Billboard and Outdoor Advertising

Gone are the days of slapping your brand name on a billboard and tossing it up on the side of the street.  The best ads these days incorporate extreme creativity, eye-catching aesthetics, and, in some cases, professional engineering.  Just ask people at the ad agency Leo Burnett, which designed this McDonald’s sundial billboard in Chicago.

The metallic arch is perfectly placed above the ad to cast a big “M” shadow over each item at the appropriate time of day.  As if America’s fast food woes weren’t bad enough, this billboard suggests six different Mickey D’s items you can eat, one per hour, until the noon hour signals Big Mac time.  Hey, even those who argue that advertising is evil can’t say this isn’t ingenius.  I guess the only knock against it is that the hours on this clock run counter-clockwise.

This classic Marilyn Monroe pose from the film “The Seven Year Itch” is omnipresent and thus has become a visual staple in photography. The pose has also been continuously imitated; this specific take on the timeless photo is beyond hilarious. The ad was done by Leo Burnett (Venezuela division), a worldwide ad agency, for an anti-gas product called Anti-Gas Antifom 40. These types of creative promotions that tactically combine an iconic moment with really witty wording can produce everlasting buzz.

Random Trivia: Leo Burnett created infamous brand icons like the Pillsbury Doughboy, Jolly Green Giant, Charlie the Tuna, and Toucan Sam.