If you were anywhere in Columbus’ Arena District today, it would have been impossible to miss. Parked right on Nationwide Blvd in the heart of the district (and conveniently across the street from DOmedia World Headquarters) is a huge GE: ecomagination semi truck carrying a larger-than-life propeller from a wind turbine. The truck and propeller are part of ecomagination, GE’s effort to help “solve the world’s biggest environmental challenges,” according to their site. One of the program’s commitments is to engage the public through creative advertising. So they got their hands on a giant wind propeller, branded it, and are now taking it on the road as part of the “Catch the Wind Tour.”
Aside from its sheer size, the traveling campaign is raising awareness in the mid-west by encouraging people to make a commitment of their own. Written on the side of the propeller is a simple sentence: “I’m helping to build America’s energy future.” By signing their name on the propeller, passersby join the thousands of others already committed to the cause.
GE wasn’t the only company taking advantage of the busy pedestrian superhighway on this gorgeous Friday. Toyota was also in attendance, complete with a wrapped plug-in hybrid car touting an amazing 100+ mpg.
And I can’t forget CD101, parked in front of the arena, handing out free ice cream (now we’re talking)! The picture below shows the Arena District is no stranger to OOH. The four large billboards continuously spotlight the biggest brands, while the main digital screen is a great resource for weather, upcoming concerts at the arena, and much more. And, of course, the reliable Miller Lite clock off to the right.
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Eco-Friendly OOH Takes Over the Arena District
San Francisco gets a sweet visit from Candy Land
What better way to celebrate a 60 year anniversary and the re-launch of a 3D-version of the classic board game Candy Land than an alternative media campaign on the world-famous Lombard Street in San Francisco? Great find by the folks at Media Life Magazine.
Photo Credit: (AP Photo/Hasbro Inc., Darryl Bush)
The lucky kids who got the chance to play life-size Candy Land and hang out with the likes of Mr. Mint and King Kandy were chosen from San Francisco nonprofit Friends of the Children and University of California’s San Francisco Children’s Hospital.
Photo Credit: (Ted Weinstein/SFist)
The stunt got tons of attention from San Francisco tourists and was covered by numerous radio, TV, and newspapers outlets. It’s safe to say that everyone had fun and Candy Land’s maker Hasbro deserves a big kudos for this – pardon the pun – sweet campaign.
Pelotonia Bike Tour: Fundraising Meets Out-of-Home
This summer marks the beginning of an exciting & life-changing annual fundraiser here in Columbus, Ohio. Pelotonia, founded and funded by NetJets, is the grass roots bike tour raising money for cancer research at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute. In fact, 100% of funds raised go directly to cancer research at The James!
So what does this have to do with out-of-home advertising? In a (successful) attempt to get its message out to the community, Pelotonia literally dominated the out-of-home industry here in Columbus using media ranging from empty storefront ads and floor graphics to street furniture and digital signage. Ads were placed along busy highways, around the Ohio State University campus area (home to thousands of students & businesses), and the Arena District (home to many young — and young-at-heart — professionals and businesses, not to mention our Columbus Clippers baseball team & Columbus Blue Jackets hockey team).
The most impressive of all, perhaps, is the domination of the Columbus airport by Pelotonia & The James. The images below explain the campaign’s effectiveness better than words. Quality, quantity and, most of all, creativity made this effort impossible to miss.
The bike tour takes place this weekend, consisting of four routes spanning 25, 50, 100 and 180 miles. Over 2,100 people have committed to riding–including Lance Armstrong!
If you’re interested in contributing, please check out our DOmedia peloton where you can donate to our ride up until October 31st. Every donation helps!
Memorability: The True Test of an Out-of-Home Ad?
Columbus’ own Orange Barrel Media thinks so . . . and by looking at its past and present out-of-home campaigns, we’d have to agree. Just take a peak at some of the examples below. It’s basically impossible to ignore an ad that literally jumps out at you like the Columbus Crew soccer ball on the side of downtown’s Brunson building. Or how about the Nationwide Insurance “Life Comes at You Fast” ad that instantly grabs your attention and makes you do a double-take (or in my case–for a split second–makes you utterly confused about/concerned for the cars in the parking lot now covered in bright yellow paint).
Recently, Orange Barrel added another visually tantalizing advertisement to one of Easton Town Center’s exterior walls. The new wallscape features Ohio-based avitae energy water. And they actually mean energy water: purified water and natural caffeine. Period. And who better to go to when trying to promote a new product in a huge way? Orange Barrel, of course. The outcome: a gigantic, impossible to miss wallscape located in one of Ohio’s most visited tourist attractions (about 21 million people/year according to a recent press release). The ad shows a huge avitae bottle splashing pure, blue energy water down the wall and into a pipe. Just looking at it makes me thirsty.
After seeing everything they’ve done before, I can’t wait to see what Orange Barrel comes up with next. And I definitely can’t wait to try this water and finally ditch the daily coffee . . . and soda . . . and Red Bull.
Traditional vs Alternative OOH: You Decide
As many already know, this week marks the 56th Annual Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, the largest competition for advertising creativity in the world. And new this year: judges are focusing more on actual business results of the entries instead of relying on creativity alone.
This week, a trend revealed itself among the Outdoor Lions winners, a trend that appears to represent the out-of-home industry as a whole. In past years, traditional out-of-home–such as billboards and street furniture–has dominated the winner’s pedestal. But the times are changing.
Out-of-home advertising used to refer mainly to one type: traditional forms. But that’s before the introduction of digital screens and internet access for the masses. If this year’s Outdoor Lions revealed anything, it’s that out-of-home isn’t what it used to be. What was once limited to a static, one-way message is continuously evolving into an interactive experience that not only targets an audience, but involves them as well.
The Outdoor Grand Prix runner-up (that only lost by 1 vote), the “Dig Out Your Soul” campaign promoting Oasis’ new CD, included street musicians performing some of the album’s unreleased tracks in the subway stations of NYC. It was creative, innovative, and got people’s attention. By utilizing the outdoor space like they did, the campaign grew exponentially when passersby began taking pictures and videos, later posting them on the internet and sharing them with friends and family.
Another interesting entry was HBO’s Big Love interactive billboard which won a Gold Lion. According to the entry’s presentation board,
“Everyone has something to hide. HBO’s show Big Love is about a large polygamous family leading complex lives full of deception and lies. To promote it, we developed interactive audio billboards featuring everyday people (not characters from the show) with jacks built into their heads. You could use your headphones (or ones handed out by our street teams) to plug in and hear their secret thoughts. These ranged from alcoholism to gambling addiction to an overweight man who wears a slimming girdle to a woman who secretly hates her baby and what it’s done to her life. The boards also featured a jack by the logo with a promo of the clips from the new season.”
What used to be an industry centered around billboards with one-way messaging has now become one in which limitations have all but dissolved. This year’s Cannes Lions winners & runners-up redefine out-of-home as we know it by developing innovative campaigns capable of interacting with consumers.
