6 OOH Campaigns That We Really Like

What makes a fantastic out of home campaign? While your favorite may depend on individual taste, there are three elements undeniably present in every great OOH campaign:

1. Clever creative: OOH is a visual medium, and it requires excellent imagery to get the point across.
2. On-point messaging: It’s not enough to be witty or humorous. The message has to draw a direct line to the brand or product.
3. Effective medium: You can choose from more than half a dozen OOH formats—finding the right one, whether it’s a billboard or Wild Posting®, is critical.

We love seeing the ideas others come up with. Here are six of our favorite recent (past three years) out of home campaigns that incorporate those three elements and add the last key ingredient—the X factor, that unexpected twist that elevates the campaign from good to great.

1. Bud Light ‘Enter the Bottle’ on Las Vegas Sphere

The NFL’s decision to hold the 2024 Super Bowl in Las Vegas gave brands an incredible playground to promote their products. The Strip is one of the world’s most luminous (12 million light bulbs) and grandest venues for out of home advertising, with possibilities ranging from digital billboards to street furniture to transit ads.

The Sphere has become the most sought-after advertising space on the Strip. It is the world’s largest billboard, and it’s visible across the entire Strip, the monorail, hundreds of hotel rooms and even from space (only important if you’re targeting aliens or astronauts). Advertisers sought time on the Sphere during Super Bowl week, with a number of eye-catching ideas.

Our favorite was the Bud Light ad that invited passersby inside a cold, refreshing bottle of beer. It turned the Sphere into a sloshing, frothing Bud bottle, and watching as the beer slowly disappeared from the bottle was oddly satisfying. The outstanding graphics captured every last bubble in the head, reminding people not just of the taste of the drink but also how it feels to finish those last few sips.

2. Nike Caitlin Clark Mural and Banner

Caitlin Clark was the story of the 2023-’24 college basketball season, driving record viewership and attendance for the women’s game. Her record-smashing season included breaking the women’s career scoring record and setting a new all-time record for points (men or women) in Division 1, breaking “Pistol” Pete Maravich’s mark set in the 1960s. This incredible accomplishment called for an equally incredible way to mark the occasion, and Nike delivered.

Clark had a NIL deal with Nike that carried through her senior season. To honor its athlete’s record-breaking feat, the shoe brand came up with a fun twist on a huge mural it had already erected in Iowa City, showing Clark releasing a shot in her Iowa uniform, the now-iconic 22.

After the game when Clark broke the all-time record, Nike hung a banner from the parking garage across the street showing a basketball hoop. This gave the effect that Clark was shooting one of her trademark logo 3s across a street and into the nearby hoop. Atop the banner, Nike wrote, “This was never a long shot,” making a clever connection between the cross-street shot and the expectation that Clark would break the all-time record.

3. Durex Condom Wrong-Sized Ads

Funny ads make impressions. Funny ads that also deliver a message are the OOH equivalent of a home run, and Durex pulled that off with a campaign that managed to be hilarious while telling a relevant story in Dublin, Ireland.

Durex sells condoms, and a campaign launched in fall 2023 focused on fit and sensation of its product after research that found 44% of people use the wrong size of condom, which leads them to complain about their comfort. To illustrate that conundrum, Durex posted intentionally ill-fitting ads in street furniture kiosks, on pub bathroom walls and in other OOH locations, creating hilarious visuals meant to demonstrate a parallel issue with wrong-sized condoms.

A large square ad made to look like a condom wrapper, for instance, was placed in a thin rectangular kiosk, so the ad jutted out awkwardly. The ad read, “If it doesn’t fit right, it doesn’t feel right.” That, of course, made the connection between an ill fit (of a condom) and discomfort (leading people to want to avoid wearing condoms).

4. Boy Scouts Toilet Paper Billboard in Wisconsin

Sometimes a simple idea can turn into the most effective billboard. The Boy Scouts of America  (BSA) are, of course, known for going camping. And when you camp, you rough it, to the point where you’re often missing some of life’s little luxuries during a night out in nature.

A Billboard created by Todd Turner and Laura Sanders at Adams Outdoor in Charleston for the Coastal Carolina Council around 2012 made an unmistakable connection between what happens when you get stuck in the woods without toilet paper and being a scout. It pictured a benign-looking leaf on the left side, with an arrow and the words “toilet paper” scrawled next to it. On the right, it pictured a not-so-benign bit of greenery (poison ivy), with the words “not toilet paper.”

The ad is straightforward, to the point, and makes the perfect connection between image and message, while also selling the benefits of joining BSA. It’s also cheeky, a pleasant push-back against scouting’s prim reputation.

5. AI-Powered Billboard That Dispenses Beer

There may be no more effective learning tool than free beer. Carlsberg, a Danish beer producer, wanted to teach people in Vietnam how to pronounce the brand’s name properly to raise brand awareness and, perhaps more importantly, get people to order the right thing in a bar. The company’s smart campaign in Vietnam used positive reinforcement to teach the lesson.

A billboard featured a phonetic illustration of how to pronounce Carlsberg’s name with an accompanying artificial intelligence (AI) element. A beer tap on the front of the billboard began dispensing beer whenever the voice-activated system recognized the correct pronunciation of “Carlsberg.” Passersby stood in front of the tap and said the brand’s name over and over again in hopes of getting a free beer. (And before you ask—yes, the brand’s agency created a failsafe so that no one underage could approach the billboard dispenser.)

6. NYC Transit Trivia Competition

on trivia night, and you’ll see just how popular trivia games remain in this country. A new campaign in New York City capitalizes on people’s thirst for trivia and the undeniable high of knowing MLB’s strikeout leader in 1989 quicker than anyone else at the bar.

NYC Landmarks60 Alliance wanted to celebrate next year’s 60th anniversary of New York City’s Landmarks Law. It partnered with OUTFRONT Media on a seven-month-long, citywide trivia campaign that will display daily questions related to NYC sites and history on digital screens throughout the five boroughs, including inside subway stations and at MTA transit entrances.

Trivia fanatics can scan the QR code to answer the question. After answering, you get a bit more background on the historical moment. Participants can also register for an account to compete in weekly contests that award the winner a seven-day subway or bus pass.

What Will Be the Next Best OOH Campaign?

We can’t answer that for sure, but we’d love for you to be part of it. Contact us today to learn more about our out of home advertising capabilities and what would work best for your brand.