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.”

‘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.

Rockstar Energy Drink utilized Creative DOOH – including an AR token hunt and an Interactive Media Wall – to build hype for their first-of-its-kind digital concert experience headlined by global superstar, Stormzy. 

The virtual performance transported audiences into five vibrant realities through innovative technology, showcasing Rockstar’s new brand platform, “Press Play,” which aims to provide fans with the ultimate boost they need to transition seamlessly from work to play. 

Amplifying the experience in the real world, Grand Visual launched Out of Home viewing opportunities for Rockstar across major cities worldwide, including London, Copenhagen, and Liverpool. Working in collaboration with Ocean Outdoor and SmartMedia Tech, an AR token hunt invited passersby to engage to win on the spot prizes and sample the Rockstar product range in Liverpool, Manchester, Brighton, and Cardiff. Activity also included an interactive execution – produced by Grand Visual and Ocean Labs – on Ocean Outdoor’s Liverpool Media Wall allowing users to choose the world they were experiencing, alongside a full station domination at Liverpool Lime Street station with JCDecaux. Buzz for the digital concert was further built with an Outernet Now Trending domination and show-stopping creative on Ocean’s BFI IMAX.

Rockstar’s ‘Press Play’ Concert premiered on Spotify, captivating worldwide fans with an electrifying showcase of Stormzy’s latest album hits. The in-app digital concert experience took viewers on a thrilling journey through four distinct worlds, enhancing the live performance on the main stage. 

Internationally acclaimed artist, Stormzy, commented, “Collaborating with Rockstar to bring this performance to life has been an incredible journey. From wearing the motion-capture suit to witnessing my avatar command the stage in five worlds, it has been a project that has pushed boundaries since the start. I hope it ignites the same energy and excitement in my fans as it did in me.”

All the Rockstar “Press Play” performances are available to stream until 4th August 2023 on Spotify, or YouTube for the BSL interpretation. 

Credits: Grand Visual, Ocean Labs & SmartMedia Technologies.

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!