For many years, billboard advertisements have been a popular marketing strategy for companies looking to boost awareness of their brand, products, or specific marketing campaigns. These large-scale print advertisements are typically placed in high traffic areas, such as in cities and along highways to reach bigger audiences. They are very effective for broadcasting your business and building brand awareness due to their existence in such busy areas. It is a great tool for targeting specific audiences, creating exposure, and capturing the attention of people that you might not have been able to reach with other methods. Contrary to popular belief, they are one of the marketing methods that tend to have the highest number of views and impressions.
Billboards have been around for ages and have become such a common part of life that we don’t even notice just how many we see each day. Companies don’t use billboards just because they have been around forever; they use them because they get results. Of course, these billboards have evolved throughout the years with technology. Many companies today have embraced the use of technology by using digital billboards to get their message across. Combining the use of technology and clever marketing can create an effective billboard that can gain exposure for companies. Below are some of the most creative and memorable advertisements that the billboard marketing world has ever seen.
Orphea 4D Protection Billboard
When it comes to marketing for a specific bug spray, it can be a little tricky. Many consumers just pick a bug spray without worrying about the brand. For Orphea 4D, they took bug spray marketing to an entirely new level by doing what they do best: stopping bugs in their tracks. This unique campaign promoted their brand by transforming a regular billboard into a massive insect trap. They did this by using transparent glue and applied it into a recognizable shape on one section of the billboard. The flies and mosquitos got trapped over-night and created a shape that depicted the insects getting sprayed by a giant Orphea 4D can. Even though 230,000 dead insects might be a little gross, the popular Milan billboard inspired onlookers to check out the Orphea 4D brand and created a global interest in the billboard. The company was able to bring awareness to their brand by using a cost-effective method that reached the eyes of millions of potential consumers. As an added bonus, residents of Milan were probably pretty happy to go about their days with 230,000 less insects thanks to Orphea 4D!
Apolosphy Billboard
Technology is a truly effective way to create a successful billboard advertisement. The Swedish hair company, Apolosphy, strategically used a digital billboard in order to bring awareness to unveil their new line of hair products. By installing digital screens with ultra-sonic sensors, the digital signage was able to detect when a train was arriving, or departing, from the train station. With every train arrival or departure, the model’s hair in the digital board would start to blow around wildly, drawing the attention of pedestrians commuting throughout the day. This cleverly promoted their slogan: “Make your hair come alive.” The advertisement went viral almost immediately around the world and captured the attention of millions of potential customers. The digital billboard became so popular that it inspired other companies to use ultra-sonic sensors within their very own street advertisements. This creative use of technology drastically boosted brand and product awareness for Apolosphy, and pushed the envelope for marketing professionals in the hair product industry!
BBC Dracula Billboard
Dracula, by Bram Stoker, is a well-known story that has been told throughout the years in many different ways. When BBC decided to release a limited Dracula series, their marketing executives wanted to get creative in order to stand out from other Dracula renditions. To do so, they came up with an eye-catching billboard that sparked curiosity from onlookers and Dracula enthusiasts across the globe. During the day, their Dracula billboard looked like a bunch of randomly placed wooden stakes stabbed into a canvas. However, as the sun went down, the stakes cast a shadow of Dracula’s face, with some spooky fangs to go along with it! According to vampire folklore, vampires only show their true form during the nighttime, and that’s just what their billboard advertisement depicted. This was a fresh take on billboard advertising, and it definitely engaged their target audience by helping boost viewership and awareness of the new series.
Panasonic Billboard
The marketing strategy that almost always works if done correctly: comedy. Comedic relief is an approach that marketing professionals have used in designing advertisements since the beginning of time. One would think marketing a nose trimmer would be somewhat challenging, but Panasonic had no problem doing so with their creative billboard advertisements based in Indonesia. The company boosted awareness of their product by advertising their nose trimmers in a unique, but also slightly disturbing manner. The billboard was cleverly placed directly in front power lines, that ran through the nostrils of a giant face placed upon a billboard. The powerlines gave the illusion of the face having lengthy nose hairs. Although shocking to see at first, it definitely caught the eye of the people of Indonesia. While this creative billboard caught some laughs, and captured the attention of consumers, it presented a compelling double meaning... Cutting nose hairs is just like cutting wires; you need a precise tool (like Panasonic) to get the job done effectively without causing any issues!
Oldtimer’s Billboard
Although billboards are a popular marketing strategy, consumers sometimes fail to pay attention to them during their daily routine. Marketing strategists have had to come up with creative and intriguing ways to draw the attention of their audience. For the popular chain café Oldtimers in Austria, they wanted to capture the eyes of their potential audience in a captivating way. To do so, they created an advertisement of a woman with her mouth open – her mouth being the tunnel that oncoming cars had to drive through. The advertisement was meant to entice people to stop at their restaurants, stating at the bottom that it is all you can eat, and drivers had no choice but to drive through it. The clever illusion helped attract customers in that region without spending too much on television ads and other more costly marketing efforts. The billboard advertisement made the already popular local chain become nationally recognized for their over-the-top advertising efforts.