Billboard and Outdoor Advertising

This billboard for Morgan Crossing, a residential-commercial condominium development, attracts attention with its beige couple and their equally dull minivan clambering towards a life outside of “Boringville.” Morgan Crossing wanted to position itself as a vibrant alternative to the monotony of suburban living, since the condos the real estate company was trying to sell were within walking distance of retail shops, restaurants, and a sense of village life. The life-size beige people make this promotion more than a simple billboard or outdoor poster - it’s impossible not to notice them - and their abandoned automobile represents freedom from the need for a full tank of gas to have a good time.

This humorous billboard reminds passersby of one of McDonalds’ strongest points - the value menu - while poking fun at high-end conspicuous consumption by jamming a yacht into one of its apple pies. The juxtaposition and oversized display get people’s attention and hopefully set their stomachs rumbling, sending them into the nearest McDonalds restaurant to find out exactly what kind of food - with or without embedded boats - is on the value menu.

Environmental nonprofit organization Greenpeace wanted to raise awareness of the problem of unsafe drinking water in China, an issue especially prevalent in rural areas of the country. To get the attention of city-dwellers, they printed up large stickers shaped like dirty puddles with fake “reflections” of children scooping up handfuls of the contaminated water. These stickers were placed throughout popular commercial and tourist destinations in Beijing in the hope that wealthier urban Chinese would take notice and empathize with their poorer rural counterparts.

Many pedestrians did stop to look at the sidewalk decals, taking photographs or writing down the web address. It is too early yet to see if the attention generated was accompanied by online fundraising success, but this is definitely a clever use of public space on Greenpeace’s part–the sidewalk is one of the few surfaces left that is still rarely used for advertising.

In a series of public promotions designed to generate conversation and attention, the New Zealand news and entertainment website Stuff placed stuntmen dressed as its reporters in some extremely compromising positions. This poor fellow apparently was pelted with 150 kg of rotten tomatoes as rush-hour commuters watched from their cars. Food-based violence might not sell news, but it does start conversations, and that’s what Stuff had in mind. People might tell their friends about the promotion, while the brand name stuck in the back of their heads, and both parties would be more familiar with Stuff next time they wanted to look up a story online.

[via OutdoorAdGuru]

With this relatively tame yet effective outdoor advertisement, Colgate MaxFresh toothpaste managed to capture the attention of motorists on a busy highway in India–a time when dentistry was no doubt far from their minds. The exploding “crystals” jutting out just beyond the edge of the standard square poster drew drivers’ eyes into the ad copy, which offered a free sample of the product if they sent a text message.

Funny how a good ad in India would draw shrieks of outrage in New York, where it’s illegal to even touch a cellphone while in the driver’s seat of a car…

To promote Lumix’s new “shake-proof” digital camera in Jakarta, Indonesia, an advertising agency wanted to appeal to locals and convince them to accept the new, foreign brand. They took inspiration from the three-wheeled rattling “death-trap” taxicabs that are a fixture of Indonesian cities–vehicles that are definitely not shake-proof. Sturdy posters featuring cutouts of the camera and the “shake-proof” tagline were added to cab roofs so that no matter how much the cabs shook, the cameras stayed put. Local audiences, seeing the ad-adorned cabs rattling through the streets, were entertained enough to do some photography of their own–some probably using their new Lumix cameras!

Panasonic’s latest outdoor promotion was meant to dramatize the fear of trimming “sensitive” nosehairs felt by the target demographic for their new personal care product–men with exceptionally hairy noses. Billboards were constructed around existing utility wires, featuring cartoonish graphics of horrified men regarding their electric nostril hairs. The trimmer’s “safety cutting system” would presumably release them from this engineering nightmare.

These billboards certainly grabbed the attention of anyone passing by, though the cartoons’ still-horrified faces (in spite of the “safety cutting” hair trimmer promised in their future) might have left some viewers a little squeamish despite their increased brand awareness.

To promote the disaster film 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, advertisers used the walls and floor of a major underground train station as a billboard. The walls were covered with an ocean-print poster running the length of the tunnel, featuring the film’s name in an unobtrusive text color. To grab the attention of commuters, the “ocean” in this case extended out onto the floor, with a meter or so of heavy decal material added to create the appearance of an actual flood in the station.

This is subtle, but good–people often look down when commuting via public transportation, whether to avoid other passengers or simply because they are in a rush. This way, they see the “ocean” and look up to find out what’s going on.

This clever promotion by Ikea turned an entire wall of Vienna’s South Station into a billboard advertising its most recent furniture catalog. The massive customized wall was seen by approximately 70000 passengers every day, as the station is one of Vienna’s largest transportation hubs.

I like how the ad doesn’t totally block the natural light entering the station. It’s also a great advertisement for Ikea’s EXPEDIT rack, which looks exactly like the architecture of the window frame itself. And it’s certainly impossible to miss, even for the most oblivious train passengers!

This smirking outdoor ad pokes fun at advertising executives who might be “bitter” over losing promotional poster space to the liquor brand. Also targeted, of course, are the leering pedestrians “bitter” over a missed chance to glimpse a scantily-clad woman on their commute. The bottle has a reason to gloat, as it’s full of bitters, too–Fernet-Branca bitters.

Before you start groaning, it’s worth noticing that puns seem to work better on billboards than anywhere else. They function as simple taglines, rather than inducing cringes in the middle of magazine articles that ramble on interminably with similar cheesy humor. There’s nothing very provocative about this billboard, but sometimes subtlety works best in a media-saturated city, where the loud, obnoxious contenders for people’s attention are summarily ignored. The only way to increase brand awareness can be to go against prevailing promotional trends.

[via Ads of the World]