Despite OOH’s vast reach and inherent sense of trust and transparency, campaign optimization is not solely based on the ad’s location. We encourage our advertisers to make the most of their OOH activations by abiding to basic creative guidelines that guarantee maximum visibility and retention. Let’s explore a few recent examples of highly effective OOH creative design.
Storytelling: Showcase a Multifaceted Brand Image
Storytelling in advertising is an opportunity to illustrate how your brand addresses the desires, problems, or general sentiments held by target viewers. For example, Illinois Tourism markets their state as a destination with something for everyone, conveniently located, full of both natural and urban beauty. Similarly, each of Square’s ads illustrates a unique benefit of their POS technology- functionality, durability, and aesthetics.
While storytelling does not require multiple creative variants, our far reaching yet dense networks of static and digital panels can guarantee frequent brand exposure, ideal for showcasing different ads that work in tandem to form a detailed brand story.
Layout: Clear Messages with Prominent Branding
Despite its high favorability relative to other advertising formats like TV or video, street furniture and billboard advertising must work within relatively short viewing windows; brief messages with minimal text, clear calls to action, and a limited number of visual elements can shift focus where it matters most. Most importantly, product or logo placement must be prominent enough to ensure effortless visibility.
Motion: Grab and Hold Attention
Digital outdoor screens can bring the same creative freedom of online and video advertising into the real world, allowing for full motion integration that can enhance messages and showcase the most dynamic and visually striking aspects of a brand. In fact, research from COG Research and Bournemouth University indicated that OOH ad engagement is boosted four times with full motion.
360 Chicago uses motion to communicate the full panoramic beauty of their observation deck as well as other activities like happy hour drinks or a thrilling ‘tilting’ window. Similarly, SeaWorld plays engaging footage of its land and aquatic attractions, while Johnnie Walker uses animation to illustrate their limited-edition Squid Game collectible bottle.
Credibility: Address Why Ad Viewers Should Listen
What sets your brand apart? For many consumers, the desired answer is one that speaks to a brand’s expertise or endorsements from high profile customers. Of course, a celebrity endorsement may not be an option for every marketer, but even showcasing noteworthy brand details like years of service or reminders of past product success can reestablish your brand as an authority within its respective industry.
JCDecaux Innovate: Create a Branding Immersion Zone
Our OOH expertise includes decades of experience in crafting and executing standout, custom-designed and above all memorable street level brand activations. Our bus shelter wraps are just one of our available Innovate products that offer unexpected dimensions to already impactful outdoor advertising campaigns. Gemini is one of the latest advertisers to execute a signature Innovate campaign with JCDecaux- a full bus shelter takeover featuring a comprehensive Mars-themed design including a transformed bench and vinyl wrapping of the back and ceiling panels, showcasing the brand's ethos, "Go Where Dollars Won't." It includes a digital panel displaying real-time Bitcoin costs at 100% SOV.
JCDecaux’s Guide for Creative Best Practices
Explore our creative guide for OOH success for more examples of impactful design and details on how to make the most of ad dollars.