For part five of our Notable Billboards series, we have creative campaigns from Orphea, Penline, and the Colorado State Patrol.

1- Colorado State Patrol: Billboard Collision

This public service announcement earns attention with its unusual formatting. The billboard aims to warn against tailgating, especially behind large trucks. The crumpling of the billboard at the point of impact mimics the damage to the car that rear ended the truck and draws attention.

2- Penline: Strong Tape

Penline found a creative way to emphasize the strength of their tape. By making it appear that their duct tape is holding up the billboard, the brand testifies to its own quality. The simplicity catches the eye and the creativity conveys the message.

3- Orphea: Bug Spray

The brand Orphea installed a billboard in Milan that creatively advertised their outdoor bug spray. By covering part of the board with a sticky jet spray, the ad collected thousands of bugs over a few days. Gross, but excellent advertising as it turned heads and effectively promoted the product. See the board in action below, and check out our past Notable Billboards here.

Today through Wednesday, OAAA and Geopath will be hosting their National Convention and Expo. This year the theme is LookOut and is being held in New Orleans. In addition to an agenda of workshops and networking opportunities, the 75th annual OBIE awards will be held as part of the conference.

Attendees will have the opportunity to learn how creativity and data combine to make OOH campaigns relevant, how innovative technology is improving connectivity, and how Geopath is working to improve measurement to provide better insights. Speakers include Nancy Fletcher and Kym Frank, Presidents and CEOs of OAAA and Geopath respectively, Rob Dembitz, Global Head of Innovation at Cannes Lions, Joel Sartore a photographer for National Geographic, and Dawn Hudson, CMO of the NFL.

Day two includes breakfast lunch and a dinner at the OBIE awards. The OBIEs and its after party wrap up day two of the conference.

Both the OAAA and Geopath work to help advertisers achieve success. The OAAA helps promote the interests of the OOH industry as well as ensuring that the material being produced by advertisers meets the standards and quality expected within the industry. Geopath works to help the industry gather metrics and insights through data. By continuously refining the processes and standards for audience measurement, Geopath is helping fill an important gap in the OOH industry.

DOmedia is a sponsor of this year’s convention. At last year’s OAAA/Geopath convention, DOmedia launched their cutting edge SSP for OOH media. This year attendees can expect more big product announcements. You can find DOmedia in the exhibit hall.

Relations between the advertising industry and the government can be tricky. The government controls what is allowed to be advertised and how. And advertisers and industries have to try to keep up with regulations. Occasionally, new regulations can shake up an entire industry. This happened three times for tobacco companies, in 1966, 1972, and 1997.

Initially, the Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act of 1966 required all cigarette packaging and advertisements to have a clear warning label that smoking was dangerous for consumers’ health. At the time, it was not yet widely accepted that smoking was a health hazard, and it marred the image that cigarette companies were trying to portray of happy, healthy, sexy adults as those who smoked. From then on, a bright warning sign adorned the sleek design tobacco companies packaged their products in.

In 1972, the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act banned the advertisement of cigarettes on television and radio— then the primary methods of advertisement. This forced tobacco companies to rely on print and billboard advertising, limiting their reach.

The strongest move came in 1997 with the passing of the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement. It banned outdoor and transportation cigarette advertisement in 46 states. With TV, radio and outdoor advertising all banned, tobacco companies are really only left with print. It also prohibited techniques for advertising to young people (such as use of cartoons).

The question of free speech is raised when it comes to regulation of ads. It’s clear to most that smoking deteriorates a person’s health. The government is simply trying to ensure the wellbeing of its citizens. However, at what point is it a violation of free speech? In Canada, when similar questions were raised, it resulted in a lawsuit that all the way up to their Supreme Court. The district court ruled in favor of the tobacco companies, saying that such limitations violated free speech rights, but the Supreme Court ruled that the laws were within legal bounds. It’s a very murky grey area with no solid line to determine where free speech can be limited to protect citizens.

Similar questions continue to be raised in various industries today. Navigating government advertising regulations can be a confusing process. Associations like the OAAA and 4A’s help advertisers and media companies decipher legislation.

DOmedia is proud to support the OAAA and other industry groups which help the industry do what it does best: focus on strategy and creativity.

Verizon came up with a futuristic and out-of-the-box way to advertise their new Hum module: they built a car that drives over traffic. The company turned to special effects firm Thinkmodo to innovate the vehicle, and it turned out to be quite a stunner. The car looks similar to a Jeep Cherokee but weighs twice as much, and includes over 300 feet of hydraulic lines in order to literally lift it over traffic. The car’s exterior includes the Hum logo to convey what’s actually being advertised, and is also painted bright blue in case it driving over cars wasn’t enough to catch your attention. Unfortunately, the car is one-of-a-kind, so rolling over California traffic is still just a commuter’s dream. Watch the car in action below.

This incredibly creative and innovative rolling out-of-home ad points to an increasing trend of companies looking to catch attention first and fill in what they’re actually advertising afterwards. The car didn’t make it very clear what the Hum actually was. But, by drawing attention, intrigue is boosted, encouraging consumers to do their own research. Turns out, the Hum is actually a service to make your car “smarter” by monitoring vehicle health, offering roadside assistance and several other services. Consumers are constantly being bombarded with advertising messages, standing out is becoming increasingly important and difficult. Creativity is key, or else a message will be lost in the sea of information. Verizon demands attention with this tactic.

Want to take your own stab at a creative out-of-home ad? DOmedia’s inventory may have just what you need to get your message heard.

For part four of our Notable Billboards series, we’re bringing you a couple international billboards from Vienna and Stockholm!

1) Adidas Ferris Wheel

Stationed in front of Vienna’s giant 212-foot ferris wheel, this creative billboard from Adidas is impossible to ignore. The arms of the pictured goalie Petr Cech mimic the ferris wheel while also playing off of the imagery of an impassable goalie. Installed right before the 2008 EuroCup, the audience the billboard reached was as perfect as some of Cech’s saves.

2) The Day After Tomorrow

In this case it’s the placement rather than the billboard itself that makes this ad great. Taking the idea of Day After Tomorrow being an apocalypse film, the agency’s decision to put the board in the middle of the ocean is rather fitting. It definitely earned some second glances, because who expects to see a billboard in the ocean?

3) Apolosophy Subway

Though it’s not exactly a billboard, this digital sign in Stockholm was too cool for us to leave out. Sensors in the sign sensed subway trains’ arrivals and reacted by sending the model’s hair flying. The ad draws attention to her hair and makes the message, about hair product, extremely relevant. It’s a really cool DOOH installment which obviously turned some heads, as you can see in the video below.

Want more stunning billboards? Check out past posts in our series here.