You have probably heard the term wallscape mentioned, but you may not know what it means. Think of wallscapes as a combination of billboard and entertainment extravaganza. They draw more attention than a standard billboard and often have add-ons that make them appear unique in an urban environment.
Wallscapes offer the perfect way to stand out in a crowded area. They provide a launchpad for big, innovative campaigns, and they give advertisers a chance to exercise creative muscle.
Is a wallscape right to advertise your next album launch or new product rollout? Learn more about the advantages of this type of advertising, what sets it apart from traditional billboards, and how other smart advertisers have deployed it in the past.
What Are Wallscapes?
Wallscapes are advertisements attached to or painted on walls. They are the largest kind of out of home advertising you can find, often several times bigger than a traditional billboard. There’s no standard size or format for a wallscape, since every wall is shaped differently. Some wallscapes incorporate the surrounding areas, too, such as creative that spills below the wall, onto a sidewalk below or even into parking spaces in a garage.
Wallscapes require a great deal of planning. The creative demands technical know-how and great vision. Wallscapes often stay in place for a longer time than traditional billboards, both because of the involved nature of the creative and because advertisers want to make an impact for as long as possible.
What Is the Difference Between a Wallscape and a Billboard?
The main differences are size and structure. Wallscapes are way bigger and remain visible from a great distance. They appear on walls, usually in an urban location. Billboards are standalone structures along the side of the road that you can find in cities or rural areas. You can also see these from a long distance away, but not as far as with a wallscape.
How Are Wallscapes Created?
There are three main types of wallscapes — vinyl, handpainted and digital. Digital is self-explanatory; the graphics are uploaded just like with a digital billboard.
For a vinyl wallscape stretched across the side of the building, the design is printed on the vinyl. The creative may be secured using grommets, or the vinyl may have adhesive on the back to stick to the building.
Artists can also handpaint wallscapes directly onto the building. This production can become an attraction in itself, as people walking by become curious about what’s being done.
You can add effects to draw people to the wallscape, too, such as:
- 3D extensions
- LED screens
- Neon tubing
- Strobes or incandescent bulbs
Why Choose a Wallscape?
We hear this question from a lot of clients who wonder whether they should invest in a billboard or wallscape. Both have outstanding benefits. Reasons to select a wallscape include:
- Exceptional creative: With size comes options for greater nuance and impact, allowing a full storyline to play out and greater detail with imagery.
- Little competition: Many wallscapes sit in areas where outdoor advertising is otherwise restricted. Your wallscape can dominate your corner.
- Big impact: Your eye-catching advertisement can capture the attention of people walking by as well as the media — TV stations love doing short segments on fun new advertising ideas, which can expose the wallscape to people well beyond pedestrians and commuters.
- Social media value: People love sharing images of stunning wallscapes on social media. Artist-rendered images may go viral as examples of outstanding melding of the commercial and art mediums.
- Exceptional reach and frequency: You can target by demographic and reach a large group of people because wallscapes are inescapable. They command the eyes.
Where Can You Find Wallscapes?
Wallscapes can appear on the side of any large building. Popular locations include:
- Construction sites
- Apartments and condominiums
- Parking garages
You often find wallscapes in areas where other billboards are limited. Downtown shopping districts, for instance, have few billboards but lots of nearby buildings where wallscapes fit perfectly.
Are Wallscapes Only Available in Cities?
Yes, for the most part. Since by definition you need a large building for the wallscape to appear on, you won’t find many of them in rural areas.
How Much Does a Wallscape Cost?
Wallscapes are big and bold, and they have a price tag to match. The wallscapes you find in Los Angeles and New York City cost at least $10,000 for four weeks, and top-end pricing can hit $50,000 or more.
What Factors Affect Wallscape Pricing?
Like any billboard pricing, wallscape cost depends on a number of factors, including:
- Location
- Length of campaign
- Demand for inventory
Creative will be more expensive than for a standard billboard, depending on how elaborate your setup is.
Digital Wallscapes: New Ideas and Innovations
Traditional remains the most common type of wallscape. But you also can find digital wallscapes that are gaining in popularity, just like digital billboards.
Digital brings new opportunities for wallscapes. They can include special effects and change from moment to moment to add an interactive component to the display.
Examples of Wallscapes That Stand Out
You can find so many examples of great wallscapes from around the world. We like ones that utilize parts of the environment, too. Some favorites of ours include:
- A Nationwide Insurance wallscape showed a can of yellow paint that had “spilled” down the side of a building and into the parking lot below, where yellow splashed beyond the building.
- CBS advertised the premiere of the TV show “Magnum, P.I.” with three wallscapes right in a row featuring an artist-rendered drawing of series star Jay Hernandez in his trademark shades.
- Chevy showed the Bolt, an electronic vehicle, in a wallscape that had a large cord stringing from the picture of the car to a “plug” on the building next door.
- Gorgeous red rock landforms from Utah National Parks rose up on Wilshire Boulevard to advertise the state’s Mighty 5.
(And not to toot our own horn, but our wall mural advertising Lady Gaga at Coachella was pretty epic.)
Interested in learning more about wallscapes? Get in touch and see what opportunities could work for your brand.