one step further than all those other pizza places. On one side of the dual billboard, they show a massive, delicious-looking rendition of the pie; on the other side, the “newscaster” of a generic night-news program appears to be reaching across his own advertisement, unable to resist stealing a slice. The second billboard isn’t for a real news show, of course–those anchors have people to get pizza for them–but the fake reporter certainly looks realistic in his business attire.

This is the only example of two billboards “communicating” I’ve ever seen–anyone else notice something like this before? It puts a pretty cool spin on what can be a tired advertising space.

Personally, I much prefer traveling by air to traveling by bus. Air India Express is counting on the fact that you, too, enjoy going further and faster for your money. If only sitting in this bus‘ “window seat” got you a free upgrade to first class!

This ad would be especially effective in highly populated cities where buses spend a lot of time stuck in traffic. It ran in Delhi, but could just as easily work in New York! And what commuter hasn’t wished she could just fly out of rush-hour gridlock? It would certainly relieve a lot of stress.

[via Toxel]