LBB speaks to the team at Grand Visual to find out about their new offering, Rapid Versioning, that’s about to change the game for Out of Home advertising.

Three necessities reign supreme when delivering successful Out of Home: agility, efficiency and quality. Rapid Versioning (RV) by Grand Visual, is a solution that stands to change the game in the realm of OOH marketing. It promises a streamlined solution to the complex and outright annoying challenges advertisers face in adapting digital OOH creative, whilst achieving all three necessities simultaneously.

View the article on LBB here.

BBC Studios uses the power of Creative Out of Home to create a Gladiators immersive experience in Manchester with Grand Visual and Talon

The BBC, with global independent Out of Home (OOH) agency Talon and its award-winning OOH production arm, Grand Visual, has brought the Gladiator experience to Manchester’s Trafford Centre in The Gladiators Inflatable Duel.

The experiential activation, which took place on Saturday 9th of March, featured an inflatable immersive experience for nine hours to stir excitement around the highly anticipated semi-finals and finals of the iconic television show. As part of the experience, shoppers at The Trafford Centre were invited to experience a part of the show and engage with the cast themselves by taking part in two to three rounds of battles.

Leveraging Talon’s expertise in outdoor media, Grand Visual’s world class creative experience and BBC’s unrivalled entertainment legacy, this execution gave audiences the opportunity to experience the adrenaline-filled world of Gladiators action and competition for themselves.

Gladiators returned to screens for the first time this year since 2008 and has reignited fresh enthusiasm for the ultimate test of strength and speed with 9.8 million viewers tuning in to the first episode of the new series. The next generation of Gladiators has proven particularly popular with the younger audience, with 1.9m under 15s tuning in to episode one.

To support the activation, Talon planned a Digital Out of Home campaign that took over the shopping centre to drive consumers to the activity. The creative focused particularly on capturing the attention of Gladiators’ core demographic of 16-34-year-olds, designed to entice them to the adrenaline-pumped atmosphere of the replica Gladiator arena, transporting viewers into the heart of action.

Jay Young, Managing Director at Grand Visual, part of Talon, comments: “We were thrilled to partner with BBC Studios to bring the exhilarating world of Gladiators to Manchester. Through creative use of the Digital Out of Home screens positioned  throughout the centre, we drove excited crowds to put their strength to the test. Audience appetite for in-person events is fully back in swing, and this presents an exciting opportunity for brands to experiment with new ways to engage with audiences.”

Niki Carr, Senior Head of Marketing at BBC, said: “Gladiators holds a special place in people’s hearts. Talon and Grand Visual helped us bring the experience to life, creating ways for people to enjoy and interact with the show, generating excitement around the Semi final and Grand Finale. This collaboration demonstrates the power of creativity to captivate audiences and drive engagement. We were thrilled to bring such a fun experience to the Trafford Centre and loved watching our audience battling it out!”

Credits:

Client: BBC 

Advertising Agency: BBC Creative  

Associate Mx Director: Debbie Yuen 

Planning Manager: Pegi Jones  

Planner: Lucy Lyth  

Business Director: Sandra Hernadez  

Senior Client Manager: Georgia Harrison 

Senior Producer: Fran Betts 

Media Company: Havas 

Production Company: Ann Squared 

Production Manager: Charlotte Boag 

Event Producer: Caroline Osbourne 

Grand Visual, the creative OOH production agency, today announced the promotion of Jay Young to Managing Director. In his new role, Young, previously Chief Client Officer, will focus on client servicing, new business, and the day-to-day UK operations.

Grand Visual has been at the forefront of OOH creativity for nearly two decades, known for their show-stopping and innovative creative campaigns. They became part of Talon through acquisition in 2019. In 2023, Grand Visual spearheaded over 200 show-stopping OOH campaigns. They turned heads by turning a London building into a giant racing helmet for Nissan Formula E and led the global anamorphic OOH with 3D creative for Wonka, Lenovo, Puma, Timberland and Oppo. Their experiential activation for Budweiser, “The Stage is Yours to Take,” won a Bronze Media Lion at Cannes and received several D&AD awards. Grand Visual also formed a strong allegiance with PepsiCo, campaigns included an augmented reality treasure hunt and interactive experience for Rockstar, and an iconic projection on the White Cliffs of Dover for the Lionnesses.

Dan Dawson, co-founder and Chief Creative Officer, will continue to lead creativity internationally and lead the company’s growth in Global markets.

Commenting on his promotion, Jay Young said, “Stepping into this new role, I’m excited to work alongside our exceptional team to drive forward the creative boundaries of OOH and deliver even more amazing work for our clients. 2023 was a brilliant year for OOH creativity and I am committed to propelling Grand Visual into another year of growth and innovation in 2024.”

Sarah Parkes, Group Chief Sales & Marketing Officer at Talon, said, “Jay has been an integral part of the Talon team for the past seven years, championing creativity in OOH and embodying our people-first philosophy. With Grand Visual’s continued success, we’re excited for him to lead the UK operation and for Dan Dawson to drive Grand Visual’s international expansion.”

The coldest and darkest season of the year, winter is also one of the most magical. With plenty of celebrations, these dark nights are made brighter with illuminated pumpkins, fireworks and neighbourhoods draped in festive lighting. 

As people, we gravitate towards the light in the darkness – which is what makes winter a fantastic time for brands to shine with creative Out of Home (OOH) executions that dazzle audiences. Over the years, we’ve worked with many brands to illuminate cities, neighbourhoods and even the sky with creative OOH. 

In this blog, we’ll be exploring the ways in which we make this possible and why it’s important to break the mould to cut through this winter. 

Creative OOH Works 

Understanding the impact of creativity on consumer behaviour is crucial and catching a consumer’s eye can have a direct impact on sales. According to a Nielsen analysis of over 500 campaigns, creative elements contribute consequent purchase and sales 47%, followed by reach (22%), brand (15%), and targeting (9%). 

It’s important to remember that although a campaign may be planned effectively in terms of reach and audience targeting, if the creative is under par, this will impact campaign performance. 

Special Builds 

In the darker months, we’ve had the pleasure of creating and executing some incredible special builds for brands who want to stand out and make their creative work harder. Whether it be lighting, steam or even fire, these campaigns have ruled the market thanks to their creativity. BBC are a brand that has excelled at this time and time again: 

A special build for the TV show “Dracula” leveraged shadows to depict the vampire myth, revealing a terrifying silhouette only visible at nightfall. 

“A Perfect Planet” featured a billboard torn apart to reveal a devastating forest fire image, combining smoke machines and LED lighting for a striking effect, making it appear that the billboard was on fire. 

For “His Dark Materials,” a ‘breathing’ billboard, using steam, captured attention on dark winter nights. 

Projection Mapping: Winter’s Canvas 

Projection mapping opens doors to creativity in the darker winter months. Whether we’re delivering high impact mapped content onto iconic locations or delivering guerrilla messages at scale nationwide, we can take clients’ messages directly to their audiences in a disruptive and impactful way.  

For Nissan Formula E, innovative motion video mapping transformed the 110 The Queens Walk building into a giant, 150ft tall racing helmet. 

Glow in the Dark 

Projections can also be used in conjunction with murals, making them visibly dazzling in the dark evenings. 

YouTube Music’s artist murals, including one for the 1975 in Manchester, used projection mapping with incredible effect. 

MAC elevated its creative using projection mapping. 

Other techniques that enable brands to glow in the dark are UV-Reflective Paint, Black Light and Halo Lighting. By adding special lighting and ink onto elements of the poster or mural can help elevate the creative at night! 

For Baileys’ “HallowQueens” campaign, hand-painted murals near on-trade spots were enhanced for extra appeal. One featured glitter for sparkle, while another used metallic and glow-in-the-dark UV paint for a spooky effect. 

Experiential Brand Experiences 

Drone Activations 

Rising in popularity over the last few years, we’ve seen many brands and even the royal family use drones to captivate audiences in a unique way.

Drone light shows, using up to 1000 drones, create illuminated aerial formations, forming images and words in the night sky. The drone show from the Coronation Concert is one of our favourites.

Heated OOH: Cozy Surprises 

Embrace the chilly season with heated OOH. Installing special heating units at transit shelters offers a distinctive chance that thrives during the winter season.

John Lewis incorporated heated creative in bus stops, providing a cozy surprise with just a tap. 

Digital Creativity: Enhancing Emotional Engagement 

Strong creative messaging increases emotional engagement by 13%, especially through: 

Contextual Messaging 

Custom dynamic messaging integrates data feeds directly into the campaign creative. Updating the creative with messaging triggered by the time of day or by the weather, brings extra life to a campaign and increases brain response. 

Shake Shack’s use of dynamic digital OOH billboards in NYC for an interactive truffle hunt exemplifies this approach. 

Want to do something creative this winter? Get in touch with your Grand Visual representative or contact us using this form. 

Ben Gardiner, Head of Client Services, speaks to LBB to share how Grand Visual helped to pull off one of the most impressive and ambitious out-of-home projects ever executed.

Read the article on LBB here.

Mariel Hernandez, US Client director, and Georgia Hamp, Senior Client Manager, speak to LBB about how brands can expand their sports partnerships through creative activation and the evolving possibilities of OOH and DOOH campaigns.

View the article on LBB here.

‘Rev up your engines, Nissan Formula E has arrived.

Along with our friends at Dark Horses and Pixel Artworks, we brought the thrill of Nissan Formula E to life on the London city skyline. Find out more about the campaign over on LBB here.

Check out our new company profile over on LBB Online.

We are thrilled to announce that our collaboration with FCB New York on an experiential campaign for Budweiser has received a Bronze Media Lion at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2023.

The campaign was honoured in the Media, Culture & Context > Social Behaviour & Cultural Insight category. The Cannes Lions Awards have been celebrating outstanding creativity since 1954, and we are proud to be recognised among the best in the industry.

Earlier on in the year, women and non-binary musicians were denied an opportunity for greatness after The BRITs combined their awards for best male and women artists into a gender-neutral category, but only nominated male artists.

Budweiser’s brand platform is “Greatness Is Yours to Take,” so we gave rising women and non-binary artists the opportunity that the BRITs denied them, using our OOH ad space. We turned a Bud billboard into a concert stage where artists could perform in front of music’s biggest names.

As a result, social views for Budweiser rose 1,300%, while social conversation and social impressions in the U.K. grew 102% and 125%, respectively. All conversation about our groundbreaking concert earned a 100% positive social sentiment score. Celebrities and record executives at the BRITs watched our artists’ performances in awe. Kobalt Music, a record label, even signed one of our artists, Mychelle, to a deal.

We are so proud to have collaborated on this incredible experiential campaign with FCB New York for the fantastic team at Budweiser.

Want to see it for yourself? Please click here and enjoy!