OPEN3 Open 3 Complete Book for OMA Website | Page 111

T H E I M P O R TA N C E O F T E C H N O L O G Y
“So what makes a brilliant, powerful poster? Posters
are about distillation. Every great campaign can be
distilled to a poster; it is the barometer of the power
of the idea.”
Mark Tutssel
Global Chief Creative Officer, Leo Burnett Worldwide
and Creative Chairman, Publicis Communications
Who would have thought that in today’s
technology and mobile-driven world, the oldest
form of information exchange, the poster, would
become the media channel of the future?

Out-of-Home (OOH) advertising is more
powerful than ever. It is one of the purest forms
of communication. It reaches consumers on
the path-to-purchase better than any other ad
medium, transforming business and impacting
society. As technology propels us further down
this supercharged highway, OOH will become
a creative canvas second to none.

A study by ZenithOptimedia found that
people are exposed to OOH for 107.2 minutes
each day. Meanwhile, a Microsoft Corp. study
found that a goldfish has an attention span of nine
seconds while a human’s is only eight!

What does this mean for communicators?
To deliver a message effectively, we need potent
graphic language, pure simplicity and a surprise
element, usually driven by technology, to compete
for that attention.

So what makes a brilliant, powerful poster?
Posters are about distillation. Every great
campaign can be distilled to a poster; it is the
barometer of the power of the idea.

When done right, OOH grabs people by
the eyeballs and stops them in their tracks; the
message opens inside our minds, not on the space
where it appears.

Mercedes-Benz’s Skidmarks, winner of
the Cannes Lions Grand Prix in 1997, was the
godfather of the ‘visual solution’. It was a game
changer as it was one of the very first ideas that
credited the audience’s intelligence with a visual
story they had to decode. The poster conveyed
maximum meaning with minimal elements.

OOH advertising presents infinite
possibilities to create ‘theatre of the streets’
and your goal is to earn a standing ovation.

In recent years, McDonald’s used theatre
to great effect with their award-winning work
for Sundial, Fresh salads, and Fry lights.

British Airways’ Magic of flying demonstrated
how technology beautifully brought a 2D poster
to life with full automation using real-time
data. The billboard featured a child reacting in
wonder to actual British Airways’ planes as they
flew overhead, giving audiences on the streets a
spectacle to behold.

By combining technology and simple imagery
for a strong emotional message, Ad Council’s Love
has no labels received 40 million views in just two
days after a video of the stunt was posted online.
After just three weeks it became the second most
viewed public service announcement in history.

I’ve always believed that greater participation
yields a greater effect. These next two ideas are the
best examples of rewarding people’s engagement
by celebrating their lives.

In 2013, Coca-Cola had an ambitious idea:
to unite people from nations separated by conflict
through shared experiences. Small world machines
debuted in India and Pakistan and caught on
worldwide. It set a new cultural benchmark for
the company, earning them Creative Marketer
of the Year honours at Cannes. This is the alchemy
of creativity and technology, showing where the
future lies in interactivity and the impact of
advertising on society.

For Shot on iPhone 6 (p. 10–19) Apple
consolidated the best photographs submitted
by 162 iPhone 6 users globally and transformed
them into 10,000 installations in 73 cities in
25 countries. It comes full circle to a paper poster
but fuelled by participation that’s genuine,
effective and memorable. Through the lens of the
people, Apple celebrated its participation in the
brand and the quality of the product.

The 2016 Cannes Lions Outdoor G