8 Almost Impossible OOH Ideas Brought to Life

From clever shadow play to creatures taking over London’s unsuspecting commuters, Grand Visual (the creative OOH production agency – part of Talon) reflect over some of their most successful OOH projects brought to life following almost impossible briefs.

Budweiser - The Stage Is Yours to Take

Brief: Taking one of the AB InBev brand’s billboards in Shoreditch and turning it into a physical stage, the creative agency and Budweiser gave an opportunity to several up-and-coming female and non-binary artists to perform in front of a live crowd and be live-streamed globally.

“I always love working with a creative agency or client who has a really strong concept and narrative around what a dream campaign looks like, and this was a classic example. One of our USPs as a business is our ability to find the best way to bring a story to life in the OOH space. We love the challenge and while it’s not always easy, we know exactly where we can push boundaries to get creative concepts across the line and bring ideas to life for our clients and partners. 

Campaigns like this are always a big Venn diagram of feasibility, location, budget and timeframes but marrying all these elements together, pushing and pulling each one to get to an executional sweet spot is a real skill and requires Grand Visual level experience. Budweiser and the FCB NY team were fantastic to work with, completely trusting us to bring this build together in the biggest, best and safest way possible.” - Dan Dawson, chief creative officer

Disney Shadows - #MyDisneySide

Brief: How can we use OOH creativity and tech to bring your inner Disney character to life?

“It’s always exciting in our studio when the Disney brief comes in. I think it’s because our superstar team's inner child comes out to play. Thankfully this brief was exactly that… The insight from the Disney Parks team was that everyone has an inner Disney character, a character they love, and can relate to and maybe emulate at times of joy. 

We explored a number of ways with the clients on how that character might manifest in the real world, and how we might bring it to life for the public to enjoy. The use of shadows in storytelling has been omnipresent in Disney history and by working on this idea with Duncan Wardle, the former head of creative and innovation at the Parks team, we were able to bring Disney character shadows to life in real-time in the real-world… capturing it for the world to see. You’d have thought the tech solution here was body tracking and 3D… but this used the age-old ‘weather studio’ tech to bring our friends to the stage in an amazing surprise and delight activation that did incredibly well on social as well as in the mall.” - Dan Dawson, chief creative officer 

BBC - Dracula

Brief: As the Count is rendered powerless by daylight and bound to the shadows, we were challenged to bring this to life through creative use of media.  

“Working with the BBC is an unparalleled experience. Their unwavering dedication to promoting their content through innovative and captivating media channels allows us to constantly push the boundaries. When we embarked on the Dracula billboard project, we initially pursued two distinct approaches, each employing unique techniques. It quickly became apparent that we couldn't truly assess the feasibility and impact of these concepts without taking a calculated risk and allocating a portion of our budget for testing.

To facilitate this evaluation, we constructed miniature versions of the special billboards within our warehouse. This enabled us to conduct comprehensive tests on both concepts. Upon completing the trials, it became abundantly clear that the shadow billboard stood out as the clear frontrunner, and we wholeheartedly embraced it.

What continues to astonish me to this day is the remarkable process behind creating the shadow. Rather than relying on 3D software or specialised shadow artists, our dedicated production team meticulously arranged the stakes over the course of weeks, painstakingly crafting the Count that has now become so familiar to us all. The attention to detail exhibited by our team was truly exceptional, and it resulted in the breathtaking shadow that captivated audiences.

The success of the Dracula shadow billboard is a testament to the BBC's commitment to innovation and our team's willingness to take calculated risks. This collaborative endeavour has not only left an indelible impression on us but has also exemplified the power of creative advertising in capturing the imagination of the public.”- Ben Gardiner, head of client services UK

Pepsi Max - Unbelievable Bus Shelter

Brief: What can we do to surprise and delight audiences with an unbelievable bus shelter? 

“The best briefs are the ones that are open enough to spark your imagination and set off a chain of what ifs. What if we made the screen a window with unbelievable things happening on the other side? What if we surprised people? What if we had a tiger loose on the streets of London? It’s only at this point that you need to work out how or whether you can actually make it happen. Having harnessed the power of DOOH Augmented Reality in a previous campaign (for Lynx Angels), we knew this was a perfect fit for the concept. The thing about AR is that it looks quite simple, but actually can be pretty complex to get realistic results. 

So, it became the perfect blend of technical know-how (from advanced trigonometry to camera lenses and focal points) and creative flair (we filmed our head of creative tech, Jon, hanging onto the top of a door frame for the balloon moment). We filmed, edited and seeded the social video within five days of going live, and then watched as it went viral. Here’s something you might not know though… the campaign ran for another three weeks on the screen and ended up becoming a tourist destination in its own right!” - Ric Albert, creative director

Airbus - Burj Khalifa Dubai

Brief: We need to create something to go on the world's biggest OOH creative canvas, the Burj Khalifa

“There are not too many things that can make me regress to childlike awe, but seeing your work on the side of the biggest building in the world is absolutely one of them. Creating content for the Burj is a fun challenge; the building shape, size and display bring interesting constraints, and require a unique approach to get the best out of it… it’s just not like any other DOOH screen! 

I loved how collaborative this campaign was in development - the client was an integral part of the creative process throughout. We worked in storyboard mode for most of the time, crafting the visual story with the creative team, working out how to weave in motion graphics effectively and getting the right balance of copy and soundtrack to underpin it all.” - Ric Albert, creative director

Specsavers - Should’ve 2022

Brief: After a hiatus, Specsavers decided to bring back its ‘Should’ve Gone to Specsavers’ campaign. The brief was simple - create an impactful OOH strategy to help relaunch the campaign in an unforgettable way. The challenge was to produce something unique, attention-grabbing that would make audiences literally stop, stare and laugh. 

“There are some ideation sessions that can leave you feeling a little cold, as though perhaps you won't find the ‘killer idea’ and then there are sessions like this one where it seems every avenue has genuine potential. Specsavers ‘Should’ve’ campaign is a creative gift. Such a rich positioning and one that has by now become a phrase in common parlance for most of the UK. Some creative executions can so easily become overcomplicated or overthought but this was a fantastic example of a client being brave, trusting in the conviction of us as a partner and their creative team. Simplicity is so often key to cut through with a piece like this and Specsavers has that in spades. Three images, no explanation needed but anyone familiar with the brand will immediately ‘get it’ and feel part of the in joke.” - Jay Young - chief client officer

MilkPEP- Gonna Need Milk for That 

Brief: How can we champion and hero women running the NYC marathon?

 

“As champions of OOH we dream of scenarios where brands and their agencies approach their overall media plans with an eye for creative OOH. That’s exactly how MilkPEP and their agency, Gale, approached their ‘Gonna Need Milk for That’ campaign. This campaign has run twice now in the US and it’s exciting to see them embrace the updateability and brand fame/recognition that a big OOH UGC campaign can offer. 

The social element of sharing back the images to participants is a genius way of extending the value of the OOH media beyond the medium itself. From a client relationship perspective, I’ve really enjoyed working with this brand, the agency and media owner partners as we help change the narrative, exposure and coverage of women’s sports. In this instance heroeing everyday women achieve something momentous… and celebrating them with billboards across the city and marathon routes. Working closely with the agency we were able to walk through the consumer journey and ensure our participants had the opportunity to see themselves and others on screens and share that experience on social media.” - Mariel Hernandez, client director US

SendingLove - The World's Biggest UGC OOH Campaign

Brief: How can we send love around the world when it’s needed most, at a time we could not travel? 

“During the first covid-19 lockdown, with the world at a standstill and people feeling isolated, we wanted to offer a chance to reconnect - and use DOOH to do it. The brief allowed our team, all working remotely, to come up with this concept and execute it. This unique opportunity meant that we were able to connect with over 70 media owners (also working from home!) across the globe. We successfully managed remote testing on over over 150 screens, and brought the biggest user-generated-content campaign ever to run on DOOH screens to life!”- Nathelie Meng, project director