Creative billboarding
Money can’t buy love, but it sure can buy promotion. And outdoor advertising appears to be benefiting. Billboards are the latest way to get your message out – way out, with an eye toward viral. Advertisers are using them in all sorts of creative ways.
1 Weatherproof and The White House
Weatherproof certainly pushed the envelope here. They licensed the rights to a photo from the Associated Press (AP) of President Obama wearing their jacket and created an ad campaign around it. AP is claiming it informed Weatherproof that the usage needed clearance from The White House. Weatherproof claims they didn’t need clearance since the President isn’t endorsing their product.
Hmmm, let’s think about this. President Obama is on a billboard wearing a Weatherproof jacket behind the headline “A Leader in Style.” While the photo was shot with no intent to promote the product, Weatherproof certainly saw the opportunity to make it look that way. Can you say “massive media coverage?”
Fast forward: Weatherproof caved and stated the billboards will come down eventually. Eventually hasn’t happened yet.
2 A local church and the bible
St. Matthew-in-the-City Church in Auckland, New Zealand, put up a billboard depicting a downcast Joseph lying beside a disappointed Mary in bed with the heading “God is a hard act to follow.” The intent was to encourage Christians to rethink the true meaning of Christmas.
The church’s vicar said he’d hoped the billboard would “challenge stereotypes” about the way Jesus was conceived and get people talking. Oh, it had people talking – and condemning and vandalizing it all over the place. The billboard was quickly replaced by a happy Noah’s Ark-inspired illustration of pairs of animals.
Strange that the vicar disregarded the common adage – Never talk about politics, sex, religion or money.
3 The fake and the deal
BMW put up a billboard series promoting their “overnight test-drive” offer and incorporated 3D figures into the message. Seemed pretty simple, interesting – nothing really groundbreaking here. But the fine people driving along I-95 near Bridgeport, Connecticut perceived the one-figure billboard as a jumper and began making 911 calls.
Here’s a case where there was no real expectation of anything viral, and bang, it wound up all over the Internet because of the 911 calls. Lucky BMW of Bridgeport, they reported a better-than-expected response to the promotional offer.
People driving through Connecticut must spook easily. If they had enough time to see the figure and make the 911 call, perhaps they could have read the headline which clarified the whole idea. Nevertheless, we appreciate the effort to do something good.
4 The Oracle and the mistress
Charles Phillips, the president of Oracle, one of the world’s largest tech firms, made his debut this week on a huge billboard in Times Square. Sadly, it was not for rolling out new software.
Instead, it seems Mr. Phillips’ long-term mistress, YaVaughnie Wilkins, took out the billboard ad to apparently avenge and embarrass the very married exec. The billboards in Manhattan, Atlanta and San Francisco contain a url to an online photo album of the two over the course of an eight-year relationship.
Shame he’s only the president of Oracle and not a fortune teller, Mr. Phillips might have seen this one coming.
