6 Times OOH was better than a TV Commercial
People often assume that TV and short films are the gold standard of advertising, after all, that’s all anyone ever talks about at Cannes, right? Not so fast.
Before we can talk about great ads, we need to talk about what makes advertising great.
The bottom line is, the best advertising is effective. It gets noticed among the thousands of messages people are exposed to everyday. Great advertising makes people feel something, and therefore, it gets consumers to remember the brand and might compel them to take action.
So why does the industry put TV on a pedestal? You can get a lot done in a 60 second spot, but what about when you only have a still image? Sometimes the most powerful communications can be extremely simple.
Based on the above definition of success, let’s look at 6 OOH ads from around the world that made a bigger impact than a TV ad.
1 ) Nike USA: Dream Crazy
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Nike’s tagline, “Just Do It”, Nike created the campaign, Dream Crazy, telling people, “Don’t ask if your dreams are crazy. Ask if they’re crazy enough.”
They released a 2 minute film that featured people across backgrounds using the power of sport to move the world forward. But of all the inspiring stories, nothing got more attention and controversial more than the image of Colin Kaepernick, American civil rights activist and former quarterback who refused to stand for the U.S national anthem.
When people saw this billboard, it brought up intense emotions around Nike. It was incredibly polarizing, but it broke through the clutter and went viral over all media platforms. One of the greatest comments I heard when a commentator was asked ‘Is Nike taking a risk?’ and the other replying ‘Nike is taking a stand’. While many did not see the 2 minute film, the billboard was impossible to miss, even widely shared across social media. People who disliked Nike’s stance even went as far as setting their Nike shoes on fire.
The campaign increased Nike online sales by around 30% in Liberal cities in the U.S, while decreasing sales by about the same in Republican cities.
There were many elements to this campaign, but OOH was no doubt the anchor that made it stand out. There is no question that this OOH got noticed, made people feel something, and compelled them to take action (positive or negative).
2) Netflix Germany: OOH Spoilers
Before we get into how smart this is, we need to disclose that this campaign never actually ran. It was created by two students who were attending Miami Ad School in Hamburg Germany.
So what was the objective of this campaign you ask? It was an initiative during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns to encourage people to stay inside. It created negative reinforcement for leaving your home by revealing the end of popular Netflix shows.
We can’t say if it would have worked in real life or not, but when the government failed to motivate people to stay home for health and safety, this campaign stepped in with a real punishment for breaking quarantine.
It wasn’t even live but it went viral and it made people want to watch Netflix even more. While Netflix is a digital product, OOH was the best possible medium at the time to motivate the desired behavior of staying home.
3) 3M Canada: $3 Million Bus Stop
3M wanted to tell people about the strength of its product, Scotchshield, a see-through film that, when applied, makes glass stronger. So they installed it at a bus station in Vancouver Canada and placed $3 million inside. They invited the public to try and break the glass. If they could, they could walk away with the money.
Imagine if 3M had created a TV campaign to explain this. It would have been boring and overlooked. Instead, they got creative and wound up with an incredibly breakthrough OOH display.
The OOH stunt was covered by 5 news stations and the stories ran across Canada. The effect of the display generated approximately $1 million in free publicity and created a three-month backlog for the Scotchshield product. The best part was, the bus shelter ad was only there for one day.
You can’t buy that engagement with TV.
4) KitKat UK: Half Finished Billboard
In 1958, KitKat launched the line, “Have a Break, Have a KitKat”. In 2014, the line was so well established that they were able to put this billboard up in London, UK without even showing the brand name.
The half finished billboard, with the ladder and bucket left behind, implied that the person putting it up just took a much needed break to enjoy a KitKat. This OOH stunt was a completely reimagined way to tell a classic brand story.
It’s not an option for most brands to do something like this, but when you have built long standing equity, OOH becomes an incredibly powerful tool to say everything you want with very little words. In this example, KitKat only uses 3 complete words and leaves the rest to the audience to fill in.
5) Johnny Andrean Indonesia: Hair Strengthening Shampoo
In Asia Pacific, transit advertising is very popular due to the large amount of people commuting. In this example from Indonesia, rather than creating a poster, the beauty salon Johnny Andrean replaced ‘plait train handles’ with braided hair to show off their hair strengthening product.
While it may seem a little odd, it definitely gets the point across and can’t go unnoticed.
6) LEGO Malaysia: Imagine
There’s a lot of advertising on TV talking to children. Lego knows that parents are the buyers and parents want to buy toys that are good for their children’s development. Instead of interrupting prime time TV with a commercial to talk to parents about their kids, LEGO stepped into the daily lives of parents on their regular commute with this bus shelter ad in Malaysia.
The ad doesn’t try to convince you how great LEGO is or what LEGO set to buy, it simply adds value by bringing a smile to anyone who sees it. The product is for kids, but the ad is for parents, and we’d argue it makes waiting for the bus a lot more fun.
All over the world, brands are making powerful OOH content.
If you want to get your brand noticed by consumers, don’t think you need to invest in a great TV script, beautiful actors, a top notch director, and music rights. With the right creativity, OOH can be a highly compelling medium to break through.
