This week I came across several compelling creative ads in outdoor and print mainly. The round up includes ‘The World’s Most Boring Billboard’ from Sweden and a set of charming outdoor posters for Parachute Bedding and Bath essentials.
1. Sioo:x – The World’s Most Boring Billboard
Outdoor is considered a fleeting medium as its audience go past it in a jiffy and hence it must convey its message at a glance. If it has to have text the thumb rule is that it must have a maximum of eight words. The bonus is when the creative idea integrates a product feature into the characterisrtic of the medium. Here is a wooden billboard dubbed as The World’s Most Boring Billboard as it is going remain unchanged for 12 years. The reason: it is coated with Sioo:x which protects outdoor wooden surfaces. It is executed in Sweden in a single billboard. Yet, the idea travels across the globe in today’s world making a local brand globally recognised. Geography, is truly history.
Agency: Stendahls
2. Parachute: bed & bath linen
A self deprecating tone by a brand often imbues charm in its advertising. In this fun series of outdoor ideas for a bed & bath range of linen, its comfort is dramatised through some clever lines.
Agency: Office of Baby
3. The Guardian: GDPR announcement
It is heart-warming to see that the craft of print advertising is alive and well in the UK. Virtually all brands have been sending communication pertaining to privacy policy and seeking permission to opt-in for communication. Here’s a print ad from The Guardian on that topic which actually makes for great reading.
4. PETA: who is the real animal
Smoking is an irrational habit. Smokers are aware that smoking causes harm but continue to indulge in the habit. Food habits, though, are a result of our environment at home while growing up and later in life, perhaps a matter of choice. Arresting visuals like these and probing questions like ‘who is the real animal?’ may make for compelling advertising but will it change behaviour?
Agency: Archer Troy, Mexico. See more gory images here.
5. World Cancer Research Fund: Cancer Health Check
Here’s a smart way to urge people to take a health check for cancer: in what looks like a fashion shoot, get them to search for ‘Cancer Attractive’, which leads them to a WCRF page.
Agency: Arthur London and Rankin
The TV film and the print ads, which are executed like a fashion magazine cover manage to evoke disgust and drive home the point: our lifestyle and diet contribute to health risks.
6. easyJet and Europcar: Fly-Drive
How do you convey a rather boring proposition of a partnership between a low-cost airline and a car-hire company? Here’s how: create a series of fun ‘documentary’ style videos about the invention of a ‘flying car’. Loved it.
Agency: VCCP
Which one was your favourite? Comment in.
