FOREWORD
Terry Savage
Chairman , Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity
“ The very nature of what we now think of as Out-of-Home has expanded and become harder to define – it is branded communication that can happen almost anywhere and be virtually anything – and that makes it the ultimate opportunist .”
While the forces of fragmentation have turned the screws on press , radio and TV , spend on Out-of-Home ( OOH ) advertising is on the up , with consistent revenue growth over the past three years and healthy projected increases until at least 2020 .
What has challenged other channels has only served to energise OOH . In the past decade , it ’ s arguably become the most dynamic of media channels , nimbly adapting and reinventing itself over time to take advantage of these industry shifts .
OOH campaigns that in the past would have passively lain in wait for eyeballs now aggressively pursue visibility and engender engagement by leveraging the flux in technology , the physical environment and culture . Instead of competing against the juggernauts of change like digital and data , OOH has been able to work with them and wind up richer and more diverse for it . As a result , the very nature of what we now think of as OOH has expanded and become harder to define – it is branded communication that can happen almost anywhere and be virtually anything – and that makes it the ultimate opportunist .
OPEN 3 celebrates this versatility , gathering stand-out OOH work of the past few years from Australia and around the world – inspiring examples that range from eye-popping executions in iconic locations to small-scale specialist solutions .
An example of the former , Google ’ s Androidify ( p . 68 – 69 ), leveraged New York ’ s instantly recognisable epicentre of entertainment , Times Square , to launch a game . Creating what Gizmodo called a “ gargantuan visual spectacle ”, the campaign befitted the most expensive and visible OOH real estate in the world . It allowed the public to create characters via the Androidify website or app and then – standing on a purposebuilt platform fitted with motion sensors – play them against each other on the biggest digital screen in the USA . It wasn ’ t just the sheer size that created cut-through in this congested environment , it was also the unprecedented interactivity and live nature of the content that drew the crowds in .
This campaign used innovation to deliver an OOH component , but others have used it to seamlessly integrate OOH with other media and create a theatrical experience .
To herald the UK arrival of the latest in the Tomb Raider franchise , Xbox ’ s Survival of the grittiest billboard ( p . 149 ) relied on technology to allow global participation in a ‘ human billboard ’. Eight contestants , chosen from thousands of applicants , stood on a platform and were subjected to the harshest simulated weather conditions as voted for online by the public . The last one standing won a trip , while the brand netted hours of content , millions of views , thousands of comments and a dwell time that was hundreds of times higher than average .
What ’ s also been interesting in the past 12 months is seeing a significant body of work that has rejected the benefits offered by technology , opting instead to return to the roots of OOH and celebrate its power as a pure and potent graphic language .
Qantas ’ Welcome home campaign ( p . 36 – 37 ) demonstrated how powerful a poster can be at generating an emotional response with a simple , flawlessly executed idea . As you headed to or from the airport and saw the candid image of loved ones being reunited , a chord was struck that linked that feeling to the brand and reminded you of the very personal role Qantas plays in people ’ s lives . The campaign also complemented and amplified Qantas ’ Feels like home TV campaign , illustrating how effectively different channels can work together .
The Outdoor Advertising Association of America similarly chose to keep it simple . Feel the real ( p . 113 ) used little more than clever location choices and bold , text-based executions with personalised messages to demonstrate the advantages and effectiveness of OOH over digital , at a time when there is growing concern about the visibility of online advertising and its susceptibility to artificially inflated views . The constant in these campaigns , big or small , high or low tech , is creativity .
Creativity is at the heart of the success of OOH . And its importance will only increase through further changes to the industry because the inherent , unavoidable intrusiveness of OOH – and its ongoing advance into new and unexpected places – creates an increased obligation to be entertaining , relevant , original and wanted . As we saw with broadcast , a lack of tolerance for bland or interruptive advertising gives rise to the desire and then the means to circumvent it . And while , as an individual , you can ’ t block a billboard , perceived visual pollution could jeopardise the industry ’ s future access to public spaces .
Curating outstanding OOH work for OPEN 3 is important because these campaigns showcase the channel at its most creative and inspire the industry to do great things . The following examples have succeeded in adding value to both the communications and physical landscapes through thoughtful creativity – work that treats the environs in which it ’ s executed as a living organism , leveraging its unique traits to bring an idea to life in a way that is harmonious and authentic to the brand .
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