All posts in Out-of-home advertising

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.

Back in 2011, Coca-Cola initiated its “Share a Coke” campaign in Australia. They started with just 150 names, and it has grown to be one of their most memorable and successful campaigns. Every summer since, Coca-cola has revamped the campaign by adding names, expanding to more of their products, going beyond names (such as nicknames and song titles), and making an online store where people could customize and order their own Coke bottle. This summer, Coke is bringing the campaign back with two new twists. Last names will start being available as well as variations that are popular vacation spots.

The vacation destination part of the campaign is perfect as we enter summer. Not everyone can afford to pack up and head to Ibiza, but a Coke with the city’s name on it is as close as some of us can hope to get. It plays on the summer wanderlust and pulls us in.

The addition of last names is genius for two reasons. First, it brings back the excitement of trying to find your name on the shelves. Second, people will want to buy two Cokes instead of one. Since first and last names are on separate bottles, consumers are encouraged to buy two Cokes and make their full name. Who knows, maybe people with middle names will buy three.

But, what makes this campaign so successful? Personalization and connection. Consumers can find part of the brand that is, in a sense, theirs. It’s a “look that’s me!” factor. At the DOmedia office, we searched for our names every time we bought a soda. And, we bought more sodas that summer than usual. It just added to the Coke experience. Relating back to the consumer is huge in today’s marketing environment, and Coca-Cola has continued to be an outstanding example of hard-to-achieve success.

Creative campaigns like these are what brands need to aim for to get their message heard. But, planning complex campaigns requires sophisticated tools. Initiatives like this inspire our team to keep pushing technology forward so that advertisers can focus on strategic thinking and creative execution. Want to learn more about how DOmedia powers agencies, brands and media vendors to be “OOH heroes”? Contact sales@domedia.com

The ANA’s two-and-a-half day Brand Activation Conference will be held in Chicago from today to the 21st. Leaders from top companies such as Ford, Coca-Cola and AT&T will be addressing the difficulties in getting a brand message heard and how to combat them.

ANA’s annual REGGIE awards will take place the first night of the conference, recognizing some of the year’s best ad campaigns. Music artist James TW will perform, and food and drinks will be served. This recognition of excellent advertising campaigns highlights the best and brightest of our industry, and we love to celebrate their success.

During the conference attendees will have the opportunity to learn from the marketing triumphs of industry leaders. How does a brand shine through in an age where consumers are oversaturated with marketing messages? What contributes to a successful ad campaign? Some of the most pressing questions will be answered at this year’s Brand Activation Conference, and those not in attendance can keep with with #ANAActivate on social media.

At the beginning of April, Instagram rolled out their Stories ad platform globally. This is another development in the rivalry between Snapchat and Instagram, as Instagram’s Stories ad platform closely resembles Snapchat’s. The rollout was just a short time before Snapchat’s IPO, and was seen by many as a directly competitive move.

Given recent studies which have shown how OOH and mobile advertising are highly complementary, we keep a close eye on development in the mobile advertising space. Snapchat is even incorporating billboards directly into their campaigns through image recognition. For OOH agencies looking to complement location based campaigns through local ad-buys. Here’s our take on where this development will lead.

Instagram first tested the platform back in January, giving access to just 30 companies. Airbnb was one of these companies. They gave favorable feedback on the platform, reporting a significant increase in ad recall. The ads ads are full screen, play between Stories, and have sound on automatically. Photo ads are 5 seconds long and video ads can be up to 15 seconds. For users who wish to ignore the content, the ads are skippable by simply swiping to the next Story.

Instagram’s ad platform uses its parent company Facebook’s ad management to track and optimize campaigns. This gives it a clear advantage over Snapchat’s platform, which does not yet have the same tracking capabilities. Over 150 million people use Instagram’s Stories, and that number continues to grow rapidly.

Is Instagram giving Snapchat a run for their money? It’s a back and forth battle and neither platform has a clear advantage. Companies also look to broaden their reach and utilize every platform available, so it’s possible that firms may simply add Instagram Stories to their advertising repertoire, rather than shifting away from Snapchat entirely.

We can expect to see both sides continue to create and mimic new features, as competition drives innovation.