Advantages and Disadvantages of Outdoor Advertising and 5 Creative Out-Of-Home Ads

Some of the most creative pieces in advertising are seen outside of the home. It’s an overlooked advertising medium that’s great for reinforcing messages communicated through other mediums such as television or magazines. What it is truly unappreciated by advertisers is its ability to create buzz with its out-of-the-box abilities, which are seemingly infinite, and its high target reach and frequency, which allows the advertisement to hit a many different people more than once (due to habitual travel patterns) in selected markets.

Advantages

-          Target reach and frequency

-          You can select your target by areas (not by people) of demographic interest, creating flexibility

-          Reinforces messages brought to the consumer by other forms of media (TV, Magazines)

-          Great for creating awareness

-          Creative opportunities are limitless

Disadvantages

-          Almost impossible to focus in on a specific target market

-          High cost

-          Outdoor advertising is very easy to overlook

Now we’ll take a look at some of the most creative outdoor ads I found today.

LG

LG pulled a prank on some unsuspecting elevator travelers. They removed the standard flooring and replaced it with several new IPS monitors to showcase how great the displays are on their new product.

Nationwide

Nationwide put together this sweet little diddly to go together with their "Life comes at you fast" campaign.

Kit Kat

This is a fairly simple yet buzzworthy ad. Kit Kat designed a park bench to look like an opened bar of their great tasting candy bar! (Kit Kat, pay me for the free advertising).

 

Caribou Coffee

This is a great example of thinking outside the box. Caribou Coffee turns a bus stop into a great advertising/promotional device that creates buzz with transit riders, drive-by(ers), bus drivers, walker byers, you name it. And of course, famous blogs like this one... right guys?

 

Emart

This has to be one of the most creative ideas I've ever seen in my 21 years on this earth (I know its not long but shut up, what do you know). Seriously watch the video and be amazed at the creativity.

 

Superb right? Don't overlook outdoor advertising. I've been tought that the creative abilities of out of home marketing is limited. After this evidence, I'd say the case is closed. In terms of creativivity, out of home is limitless. On a side note, marketers suck as using QR codes, and this ad is actually a great example of a QR code done right.