Out-of-the-box billboards from around the world
In 2017 we’re surrounded by so much advertising that campaigns are having to be more bold and ridiculous than ever to stand out.
According to figures from media and advertising publication Mumbrella, Australia’s outdoor advertising industry went through a resurgence last year, so who knows where we might see billboards popping up in the future.
Here is a roundup of some of the more out-of-the-box billboards, and their ads, from around the world.
Sydney Opera House
In 2013 Samsung announced an advertising partnership with the Sydney Opera House, to coincide with the launch of the Galaxy S4 smart phone. Australians were invited to submit photos of themselves to be projected on the side of the Opera House for the launch party, meaning for one night the Opera House’s iconic sails were a huge-scale Samsung ad. A more recent part of the collaboration is that punters can now climb the sails of the Opera House with Samsung’s virtual reality technology, arguably much safer than doing it in real life.
Photo: Samsung.
Rotterdam Bridge
Though movable bridges that open up can be a pain for drivers, they can be a good opportunity for outdoor advertisers. German car company Smart turned heads when it launched an ad campaign with its new Smart Brabus car appearing to launch itself from one side of an open bridge to the other in Rotterdam, in the Netherlands. The ad makes its impact without any text, simply the movements of the bridge.
Photo: Smart Brabus.
New York’s manholes
Sewers might seem like the last place you would use to advertise your product. In a controversial campaign several years ago Folgers Coffee covered New York manholes with stickers of steaming coffee cups, the steam supplied by the sewer below. The ad managed to hit two birds with one stone by covering up ugly and dangerous manholes, and also encouraging more Americans to go out and buy a cup o’ joe.
Photo: Folgers Coffee.
Yass, NSW
Anyone who has road-tripped down the Hume Highway will be familiar with this sign, without a doubt one of Australia’s greatest. It’s just a billboard advertising that Yass McDonald’s opens at 6am. Whatever other crude implications you get from it are your own fault.
Photo: Twitter.
In the ocean
How do you promote climate change disaster films? By recreating them on a beach, if you’re adopting the approach of Indian advertising agency Contract. The agency submerged a billboard advertising the film “The day after tomorrow”, which is about Manhattan going underwater.
Photo: Pinterest.
The Eiffel Tower
For nine years between 1925 and 1934, the Eiffel Tower held the Guinness World Record for being the world’s largest advertisement. Car company Citroen paid to install 250,000 lights on the side of the tower, to advertise their name on one of the most prominent places in the world. The ad came down when the company went bankrupt in 1934, maybe related to their huge electricity bills.
Photo: Citroen.
A zebra crossing
Just one stripe of a zebra crossing was all ad agency Grey Worldwide needed to prove their point. Mr Clean bought one section of a zebra crossing in Germany and painted it white, to prove how clean Mr Clean can make things.
Photo: Ads of the world.
