Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Art, Brand, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Design, Great Ads In History, Outdoor
I love outdoor.
Well, good outdoor.
From the madness of selling glue to igniting football pride … there’s been some incredible use of the medium.
Or should I say, incredible demonstration of design.
But for years – we’ve had the opposite of that.
Poster sites being treated like retail brochures.
Where a brand crams in as many words, visuals and sales cue as is physically possible with the space available.
Designed to satisfy the sales department and board of directors rather than their audience or even the environmental context.
But recently we have started seeing a return to what great outdoor is.
How wonderful are they?
They say so much without having to say so much.
Sure, both of these examples are for brands that have a clearly established position and role in their particular categories – but let’s be honest, there’s loads of brands who have achieved that and still make utter shit outdoor. Well, utter shit everything.
But these …
Well, for me, they’re perfect examples of brilliant advertising.
Brilliant, outdoor advertising.
Singular. Simple. Striking.
It’s beautiful.
But more than that, it’s effective.
Demanding your attention rather than pushing it away.
Fuck, it makes the streets feel like a gallery rather than a supermarket.
I hope it continues. I hope it symbolizes a move away from the blinkered and extreme adoption of certain ‘for profit’ marketing practices, that are far more about holding your place within a category than rising your brand beyond it.
So here’s to those who choose to fill the streets with imagery that makes people feel something, understand something and get something.
Because if you’re using billboards to detail all the rational reasons why people should want what you do, you need to accept you’re basically admitting you don’t have anything people really will care about hearing.