When it comes to out-of-home (OOH) advertising, thinking creatively often delivers the strongest impact. Commuters love being surprised, amused, or inspired during their daily drives. They’re drawn to interactive experiences and admire brands that go the extra mile to leave a lasting impression.
Clients often ask, “What’s something unique and memorable we can do to stand out?” Sometimes, they’re envisioning iconic 3D elements like the cows on Chick-fil-A billboards. While those are certainly eye-catching, there’s a wide world of creative possibilities beyond that.
At DASH TWO, we specialize in bold, attention-grabbing campaigns. Our innovative outdoor advertising solutions include chalk stencils, building projections, sidewalk decals, LED digital trucks, food truck wraps, and custom murals. And if you’re into props or immersive installations—we can absolutely make that happen, too.
These experiential campaigns work nationwide but are especially effective in high-traffic urban hubs. The top-five U.S. markets offer incredible exposure—but also fierce competition. To break through, your campaign needs to rise above the noise with truly unique execution.
By embracing bold, unexpected ideas, you can create serious buzz and become the talk of the town. We’ve developed market-specific creative concepts designed to help brands stand out—whether you’re thinking large-scale installations, playful interaction, or something totally untraditional. Let’s bring your big idea to life and craft something unforgettable together.
1. New York
The Big Apple is the biggest market in the country, and that means a ton of exciting options you can’t match elsewhere. Here are our four favorites.
Glass Display Trucks
The box portion of the truck includes all-glass sides, so that you can see right into it. You can decorate it to match what you’re promoting, such as the theme of a movie. You can put two or three people in the truck dressed in character, waving to people on the streets. We can park the car on the side of the road to pass out freebies like coffee — the interactive element lifts this stunt’s desirability. You can target by:
- Street address.
- Zip code.
- Neighborhood.
- Demographics.
- Competitors.
- Locations.
Wrapped Coffee or Food Carts
Put your brand on the side of a coffee or food cart, which are all around the city, and reach people on their lunch hours or on the way home from work.
3D Animated Billboards
A 3D billboard is anamorphic, using distortion to make an image appear three-dimensional. Think a lizard “jumping” out of an animated advertisement or giant hands reaching out to “grab” you.
Wrapped and Built-Out Pedi Cabs
Pedi cabs are a distinctly big-city thing, and tourists love being cycled to their destinations in style. Manhattan Rickshaw offers branded and wrapped pedi cabs (imagine a seat made to look like the throne in Game of Thrones).
2. Los Angeles
The country’s second-biggest OOH market is well known for Sunset Boulevard. Our capabilities go well beyond that, and these are four of our favorites.
Black Light Barricades and Murals
Light up the night with black light barricades and murals that look as though they glow in the dark. It’s a great chance for a brand to set itself apart from the usual wallscapes or digital signage, and it has a nostalgic feel to it.
Backlit Barricades
Barricades are quite the rage in LA. In addition to black light barricades, you can also find backlit ones that highlight your message any time of day while also calling attention because of their unique size and placement on the sidewalk.
Visen LED Billboards
Remember how women’s magazines used to advise readers on “how to go from day to night?” It meant swapping a more demure daytime look for something more daring at night. That’s similar to the idea for Visen LED boards, which allow advertisers to use two different creative approaches. For example, we did this for a billboard for the Beatles a few years ago, with the white creative swapping to a look highlighting the band’s members after sunset. The women’s mags were right — it looked very cool!
Truck With a Pull-Out Stage
The truck with a pull-out stage looks similar to the glass truck, but it includes a box that opens up so that the truck becomes a mini stage where an artist can perform. It’s essentially a portable concert platform great for promoting any type of entertainer.
3. Chicago
Chicago – Wrapped Pedi Cabs
The Windy City has impressive OOH chops. Check out five of our go-to outdoor advertising platforms in the country’s third-largest market.
Shelter Takeovers With Built-Out Props
Turning a bus shelter into a destination is a proven way to grab commuters’ attention. Today’s shelter takeovers can be surprisingly elaborate. For example, the water park hotel Great Wolf Lodge added waterslide tubes above a shelter, while Redd’s Hard Apple placed a giant apple tree on top of another. But the visuals are just one part of the experience—brands can also create full sensory activations using:
- Scent machines
- Heat lamps
- Fans
- Dispensers
Pedi Cab Wraps and Sponsored Rides
In Chicago, branded pedi cabs are a creative way to gain visibility. In addition to wrapping the vehicles in your branding, you can sponsor rides—giving people the chance to enjoy a ride they might not have taken otherwise, all while absorbing your message.
Branded Headhouses and Custom Installations
Headhouses—those sloped coverings above subway station entrances—are prime real estate for branding. Thousands of people pass through daily, and a well-placed installation can’t be missed. One standout example featured a full-size Range Rover perched atop a headhouse, drawing massive attention.
Elevator Wraps
Subway elevators are full of creative potential. Wrap them in traditional branding, create a bottomless floor illusion, or turn the opening and closing doors into a fun visual pun—anything to entertain and engage riders during their trip.
Tunnel Wraps
Another high-impact subway opportunity: tunnel wraps. Turn the walls of a subway tunnel into a unified, immersive campaign that captures the attention of commuters traveling through. These large-scale takeovers are unforgettable and hard to miss.
4. Miami
The country’s fourth-biggest outdoor market has a vibrant beach scene that advertisers can take advantage of. Here are three terrific OOH outlets.
Wrapped Food Truck
While food trucks are available for out of home advertising in all the big markets, we wanted to highlight them in Miami, where the sunny weather and people’s desire to play outside makes food trucks hugely popular. You can brand the truck and choose food that reflects your products or services — fun tie-ins can help people remember your name, too.
Digital Boats
These activations are a lot like mobile billboards, only they cruise the waters of Miami Beach instead of the streets. Digital boats have small boards that can display advertisements or even show movies for a special event where other boats gather.
Guerilla Mural
Available in the Wynwood area only, the murals are works of art that avoid the commercialism of most advertising. The final creative is based on an artist’s rendition of your artwork file.
5. San Francisco
San Franciso is one of the country’s most unique towns, and these three excellent ideas showcase the versatility of the nation’s No. 5 outdoor market.
Station Domination
Available for Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) stations, a domination basically means spreading your branding all over the station, everywhere the eye can see. It creates an inescapable, extremely memorable immersion. See, for example, this domination from Save the Redwoods that covered every surface from floor to ceiling in the Montgomery Street station.
Branded Cable Cars
Is there anything more quintessentially San Francisco than the cable cars crisscrossing the city? With branded cable cars, you can wrap the trolley’s interior and exterior. Brands can also explore similar opportunities on BART trains and Muni buses.
Branded Pedi Cabs
San Francisco’s version of this favorite can include:
- Full wraps.
- Custom upholstery.
- Panel ads.
Honestly, all of these are just the beginning. We can direct you to dozens of imaginative outdoor advertising ideas in the top five markets. Get in touch today so we can discuss your options.