Ad Creative Goes Outdoor

In his book Ogilvy On Advertising, published 25 years ago, legendary ad man David Ogilvy predicted that “billboards would be abolished.” The Internet aside, outdoor advertising is today’s fastest growing place to place those messages. Spending on outdoor advertising grew 8% last year in the UK, about 4% in the US and double digits in Central and Eastern Europe, Russia and China. Think about commuter trends, foot-traffic, airport and train waiting.

The Cannes International Ad Festival, ending last week, is the Olympic Games for advertising creatives. And, its Lions awards are a good measure of the state of commercial communication. In a dip to the current zeitgeist, former US Vice President Al Gore was awarded the first Green Lion award for eco-friendly message creation. And the “green” message went further.

The Cannes Lions outdoor jury awarded their grand prize to Johannesburg agency Network BBDO for a “power to the people” campaign, literally. The campaign created for NedBank is solar powered, providing electricity for a school kitchen in Johannesburg’s Alexandria township. The tag-line is “What if a bank really did give power to the people?”

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Another theme from Cannes last week is the quality and impact of work from the Southern Hemisphere. Creative contributions from South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, South America, the Philippines and India appeared to overwhelm the “north.” David Ogilvy also predicted “more foreign hares will overtake the American tortoise.”

Network BBDO’s solar powered campaign faced a tough challenge in the last minute voting from another concept campaign from BBDO’s New York suite. A giant Times Square panel for BBC World offered passers-by the opportunity to vote via SMS on whether soldiers were occupiers or liberators. And you thought interactivity was only for the internet.

“We were torn between the head and the heart,” said outdoor jury member Porky Hefer in a press briefing. “This one piece was more than advertising. It was help and it was hope.”

Though advertising more often sells laundry soap and candy bars than grand themes or social responsibility, in all Cannes Lions categories more than a few winners placed their creativity firmly in strong messages with a purpose.

Zürich agency Walker Werbeagentur won a Media Gold Lion for a striking – and disturbing – campaign for Amnesty International titled “Not Here But Now.” Using transit platforms the agency brought chilling scenes of child soldiers to street corners in Switzerland.

“Used properly outdoor remains one of the strongest and most impact full mediums on our disposal,” said agency creative director Pius Walker. “Whether it is the right communication channel is depending on the communication strategy. But Switzerland, unlike other countries, is offering a very powerful poster market with a good value for money ratio. This is in contrast to Germany for instance where it is almost impossible to cover the whole country using posters only.”

“We've experienced great support from outdoor companies so far,” he added. “It always seems to come down to the idea on how much cooperation you get in the end. Good ideas are a chance for them as well to get publicity and positive feedback.”

Last year Sao Paulo, Brazil’s city council banned all outdoor advertising and sent city workers on a mission to remove up to 100 billboards a day, many illegal. Moscow’s mayor is proposing equally strong restrictions on outdoor advertising, so strong that News Corp announced its decision last week (June 19) to sell its stake in News Outdoor Russia. Clear Channel Outdoor, the world’s largest outdoor advertising company, announced this week its acquisition of a controlling stake in a Romanian outdoor company.

Big bucks in billboards, €22 billion by 2010 - July 30, 2007

The global outdoor advertising market is rising, fast. The ad industry may wag about be internet and all the “potential” of ads on mobile phones but billboards, transit posters and street furniture are attracting out-of-home ad money. Industry analysts Global Industry Analysts (GIA) project outdoor adverting world-wide will take €22.3 billion (US$30.4 billion) by 2010...MORE

Ad Creative Goes Outdoor

Most outdoor advertising evokes nothing more than a sideward glance in the ad world. Billboards, posters, benches, shelters, taxi-tops and bus-backs and the like are not sexy at all. The Cannes Lions ad awards show that outdoor is back. Go To Follow Up & Comments

Big bucks in billboards, €22 billion by 2010 - July 30, 2007

Most outdoor advertising evokes nothing more than a sideward glance in the ad world. Billboards, posters, benches, shelters, taxi-tops and bus-backs and the like are not sexy at all. The Cannes Lions ad awards show that outdoor is back.
Go To Follow Up & Comments