Welcome back to another Top 5 countdown! Today we’ve narrowed down our favourite dynamic campaigns to just five (plus some honourable mentions). 

If you missed the last countdown, where we picked our favourite augmented reality campaigns, you should definitely check that out.

So drum roll please… in no particular order, here are our top 5 dynamic digital OOH campaigns. 

1. Spotify: 2018 Wrapped

To celebrate the end of another great year, Spotify revamped its popular campaign “Wrapped” with a dynamic, digital OOH twist! Spotify’s premium users were encouraged to sign up for a breakdown of their year in music – for the chance to appear on iconic billboards including Times Square and Piccadilly Lights. The campaign gave over 7000 ordinary people the chance to see their name in the famous lights. What an awesome way to wrap up a year!

2. Google: Introducing Explore

To encourage New Yorkers to explore their exciting city, Google launched this contextual, digital OOH campaign. Based on Google Maps’ latest features, the campaign made the public aware of new places and even reminded residents to check out places that they haven’t visited in a while! We love this campaign as it’s messaging continuously evolved based on what was going on at the time. Live in the Summer of 2018, “Introducing Explore” went on to win a silver OBIE!

3. Hiscox: Cyber Live

In a digital OOH first, cybercriminals were unknowingly behind this unique campaign for Hiscox Cyber Live. To drive awareness of cybercrime to small businesses, the campaign creative was responsive to real-life cyber attacks. As each attack took place, a spot on the poster would flash and pulse. A dynamic campaign that was truly unique, Cyber Live went on to win numerous awards including “Campaign of the Year” at the Campaign Media Awards 2019.

4. McDonald’s: The Iconic Weather Forecast

We’ve seen a few dynamic weather campaigns over the years, but none as innovative as the Iconic Weather Forecast. Taking advantage of the ever-changing UK weather, McDonald’s decided to forecast the weather with a savoury twist. Overturned fries became rain, cheese-burgers became sunshine and chicken nuggets became snow… A chip dipped in sauce became the nation’s thermometer! The dynamic campaign was so popular in fact, that it ran for a second year in 2019.

5. Benadryl: Pollen Counts

Benadryl came to the rescue for hay fever sufferers with this clever, dynamic campaign. When pollen counts across the UK were irritatingly high, the reactive-creative alerted sufferers, prompting them to take action with Benadryl. Winning multiple awards, including a COOH award, the successful campaign was re-booked every summer for three years.

Honourable Mentions

It was so hard to pick just 5 dynamic campaigns, that we had to add these honourable mentions as well… Enjoy!

Specsavers owned trending news and gossip with this hilarious campaign; prompting consumers to ask themselves if a leaking phone was more important than regular eye tests…

Exploring London was made easier than ever with this data-rich campaign for Google Outside. The digital OOH campaign went on to win two Cannes Lions later that year.

The out-of-home industry’s leaders encouraged other industries to “Get Out of Home,” with this tactical campaign.

Who would have ever thought that a camera-wearing cow would make for pure digital OOH gold…

We hope that you’ve enjoyed these campaigns as much as we do; stay tuned for our next countdown!

This first appeared in Digital Signage Today on March 29th 2019.

Ric Albert, Creative Director at Grand Visual shares 3 ways to bring digital OOH creative to life.

OOH continues to outpace other traditional advertising, fuelled by fast growth in DOOH revenue which is expected to continue at a rate of 10% per annum, globally, until 2021. In the UK, digital now accounts for an impressive 50% of total OOH spend, and other markets across Europe and APAC are on a similar trajectory, with the U.S. now also at almost a third. Globally, 2019 is shaping up well for DOOH.

Creatively, for me, it is the sheer size, impact, and ubiquity, of digital screens in cities around the world that make it an exciting canvas to work with. Full motion creative is a game changer when it comes to crafting engaging stories for out of home audiences. Study after study has revealed that motion delivers more impressions, for longer, and drives ROI.

The effect of good quality creative on the medium itself also enhances the value of that media. However, I was dismayed to learn recently from one of the U.K.’s largest media owners, that just 10% of the creative delivered to their full-motion digital portfolio is animated. I’ve been scratching my head ever since.

Can it be budget constraints? Are advertisers overwhelmed by the diversity of formats, locations, and technologies that make up the DOOH landscape? Plus with so much discussion focused on what the medium can do now, and in the near future, as a programmatically enabled, blockchain assisted platform, it is easy to see how some are finding the endless possibilities daunting.

So to all those advertisers who are still unsure about how to approach the medium, or are still using DOOH as an extension of their standard print or static outdoor work – here is a back to basics guide for crafting good quality, full motion DOOH creative. Based on three simple fail-safe tips that won’t break the bank.

1. Add motion

Generate creative that works harder. I’m talking motion. Motion, motion, motion! It attracts the eye, it helps to tell a story, it delivers drama and emotion. It brings a totally new dimension. It delivers cut through. It’s the absolute must-have for visual communication. It seems so obvious and yet we still see so much DOOH advertising that is static.

If your formats have it, use it! The power of motion helps an ad come to life. Sometimes, it doesn’t need much — a sprinkle of animation can elevate the creative into something memorable. Take advantage of the video content that may exist. Seek out the TV spot or trailer. It will have shots in it that bring a depth and richness to the DOOH creative.

Digital isn’t just pixels instead of paper, it gives us the opportunity to do more. We should be harnessing the potential of DOOH and stop using it as just another delivery file. It’s all about creative impact. And sometimes, a JPEG just isn’t that impactful! We can easily push beyond traditional print with animation, videos, live and updatable content.

2. Timing is everything

Be mindful of your environment and duration. All signs point to shorter sharper messaging being the way to go, but depending on the environment and duration of the digital screens you are using and what you’re trying to accomplish — longer form copy can work too.

Consider the difference between a five, a ten and a 20-second execution. Are you giving yourself enough time to establish your brand and message? Are you using the full duration of the execution wisely? Are you putting appropriate creative into different environments? Is there the potential to deliver multiple brand messages?

DOOH allows us to build a layered and nuanced piece of communication. Delivering a complex message or a last-minute offer is something that DOOH is great at. For example, in a ten-second piece, the creative can start with a call to action, proceed to the offer and finish with establishing the brand proposition. Separating these messages into bite-size pieces allows the audience to take in each element without being overloaded. It’s digestible and impactful and works for the dwell time.

Intelligent scheduling can make all the difference. Create something for the morning commute and another message for the evening. Or communicate with your weekend audience in a different way from the midweek crowd. Subtle changes in copy can build real depth to your campaign.

3. Be contextual

Digital OOH is a connected media. We are already serving creative that adapts to real-time feeds, such as weather, traffic flow, and social media trends. The infrastructure is in place so it makes sense to get the media working hard with useful and relevant messaging that can change and evolve during the course of a campaign.

Now, campaigns can adapt and respond to conditions and real-world events, or feature last minute deals that push different products to different audiences at different times in the day. By harnessing the context effect, brands can achieve cut through and turbocharge the relevance, and effectiveness of their advertising messages.

So the challenge is on for 2019 for all of us to ditch the JPEG. To be creative. All of the time. It doesn’t have to eat up your budget, it just has to move. Let’s ditch the JPEG and get the creative working harder. Let’s maximize the potential of the medium, use the full canvas, duration, and be relevant, and contextual. Let’s capitalize on the unique creative opportunity that DOOH provides for brands and audiences alike.

Google is launching a tactical, data-driven digital OOH campaign to promote its second-generation smartphone, Pixel 2. The campaign uses location, audience, traffic, and moment specific data, to run contextual messaging across road, transit, and retail locations in a nationwide push from 6th November – 18th December, followed by a Christmas specific push which runs through to 31st December.

Created by BBH and produced by Grand Visual, the campaign highlights 5 key features of the new Google Pixel 2; Assistant, Lens, Storage, Battery, and Camera. The campaign brings each feature to life by responding to conditions at each location to trigger the most appropriate feature in that moment and to contextualise creative at a city and even fashion, food or nightlife hub. The campaign also takes into account, traffic delays, time of day and key dates such as Bonfire Night and New Year’s Eve to provide relevance in its messaging.

On Friday night, for example, digital billboards close to nightlife hotspots could ask “Did my nightlife just get brighter?” whilst displaying the Pixel 2 with low-light camera. Alternatively, heavy traffic at roadside and transit locations could trigger creative for Google Assistant and query “Could it win me points for punctuality?” with an image of someone running for transport. All photo imagery used in the campaign was shot on a Pixel 2 and taken by fashion and food influencers.

On London bus lines, digital, geo-targeted side panels will display messages such as “Pixel 2, now at an EE store in Hackney” will display and adjust depending on the neighborhood or particular landmark the bus is passing.

The media was planned and booked by OMD and Talon and spans 8 cities and 7 different media owner inventories. To enhance the contextual relevancy of the campaign, artwork is dynamically triggered through OpenLoop which integrates traffic, rail, time of day, and location data, and automates the delivery of specific creative when predefined conditions are met.

Dan Dawson, Chief Creative Technology Officer at Grand Visual, said:

“Using data to inform digital OOH creative keeps messages targeted and useful throughout the consumer journey. By exploiting the context effect, Google has created a compelling call to action that is aligned with the consumer mindset.”

Last November saw Google launch Google Outside, a location based dynamic digital out of home pilot scheme that served up geo-targeted search results to bus shelters and Underground stations in London. For September 2014, the award-winning campaign has been expanded to offer a greater variety of content, and reach more locations.

Devised by Google and R/GA, the campaign is based on the Google Search smartphone app, and in particular highlights the voice-activated aspects of the software. Creative draws on the key functionality and visual elements of the app, with content tailored dynamically to each screen’s location to display information about local restaurants, shops, attractions, and events. Time of day, and weather conditions are also factored in to ensure that screens deliver useful information to viewers at an appropriate time.

Based on eighteen “story” types — local restaurant information, movie information, or directions to a nearby attraction, for example — the creative allows for hundreds of permutations of each story drawn from genuine searches on the Google platform. Search data is supplemented by location information and data from the Google ecosystem, with the real-time feeds and dynamic content delivery managed by OpenLoop. Analytics from the first two weeks of the activity indicates that over 2000 “stories” are being displayed each day.

Jonathan Conway, Strategy Director, Talon said, “Digital OOH is the ideal channel to show Londoners how the Google Search app can make their lives simpler. Each day we’re delivering thousands of unique search stories, continually updated to deliver the right information at the right time to on-the-go audiences. A lot of work goes on behind the scenes, but when you see it working, it feels magical.”

Neil Morris, Founder of Grand Visual added, “This innovative, contextually-dynamic DOOH campaign is pushing the boundaries in terms of sheer data payloads and the hugely ambitious content distribution. Crucially the activity is supported by real-time monitoring of the dynamic feeds and playout.”

The activity will run for four weeks on 1,240 rail, London Underground and bus shelter screens, making it the largest dynamic, location-based DOOH campaign seen in the region. Beyond Central London, locations include Guildford, Gatwick Airport, Epsom, and Watford Junction.

The campaign is created by R/GA, with digital production by Grand Visual, and dynamic campaign management handled by OpenLoop, the dynamic digital out of home dashboard. Media is provided by Exterion Media, JCDecaux, and Clear Channel, and was planned and booked by Talon and OMD UK.

In June, skincare brand Simple took advantage of the arrival of the British summer to remind people about the challenges their skin faces each day.

The creative, adapted from a US campaign created by Weber Shandwick, began with a chart that used real-time data provided by the Met Office and Department of the Environment and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to present a visual summary of the environmental challenges facing the viewer in their specific location at that particular moment. It then transitioned to a video of a model’s face that demonstrated how things like weather, pollution and stress impact the health and appearance of skin, complete with the copy “Simple is kind to city skin”.

The creative was unusual in that it ran for 60 seconds, instead of the more usual 20 second slot.

Media planning was by Mindshare, and the activity ran on JCDecaux’s wide format Motion@Waterloo and Ocean Outdoor’s The Screen @ St Enoch in Glasgow. Digital production was by Grand Visual, with original US production by Science & Fiction.

Real-time data and campaign management was handled by Grand Visual’s dynamic digital out of home campaign management platform, OpenLoop.

Tropicana is brightening up rail and underground stations across London in its latest campaign for Tropicana’s Single Serve orange juice. The campaign includes a huge digital OOH push spanning DEPs, D6s, LCDs and DigiWalls as well as Tunnel wraps, Mega Walls and 6 sheets in a campaign that will see 5 London Station dominations.

“Single Serve” is planned and booked by OMD with digital production by Grand Visual. The digital creative features a dazzling slice of orange which rises like the morning sun and entices commuters to pick up their “Pocketful of sunshine”. The multi-copy campaign also communicates the health benefits of the drink with additional contextual messaging such as “Bring some sunshine with you. It’s dark in the underground”.

The campaign includes a high-profile Euston Immersion Zone comprising giant orange full-brand wraps, digital escalator panels and digital 6-sheets. Passengers on the concourse will be surrounded on all sides by the brand, with creative running across the nine Euston Motion screens. For the Digital Escalator Panels a special multi-screen creative is running to show the classic orange juice Single Serve bottle travelling through 4 screens alongside the audience. The digital 6-sheet creative targets London’s morning commuters between 6 and 10am, extending the campaign’s reach when most relevant.