A Game, Kebab, or Hotel? How Brands Turn Spaces into Unforgettable Experiences

As a marketer, I’ve spent countless hours staring at campaign proofs, but there’s one image that’s seared into my brain for all the wrong reasons: the classic, static billboard. You know the one. It’s plastered alongside a motorway or looming over a dreary high street, a silent, two-dimensional message that our brains have been expertly trained to ignore. It’s become part of the urban wallpaper, seen but not truly seen.

But what if that billboard could cool you down on a hot day? What if it invited you to play a game? Or what if it could literally breathe?

These aren't just fanciful questions. They represent a fundamental revolution happening right now in Out-of-Home (OOH) advertising. This isn't about a few quirky one-offs; it's a strategic shift in a booming industry. Forget the idea of OOH as a legacy medium. The Out of Home Advertising Association of America (OAAA) confirms it’s the fastest-growing traditional medium in the US, consistently outperforming TV, radio, and print. The numbers speak for themselves. The industry posted record-breaking revenues of $2.04 billion in the third quarter of 2024 alone, the highest Q3 volume ever recorded (OAAA, 2024).

This growth is supercharged by technology. Digital OOH (DOOH) is a primary driver, with spending increasing by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter 2024 in comparison with the same period in 2023 (OAAA) and projected to soar past $25 billion annually by 2029 (Advendio, Statista). But here’s the crucial point: this staggering investment isn’t just for more of the same tired formats. The smartest brands—from global titans like Apple and McDonald’s to disruptive direct-to-consumer players —are using OOH not just to broadcast, but to connect. They are transforming passive ad space into active brand experiences.

Today, I want to take you on a journey through the most creative campaigns that are redefining what advertising in our cities can be. We’ll explore four key transformations that are turning bus stops, billboards, and public squares into playgrounds, sensory gardens, helpful tools, and stages for a brand's mission. The era of the boring billboard is over. Welcome to the age of the unforgettable experience.

Chapter 1: The Engine Room: Technology and Data in Modern OOH

Before we dive into the spectacular creative executions, it's crucial to understand the silent engine driving this revolution: technology. The leap from static posters to dynamic, responsive experiences is powered by a sophisticated ecosystem of data, automation, and artificial intelligence. This isn't just about putting screens on the street; it's about making those screens intelligent.

Programmatic DOOH: The Game-Changer

The most significant technological shift is the rise of programmatic Digital Out-of-Home (pDOOH). In simple terms, programmatic is the automated buying and selling of digital ad space. For decades, buying a billboard was a manual, cumbersome process of negotiations and fixed contracts. Programmatic changes everything, bringing the data-driven precision of online advertising to the physical world.

Instead of buying a specific billboard for a month, a brand can now use a Demand-Side Platform (DSP) to bid for ad slots on a network of digital screens in real-time (see also VistarMedia). This allows for hyper-targeting based on a vast array of data triggers. For example, a campaign can be set to automatically activate only when specific conditions are met:

• Weather: A brand selling cold drinks can have its ads appear on screens only when the temperature rises above 25°C. A campaign for Banana Boat sunscreen was cleverly set to activate only when the local UV index was above 2 (viooh).
• Time and Traffic: A coffee brand can target commuters during the morning rush hour, while a restaurant can promote its dinner specials in the evening.
• Audience Demographics: Using anonymised mobile data, advertisers can target screens based on the demographic profile of the people who are currently nearby.
• Live Events: A sports betting company can display real-time odds during a match, or a brand can react instantly to a major news event.

This transforms OOH from a one-to-many broadcast medium into a one-to-some, contextually relevant conversation. It’s a revolution that allows for unprecedented flexibility, efficiency, and relevance, ensuring the right message reaches the right audience at the most impactful moment.

AI and Computer Vision: The Eyes of the Street

The other critical technology is the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and computer vision. Many modern DOOH screens are now equipped with sensors or cameras that can, in a privacy-compliant way, analyse their surroundings in real-time. This has two profound impacts (RevealMobile).

First, it revolutionises measurement. Instead of relying on historical estimates of footfall, AI can provide real-time data on how many people are actually seeing an ad. Computer vision algorithms can count viewers, estimate their demographic profiles (like age and gender), and even gauge their emotional response by analysing facial expressions. This provides advertisers with precise, verifiable metrics on campaign performance, moving OOH closer to the accountability of digital channels.

Second, it enables truly interactive content. AI can be used to create dynamic ads that react to the audience or the environment. Imagine a billboard whose content changes based on the colour of the cars driving past, or an ad that responds to the gestures of a person standing in front of it. This level of real-time optimisation and dynamic content adjustment ensures that campaigns remain engaging and achieve maximum impact.

Chapter 2: Proving the Value: Measurement and ROI in the New Era

For as long as I've been in marketing, the biggest challenge for OOH has been proving its worth. We all intuitively knew that a massive, well-placed billboard had an impact, but connecting that billboard to a sale was notoriously difficult. How do you prove that the person who bought a coffee saw your ad on the bus stop five minutes earlier (if you didn't place a unique QR code or a promo code there)? This measurement gap has historically held OOH back.

Today, that is changing dramatically. The same technologies powering the creative revolution—data, mobile integration, and AI—are also solving the measurement puzzle, allowing us to track Return on Investment (ROI) with more confidence than ever before.

From Impressions to Action: Modern Measurement Techniques

The old way of measuring OOH was based on "impressions"—an estimate of how many people might have seen an ad, often based on traffic audits or census data. It was a blunt instrument. The new methods are far more sophisticated and focus on tracking consumer actions after they've been exposed to an ad.

The key is the device in our pockets: the smartphone (see also Broadsign). By using anonymised location data from mobile devices, we can now bridge the gap between the physical and digital worlds. Here’s how it works:

• Foot Traffic Studies: Geofencing technology creates a virtual boundary around a billboard. Measurement partners can then track how many mobile devices were exposed to the ad and subsequently visited a specific physical location, like a retail store. This provides direct attribution, showing a clear link between seeing the ad and taking an action.
• Brand Lift and Web/App Lift: After a campaign runs, targeted mobile surveys can be sent to people who were in the vicinity of the OOH ads. These surveys measure key metrics like ad recall, brand awareness, and purchase intent. Similarly, we can track whether users who saw an ad later visited the brand's website or downloaded its app.
• Attribution Modelling: In a world where customers interact with a brand across multiple touchpoints (social media, search, OOH, etc.), attribution modelling helps assign credit to each channel for its role in a conversion. For OOH, this means using models like the "first-touch" (crediting the OOH ad for starting the customer journey) or "linear" (giving equal credit to all touchpoints) to understand its specific contribution to the overall marketing mix.

These tools allow us to move beyond simply asking "how many people saw it?" to answering the crucial question: "what did they do next?". This ability to demonstrate a clear ROI is a primary reason why brands are pouring investment back into the OOH channel. For instance, in the case of SeaDoo, dOOH brought "a 130% uplift in positive brand image and a 144% uplift in purchase consideration" (Broadsign; check the case study here).

Chapter 3: Gamification and Interaction – An Invitation to Play

The first, and perhaps most joyful, shift is the move from passive consumption to active participation. Brands are realising that by hijacking a mundane moment—like waiting for a bus—and turning it into a moment of unexpected play, they can forge powerful and positive brand associations that a static ad could never hope to achieve. This is about selling an experience, a fleeting moment of fun, not just a product.

At its core, gamification works by tapping into fundamental human motivations. It triggers our innate desire for challenge, reward, and fun, creating positive experiences and affect that can become associated with a brand (Hamari et al., 2014).  It’s a wonderfully low-pressure way to build genuine brand affinity.

Case Study A: Axe "Get in the Game" – The Bus Stop Arcade

A perfect example of this comes from Athens, where Axe and its agency Ogilvy Greece turned a busy bus stop into an interactive arcade game to launch their new Cherry Fizz body spray (see: Famouscampaigns).

Imagine you’re waiting for the number 42, scrolling idly through your phone. Suddenly, you notice the ad panel at the bus stop is a life-sized claw machine, filled with a pool of cartoonishly juicy cherries. By scanning a QR code, you can take control of the claw right from your own phone, trying to "Grab The Sweet". If you succeed, a tester strip of the new fragrance is dispensed directly from a slot built into the shelter.

This was far more than just a clever sampling method. It was a masterclass in engaging a notoriously ad-averse audience: Gen Z. The campaign brilliantly delivered what this demographic craves: "less ad, more entertainment". It didn't shout about its fragrance notes; it offered a moment of distraction and delight.

The true genius of the Axe campaign, however, lies in its seamless use of the QR code as a bridge between the physical and digital worlds. It didn't just put a game in a bus stop; it put the game's controller into everyone's pocket. A physical joystick on the shelter would have created queues, been a single-user experience, and felt clunky. By leveraging the smartphone, the campaign became modern, personal, and scalable. It also allowed Axe to get to know its customers better as they shared their data by installing the app.

This approach aligns perfectly with what we know about modern OOH effectiveness. Ian Dallimore, Vice President of Digital Growth & GM of Programmatic at Lamar Advertising, said that DOOH "helps brands more effectively engage and connect with their target audiences wherever they are. In fact, our own data finds that DOOH increases reach by as much as 303% when added to a mobile or web campaign while lifting foot traffic by an average of 68% when combined with social messaging" (Yahoo). The QR code wasn't just a technical fix; it was a strategic multiplier, turning a single physical installation into a potential multi-user digital experience.

Case Study B: IKEA "Climbing Wall Billboard" – Experiencing the Product as the Playground

If Axe created a digital playground, IKEA built a physical one. To celebrate the opening of its 30th store in Clermont-Ferrand, France, the Swedish furniture giant took the concept of interaction to a dizzying new height. They constructed a 9-metre-high, 10-metre-wide vertical rock-climbing wall, fully furnished to look like an apartment turned on its side.

Passers-by were invited to strap into a safety harness and, under the guidance of professionals, physically scale the wall. The twist? The handholds and steps were IKEA’s own products. People were climbing on cabinets, balancing on tables, and pulling themselves up using sofas.

This represents a monumental step beyond a digital game. Here, the interaction was direct, physical, and deeply integrated with the products themselves. As I see it, this single execution was a triple-threat of marketing brilliance:

1. Spectacle: It was an unmissable, awe-inspiring stunt that stopped people in their tracks.
2. Interaction: It invited the public to participate in a thrilling personal challenge, creating a powerful memory.
3. Product Demonstration: This is the masterstroke. By having people literally trust their body weight to its furniture, IKEA made a powerful, unspoken statement about the sturdiness and reliability of its products.

This campaign perfectly illustrates a fundamental evolution from brand storytelling to brand story-doing. For decades, IKEA has excelled at telling stories about its brand and products through charming catalogues and adverts. But the climbing wall did something more profound. The story was the durability and smart design of the furniture; the doing was the act of climbing on it.

A person who has successfully used an IKEA cabinet as a foothold has an embodied, personal proof of its quality that no print ad could ever replicate. They have moved from being a passive audience member to the protagonist of the brand's story. This is the pinnacle of interactive OOH: when the medium, the message, and the product become one unified, unforgettable experience.

Chapter 4: Sensory Marketing – Advertising You Can Feel, See, and Hear

Our world is a rich sensory landscape, yet for decades, advertising has been overwhelmingly confined to the sense of sight. The most forward-thinking brands are now breaking out of this two-dimensional box. They are engaging our other senses—sound, smell, touch, and even taste—to create advertising that is more immersive, emotional, and profoundly memorable. As research in sensory marketing confirms, engaging multiple senses creates a stronger emotional connection with a brand and significantly improves product recall (Krishna, 2012).

Case Study A: Waitrose & The Power of Hyper-Realistic Visuals

A Waitrose campaign was, in its own right, a triumph of sensory marketing, albeit a purely visual one. In the summer of 2025, Waitrose, working with Wonderhood Studios, pitched two extraordinary special-build billboards in high-traffic London locations, including Westfield White City. These installations featured giant, hyper-realistic 3D models of food—plump tomatoes, chunks of halloumi, juicy pineapple—impaled on a massive kebab skewer that appeared to have burst right through the poster. The playful headline read: "Anything is a kebab if you put a skewer through it!".

While it didn't use artificial scent or sound, this campaign was profoundly sensory. The 3D models were meticulously crafted to be visually striking from every possible angle. The vibrant colours, the detailed textures, and the sheer, unexpected scale of the installation were designed to trigger a synesthetic response in the viewer. You see the giant, perfectly grilled halloumi, and you can almost taste the saltiness, smell the charcoal, and feel the warmth of a summer BBQ.

It cleverly tapped into the core campaign insight that summer eating is more relaxed, flexible, and spontaneous. It’s a powerful reminder that sensory marketing isn't always about adding a literal smell; it can be about using visuals so powerfully that they evoke the other senses in the viewer's mind.

Of course, the initial idea of a scented billboard points to another powerful and growing trend. Scent is our most primal sense, hard-wired to memory and emotion. Research has shown that associating a smell with an image makes us remember it for longer, and that using scent in marketing can boost sales by as much as 10%.

We’re seeing this put into practice more and more, from Billie’s scratch-and-sniff deodorant posters in New York City to food brands using timed scent dispensers near their stores. Sound is equally potent, capable of setting a mood and grabbing attention in a cluttered environment. The Waitrose campaign is a brilliant example of one sensory tactic, but it exists within a wider strategic landscape where brands are adding literal layers of scent and sound to make their OOH unmissable.

Case Study B: McDonald's "Smells Like McDonald's" – The Invisible Ad

How much confidence do you have in your brand's sensory identity? Enough to run an ad campaign with no logo, no product shot, and no words? That's exactly what McDonald's Netherlands did in 2024, in a campaign that is, for my money, one of the purest and boldest examples of sensory marketing ever executed.  

Working with agency TBWA\NEBOKO (AdsOfTheWorld), they placed a series of minimalist billboards in the cities of Utrecht and Leiden. The billboards were completely blank, painted in the brand's signature plain red or yellow. To the eye, they were nothing more than abstract blocks of colour. But to the nose, they were unmistakable. As people walked within a five-metre radius, they were greeted by the iconic, mouth-watering scent of McDonald's French fries.

The execution was ingeniously simple. Each billboard contained a hidden compartment where actual McDonald's fries were kept warm. A built-in heating and ventilation system then gently diffused the aroma into the surrounding air, targeting the noses of passers-by. The billboards were strategically placed within 200 metres of a McDonald's restaurant, ensuring that the craving they triggered could be easily satisfied.

This campaign was a masterclass in leveraging a non-visual brand asset. As Stijn Mentrop-Huliselan, the CMO of McDonald's Netherlands, explained, "Smell has been proven to be more effective at sparking clear and emotional memories than images. With the inclusion of this next sense in our advertising, we found a new way to remind people of Good Times at McDonald’s" (AdsOfTheWorld). The entire campaign was a test of this hypothesis: Is the smell of our fries as recognisable as our Golden Arches?

The results were staggering. A street survey found that 87% of people recognised the McDonald's scent, with 71% specifically identifying it as French fries. The campaign became McDonald's Netherlands' most successful PR campaign ever, generating an earned media value of €49.9 million and reaching over 1.5 billion people online in its first week (see: Minimedia). It was a powerful demonstration that in a world saturated with visual advertising, targeting a different, more primal sense can be devastatingly effective. As the campaign's creators put it, "People could look away, but they couldn't smell away".  

Similarly, Herbal Essences applied PleasureBombs:

Chapter 5: Utility and Context – Advertising That Helps

Perhaps the most profound evolution in OOH is the shift from interruption to utility. For generations, the implicit contract of advertising was that brands paid to interrupt your day. The new contract is different. The most effective advertising today doesn't just ask for your attention; it earns it by providing a tangible benefit or solving a real-world problem for you, right here and right now. This is advertising that genuinely helps.

Case Study A: The "Breathing" Billboard – Visualising the Invisible

The concept of a "breathing" billboard is one of the most hypnotic I've come across. This idea came from the charity Global Action Plan.

To raise awareness of London's air pollution crisis, Global Action Plan, in partnership with Wonderhood Studios and Ocean Outdoor, launched the "Breathable Billboard" (lbbonline). This was a digital screen displaying an image of a pair of human lungs. The genius of it was that the billboard was connected in real-time to the local Daily Air Quality Index. When pollution levels were low, the lungs on the screen appeared healthy, pink, and were blooming with beautiful flowers. However, as pollution levels rose to approach or exceed illegal limits, the digital lungs would dynamically react—withering, darkening, and appearing diseased and choked.

This is one of the most powerful examples of data visualisation in OOH I have ever seen. It took an abstract, invisible threat—air pollution—and made it tangible, visceral, and utterly impossible to ignore. The mesmerising "breathing" effect, constantly reacting to live data, created a living, pulsating entity in the heart of the city. It was no longer just an advertisement; it had become a public health barometer.

Pivoting to Spotify: A Different Kind of Visual Storytelling

While Spotify may not have created a "breathing" billboard, their OOH campaigns are a masterclass in a different, but equally potent, kind of sensory and emotional marketing. They use data, fan insights, and sharp wit to create deeply resonant visual stories that connect with audiences on a personal level.

Their strategies fall into two main camps:

• Data-Driven Wit: Who can forget their "Thanks 2016, it's been weird" campaign? It used anonymised listener data to create wry, hyper-localised billboards. One from the UK was: "Dear 3,749 people who streamed 'It's The End Of The World As We Know It' the day of the Brexit vote, Hang in there". This approach creates a powerful sense of shared experience and insiders’ humour.
• Fan-Focused Tributes: More recently, Spotify's campaigns have become a "visual love letter" to fan culture. Using lush, beautiful film photography, they capture the unique rituals and aesthetics of specific fandoms.

What I find so exceptionally clever here is how Spotify used a static medium to create a feeling of dynamism, community, and belonging. The data-driven ads feel personal and incredibly timely. The fan-focused ads make people feel seen, understood, and celebrated. It's contextual marketing for the soul, creating a deep emotional connection by reflecting the audience's own identity and passions back at them. It’s definitive proof that you don't always need complex, moving technology to create a powerful, living OOH experience.

Case Study B: Coors Light "Chillboards" – An Ad You Can Feel

In my opinion, one of the most brilliant marketing campaigns of the last decade is Coors Light's "Chillboards". The campaign was launched in Miami, a city that regularly battles sweltering heat and where heatwaves are becoming increasingly frequent and severe.

The brand, which serves a chilling beer, along with its agencies, painted a series of minimally-branded billboards on the black, heat-absorbing rooftops of residential apartment buildings. But this was no ordinary paint. It was a specially formulated, highly reflective white roof coating, proven to reflect up to 85% of sunlight (creative.salon).

The effect was astonishing: on tested rooftops, the paint lowered the surface temperature by as much as 50°F (around 28°C). The ads themselves carried clever taglines like "Refresh Your Roof", "This Ad Chills Literally", "Collboards Help Cut Costs". Those are "Billboards Nobody Can See, But Everybidy Can Feel" and many are talking about worldwide.

As Jane Gilbert, the Chief Heat Officer of Miami-Dade County said, "This chilboards raise people's awarness all over the world. And that's a great thing".

This campaign is a masterclass in the perfect marriage of brand identity, genuine utility, and social purpose.

• Brand Identity: Coors Light's long-standing tagline is "Made to Chill". This campaign took that abstract brand promise and made it a physical, measurable, and beneficial reality.
• Utility: It provided a real, tangible benefit to the buildings' residents, helping to cool their homes and offering the potential to lower their punishingly high summer energy bills. This was particularly meaningful as the campaign targeted buildings in lower-income neighbourhoods, which are often disproportionately affected by the "urban heat island" effect due to a lack of green space.
• Context: It was perfectly and intelligently tailored to the Miami environment. This wasn't a generic, one-size-fits-all campaign; it was a specific, thoughtful solution for a specific community's pressing problem.

The "Chillboards" campaign offers a powerful blueprint for how brands can engage in purpose-driven marketing without falling into the dreaded "greenwashing" trap. Modern consumers, particularly Gen Z, are rightly cynical about vague corporate social responsibility (CSR) claims. A brand simply saying it cares about the environment is often met with a collective eye-roll. The Coors Light campaign succeeded because it didn't just talk; it did.

The utility was the message. The act of painting the roofs was the undeniable proof of their commitment. And crucially, that utility was a logical, authentic extension of the brand's core identity: "chill". This made the action feel natural and credible, not like a forced or opportunistic PR stunt. It proves that providing a genuine, measurable utility that aligns with your brand's DNA is the most effective way to demonstrate purpose. It shifts the entire conversation from "What are you saying?" to "What are you doing?".

Case Study C: IBM "Smarter Cities" – Advertising as Urban Infrastructure

Taking utility to its most literal conclusion, we have IBM's "Smarter Cities" campaign. As part of its wider "People for Smarter Cities" initiative, IBM and its agency Ogilvy & Mather launched a series of ads in London and Paris that completely reimagined the physical form of a billboard (dezeen).

The billboards were physically bent, curved, and shaped to serve a simple, useful purpose for city dwellers. One ad curved over at the top to become a rain shelter. Another peeled up from the bottom to create a bench. A third was laid over a flight of stairs to form an impromptu ramp for people with bicycles, pushchairs, or suitcases.

This is utility in its purest, most elegant form. IBM, a brand synonymous with complex, high-tech solutions for businesses and governments, used a brilliantly simple, low-tech execution to demonstrate its core philosophy. The slogan was "Smart Ideas for Smarter Cities", and the ads themselves were a living example of a smart idea making the city incrementally better. It powerfully positioned IBM not as a corporation trying to sell you something, but as a thoughtful, intelligent partner in improving urban life.

These ads function as a kind of "Trojan Horse of Value". We are all conditioned to ignore or feel annoyed by advertising; it's a natural defence mechanism against the constant bombardment of commercial messages. However, we are not conditioned to ignore a free bench when our feet are tired, or a shelter when it starts to rain. We are drawn to utility.

By providing this immediate, undeniable value, IBM gets the consumer to engage with its ad placement willingly. And once we are engaged by the utility—sitting on the bench, for example—we become receptive to the brand message associated with it. The positive feeling of finding a seat is transferred, through association, to the IBM brand. It’s a powerful psychological shift. Instead of the brand pushing its message onto us, we pull the message in because it's attached to something we genuinely want or need. The utility has successfully bypassed our cynicism.

Chapter 6: Marketing with a Mission – Weaving Values into the Urban Fabric

Building on the foundation of utility, the final frontier for modern OOH is to become a physical platform for a brand's mission. This is where advertising transcends commerce and becomes a tangible form of corporate citizenship. It's about using physical space not just to sell a product, but to demonstrate a genuine commitment to shared values like sustainability, community, and biodiversity. This is how the deepest, most resilient form of brand loyalty is built.

Case Study A: Switzerland Tourism & "Bees & Friends" – Hospitality for All

A truly delightful example of this is the "Bees & Friends" campaign from Switzerland Tourism. The campaign was designed to achieve two goals simultaneously: highlight the diversity and quality of Swiss hospitality, and showcase the country's profound commitment to protecting its biodiversity.

The execution was wonderfully creative (see more: FamousCampaigns). Switzerland Tourism held a national architecture competition to design and build nine miniature, designer "hotels" for wild bees, birds, and hedgehogs. Each of these tiny shelters was a unique piece of art, exquisitely modelled after a real, luxury Swiss hotel that had partnered with the campaign. For instance, "The Tiny Dolder Grand" in Zurich was a stylish duplex for hedgehogs and birds, complete with a "rooftop spa" (a bird bath), while the "BEE Rivage" in Lausanne offered luxurious suites for bees, inspired by the seasons.

This campaign is a masterstroke of mission-driven marketing for several reasons:

• A Powerful Dual Message: It masterfully communicated that "Switzerland really does have something to offer every kind of guest", as their CMO André Hefti stated (FamousCampaigns)—even the tiniest, most ecologically vital ones.
• Authentic, Tangible Action: This wasn't just a poster with a picture of a bee. They actually built and installed these intricate shelters, working in partnership with Bienen Schweiz, the national beekeepers' association. The campaign's credibility was further bolstered by real-world tourism experiences, such as beekeeping workshops, honey-tasting sessions, and even honey-based spa treatments at the partner hotels (countryandtownhouse).
• Global Amplification: The inherently charming and visually stunning nature of the miniature hotels made the campaign perfect for social media and PR. It was a story people wanted to share, earning it global attention and even promotions in New York's Times Square (markt-kom).

In a fiercely competitive market like global tourism, where many destinations offer beautiful mountains and lovely hotels, a campaign rooted in such a unique and authentic mission becomes a powerful competitive advantage. It gives people a reason to choose a brand that goes beyond just price or features.

The "Bees & Friends" campaign communicates a clear set of values: sustainability, creativity, and a charming, all-encompassing sense of hospitality. This creates a deep emotional reason for a tourist to choose Switzerland. They aren't just booking a holiday; they are aligning themselves with a brand whose values they admire and wish to support.

This mission-driven approach elevates the brand from a simple service provider to a cultural entity with a clear and compelling point of view. In a world saturated with choice, consumers are increasingly drawn to brands whose values reflect their own. This campaign gives them a powerful and heartwarming story to connect with and share.

Case Study B: Herbal Essences "Power the Planet" – An Ad You Can Touch and Grow

Herbal Essences provides another brilliant example of mission-driven marketing, creating a campaign that was both interactive and served a powerful environmental purpose. The brand, long associated with natural ingredients and botanical fragrances, created an execution that perfectly aligned with its identity.

In partnership with Mr President Creative Agency, Herbal Essences launched a series of "living" interactive billboards across London, including in Kentish Town, Old Street, and Clapton. These billboards were covered with over 3,000 detachable leaves, creating a stunning, vibrant green display that stood out against the urban backdrop (mrpresident).

The genius was in the interaction. Passers-by were encouraged to touch the billboard and pick one of the leaves physically. Each leaf was, in fact, a seed packet containing wildflower seeds. This simple, tactile experience created a direct, memorable connection with the brand.

But Herbal Essences went deeper. The campaign's mission, in partnership with Kew Gardens, was to help combat the decline of the UK's butterfly population, of which 17.2% of species are endangered. By taking a leaf and planting the seeds, people were empowered to help grow 36,000 new wildflowers, creating a more sustainable habitat for these vital pollinators (mrpresident).  

This campaign is a brilliant fusion of sensory and mission-driven marketing.

• Tactile and Visual: The physical act of picking a leaf is a powerful sensory hook, far more engaging than a static image. The visual of a lush, green, "blooming" billboard in the middle of a city is a spectacle in itself.
• Brand-Mission Alignment: The campaign perfectly reinforced Herbal Essences' identity as a nature-focused, botanical brand. It wasn't just an ad; it was an act of "story-doing". Instead of just telling people they care about the planet, they provided a tool for the public to participate in its renewal actively.

By engaging our sense of touch and our desire to do good, Herbal Essences created a campaign that was not only memorable but also genuinely meaningful, turning a simple billboard into a distributed, crowd-sourced conservation project.

Chapter 7: The Dark Side: Risks and Responsibilities

While the creative potential of modern OOH is exhilarating, it's essential for us as marketers to approach it with a healthy dose of caution. When our canvas is the public space, the stakes are higher. A misstep doesn't just result in a skipped ad; it can lead to public backlash, logistical nightmares, and brand damage.

When Creative Crosses a Line: The Risk of Public Backlash

The most significant risk is creating a campaign that, despite its creative intent, offends or alienates the very public it's trying to engage. In 2024, the dating app Bumble learned this the hard way. Their rebrand campaign featured billboards with slogans like “You know full well a vow of celibacy is not the answer”.

The intended message was likely a playful nudge to encourage dating, but the public interpretation was vastly different. In a cultural climate sensitive to women's rights and bodily autonomy, the ads were widely seen as pressuring women into sexual activity. The social media backlash was swift and severe, forcing Bumble to pull the campaign and issue a public apology (BBC).

This is a stark reminder that public space is a shared space. An ad that is perceived as too intrusive, insensitive, or simply annoying can generate significant negative sentiment. Other campaigns have faced criticism for being racially insensitive, promoting unhealthy body images, or simply being distasteful. The lesson is clear: our ideas must be stress-tested not just for creativity, but for cultural resonance and potential misinterpretation.

The Perils of Execution: Logistical Failures and the "Gimmick" Trap

Beyond the message itself, the execution of experiential OOH carries its own set of risks.

• Logistical Failure: What happens when your brilliant interactive bus stop game breaks down? A malfunctioning installation can be worse than no ad at all. It sends a message of incompetence and poor quality control, directly reflecting on the brand. The more complex the execution, the more robust the plan for maintenance and troubleshooting must be.
• The "Gimmick" Risk: There is a fine line between a genuinely clever brand experience and an empty gimmick. The most successful campaigns, like IKEA's climbing wall or Coors Light's "Chillboards", work because the execution is deeply and authentically connected to the brand's core product or purpose. A cool stunt that has no strategic link to the brand's goals might generate fleeting social media buzz, but it fails to build any lasting brand equity. The question must always be: does this experience reinforce what our brand stands for, or is it just a gimmick for attention's sake?

Navigating these risks requires a shift in mindset. We are no longer just advertisers; we are temporary urban planners and public artists. This demands a deeper consideration of our audience, our environment, and the strategic purpose behind every creative idea.

Conclusion: From Advertisement to Value Exchange

As we’ve journeyed through these remarkable campaigns, a clear pattern has emerged. The very definition of Out-of-Home advertising is being rewritten before our eyes. The paradigm has shifted across four key dimensions:

• Interaction: We've moved from simply showing to actively playing.
• Sensory: We've moved from merely seeing to truly feeling.
• Utility: We've moved from interrupting people's days to helping them.
• Mission: We've moved from just selling a product to serving a purpose.

The common thread weaving through all these transformations is a fundamental change in the relationship between a brand and its audience. The old model was a one-way broadcast, a monologue shouted from a rooftop. The new model is a two-way value exchange. The brand provides a moment of entertainment, a delightful sensory experience, a genuinely useful tool, or a mission we can believe in. In return, it receives something far more valuable than a fleeting glance: our attention, our affinity, and ultimately, our loyalty.

The data proves that this new approach is working. A comprehensive study by The Harris Poll for the OAAA found that an overwhelming 73% of consumers view Digital OOH ads favourably, and a staggering 76% have taken a specific action after seeing one. People are responding because the medium is finally giving them something of value in return for their time. In fact, another OAAA report found that Contextual DOOH ads are considered useful.

To put it simply, the future of our industry lies in generosity. The table below summarises the four pillars of this new era of experiential OOH, offering a strategic framework for us as marketers.

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The message is clear. The future of Digital Out-of-Home advertising doesn't lie in a desperate fight for eyeballs, but in creating a meaningful and valuable exchange with our audience.

So, the next time you're planning a campaign, I challenge you to ask a different set of questions. Instead of asking 'what can we show?', let's start asking, 'what can we give?'. Let's not just buy space—let's add value to it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are billboards still an effective advertising channel in the digital age?

Yes, absolutely. In a world dominated by digital media, billboards and other Out-of-Home (OOH) advertising remain exceptionally effective. They reach audiences in public spaces where ads can't be skipped, blocked, or scrolled past. Furthermore, they are proven to drive online activity—generating increases in search engine queries, website visits, and social media engagement, acting as a powerful catalyst for digital interaction.

What is the difference between a digital and a static billboard?

A static billboard is the traditional printed poster. Its main advantage is constant visibility—your message is displayed 24/7 for the duration of the campaign, and you don't have to share the space with other advertisers.

A digital billboard (DOOH) is an electronic screen that typically rotates several different advertisements in a loop. Its key advantages are flexibility (the creative can be changed in real-time), the ability to use animation or video, and the potential for context-sensitive ads that react to factors like weather, time of day, or live events.

How do brands measure the success of a billboard campaign?

While it used to be challenging, technology now allows for the Return on Investment (ROI) of billboard advertising to be measured with great precision. The main methods include:

• Brand Lift Studies: Surveying audiences exposed to the ads to measure increases in brand awareness, purchase intent, or message recall.
• Web Traffic Analysis: Monitoring for a rise in website visits or direct searches for the brand name in the geographical areas where the campaign is running.
• QR Codes and Unique URLs: Using a specific code or landing page on the billboard to directly track how many users respond to that particular ad.
• Mobile Data Analysis: Using anonymised location data to determine how many people who passed a billboard later visited a physical retail location or the brand's website (known as a 'footfall' study).

What is the most important element of an effective billboard?

The most crucial element is immediate and simple communication. A driver or pedestrian has only a few seconds to absorb the message. Therefore, an effective billboard must rely on a single, powerful image and minimal text—a good rule of thumb is seven words or fewer. It needs to tell a complete visual story that is understood instantly, without needing any extra context.