Advertising best practice, evidence and insights

A page from ‘The OOH Playbook’: How to raise the bar of out-of-home media planning

Article • Jennie Roper, WARC Best Practice, August 2021

A how-to-guide to make media planning more effective and efficient.

Case Study • Dany Azzi, Samar Abdelmalak, Sanjay Kumar, WARC Prize for MENA Strategy, Entrant, 2021

Al Arabia Outdoor Advertising ran a 360-degree campaign in Saudi Arabia to raise awareness of prostrate cancer and encourage men to go for regular preventative checks.

McCafé: Great coffee. Simple.

Case Study • Mario Morby, Tina Sioufi, WARC Prize for MENA Strategy, Entrant, 2021

Quick-service F&B brand McCafe harnessed the power of simplicity to find its place in a complex category in the overly saturated UAE market.

Badoo: Thanks for Wanking

Case Study • SABRE Awards, EMEA, Gold, 2021

Badoo, a dating app, positioned itself as an honest dating app with its bold UK campaign Thanks for Wanking.

Knorr: Rooftop farms

Case Study • Tahaab Rais, Yasmine Shehab, Yosr Khalifa, WARC Prize for MENA Strategy, Gold and Long-Term Strategy Award, 2021

Food brand, Knorr's, Rooftop Farms campaign made a lasting impact on the hunger crisis by empowering those living in poverty in Egyptian cities to grow their own food.

LADA: Thank You Russia

Case Study • Jessica Handley, Jennifer Fischer, WARC Prize for MENA Strategy, Silver and Local Hero Award, 2021

Car brand, Lada, used provocative messaging around its Russian roots to grab the attention of drivers in Lebanon.

Flybondi: Fly with us

Case Study • Cannes Creative Lions, Entrant, Creative Effectiveness Lions, 2021

Flybondi, a low-cost airline, raised brand awareness in Argentina by appealing to lawmakers to fly with them to save public spending.

Shwapno and UCB: Project AgroBanking

Case Study • Cannes Creative Lions, Entrant, Creative Effectiveness Lions, 2021

United Commercial Bank (UCB), a banking brand, used video, on-ground activity and OOH to launch a platform that enabled farmers in Bangladesh to sell excess produce at a fair rate to retail chain Shwapno.

Volvo: Living Seawall

Case Study • Cannes Creative Lions, Entrant, Creative Effectiveness Lions, 2021

Volvo, an automobile brand, created a Living Seawall to reposition its image and attract premium car buyers in Australia.

East Japan Railway Company: Get Back, Tohoku

Case Study • Cannes Creative Lions, Entrant, Creative Effectiveness Lions, 2021

East Japan Railway Company, a passenger railway company, increased ridership and travel intent in Japan by launching a low-price free pass and communication programme to encourage local travel.

Nike: Air Max graffiti stores

Case Study • Cannes Creative Lions, Shortlisted, Creative Effectiveness Lions, 2021

Nike, a clothing brand, transformed city walls into Nike stores in Brazil by getting artists to add its new Air Max models to their graffiti characters and using geolocation to unlock sales for those models for people that visited the art.

Street Grace: Stop Traffick

Case Study • Cannes Creative Lions, Entrant, Creative Effectiveness Lions, 2021

Street Grace, a charity dedicated to fighting child sex trafficking, raised mass awareness of the issue of sex trafficking in Georgia, USA, with its campaign Stop Traffick.

Change the Ref: Fearful girl

Case Study • Cannes Creative Lions, Entrant, Creative Effectiveness Lions, 2021

Non-profit gun safety organisation Change The Ref created an on-ground stunt using Wall Street's Fearless Girl to make the gun-control conversation top of mind in the days leading up to the US midterm elections.

Netflix: Netflix is a joke

Case Study • Cannes Creative Lions, Entrant, Creative Effectiveness Lions, 2021

Netflix, an over-the-top content platform, promoted its stand-up comedy content across the US by launching a series of billboards that announced 'Netflix Is A Joke'.

Greenpeace: Dead whale

Case Study • Cannes Creative Lions, Entrant, Creative Effectiveness Lions, 2021

Greenpeace, an environmental organisation, used art to call on leaders to tackle plastic pollution in the oceans.

Visit Flanders: Mud soldier

Case Study • Cannes Creative Lions, Entrant, Creative Effectiveness Lions, 2021

Visit Flanders, the Flemish tourism authority, forged an emotional connection between the tragic anniversary of the WWI battle of Passchendaele and potential visitors from Europe, North America and Australia.

Newcastle Carers: We Care Too Campaign

Case Study • Design Effectiveness Awards, Design Effectiveness Awards, Bronze, 2021

Newcastle Carers, a charity supporting young people who care for a friend or relative in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK, increased the number of referrals to the charity with its multi-platform campaign We Care Too.

Twitter: #ElevatorTweets

Case Study • WARC Awards for Effectiveness, Entrant, Business-to-Business, 2021

Twitter, a social networking platform, used LED screens in elevators to deliver real-time tweets to planners and buyers in the UAE.

Dove: #Showus Y2 Russia

Case Study • WARC Awards for Effectiveness, Shortlisted, Brand Purpose, 2021

Personal care brand Dove grew sales and brand penetration in Russia with a TV, press and metro campaign and promotional platform that challenged Russian perceptions of beauty.

Air Transat: Vacation intervention

Case Study • WARC Awards for Effectiveness, Shortlisted, Instant Impact, 2021

Canadian airline Air Transmat ran a multi-channel campaign encouraging customers to use their vacation days to grow sales, awareness and increase differentiation.

Science World: The world needs more nerds

Case Study • WARC Awards for Effectiveness, Bronze, Instant Impact, 2021

Not-for-profit science centre, Science World, celebrated the importance of nerds to raise funds during COVID-19 in Canada.

McCafé: Great coffee. Simple.

Case Study • Mario Morby, Tina Sioufi, WARC Awards for Effectiveness, Shortlisted, Instant Impact, 2021

McCafe, the coffeehouse chain, used the power of simplicity to make an impact in an overly saturated coffee market in the UAE.

Donner Sang Compter (DSC): Blood Unity

Case Study • Tahaab Rais, WARC Awards for Effectiveness, Grand Prix for Good, Collaboration & Culture, 2021

NGO Donner Sang Compter turned tradition on its head to encourage blood donation and save lives in Lebanon.

Knorr: Rooftop Farms

Case Study • Tahaab Rais, Yasmin Shehab, Yosr Khalifa, WARC Awards for Effectiveness, Silver, Brand Purpose, 2021

Food and drink brand Knorr created a city rooftop farm initiative to establish itself as a socially responsible and purposeful brand in Egypt.

City of Chicago: Boards of Change

Case Study • SABRE Awards, Gold, North America, 2021

The City of Chicago, a US government department, launched its campaign Boards of Change to drive voter registration throughout Chicago for the 2020 presidential election.

Outdoor & OOH