Smart billboard in Stockholm
coughs when smokers walk by
Interactive signage is rather communicative than others in Stockholm. One may wonder ‘why?’ When smokers walk by a certain billboard in the Swedish capital city, something so strange happens—the billboard coughs at them. The outdoor innovative advertisement is paid for by a Swedish pharmacy chain that wants to encourage smokers to kick their smelly habit. At first glance, the digital screen positioned outside a metro station shows only a simple photo of a model. But walk by with a lit cigarette and the man in the picture starts coughing, clearly bothered by the smoke. The screen then changes again, offering various products sold by pharmacy chain Apotek Hjartat that can help smokers quit. Technically, Akestam Holst, the agency behind the campaign, created the effect by attaching smoke detectors to the digital advertising screen. They chose a location where people often smoke—Stockholm’s Odenplan Square.
Donald Trump billboard urges
businesses to invest
in OOH ads
An outdoor ad featuring the grunted face of the US president Donald Trump has appeared on a billboard site at Leeds in Yorkshire. The site is owned by the ad company Airoutdoor and the ad features a pop-up balloon with a text next to the president’s face, reading “Advertising Works, Look where It Got Me.” According to Airoutdoor, the billboard was designed to instil advertisers to grab benefits of using a little creativity. The ad agency mentioned that on an average one may have only six seconds to capture the attention of drivers and pedestrians, so it’s important to avoid the trap of just blending in and only smart billboards grab the attention of local audience and leave a long-lasting impression.
Specially designed billboard on
World
Braille Day
To mark the World Braille Day, which is celebrated on 4th of January every year, Maltesers carries out a specially designed Braille-themed billboard representing disability at Farringdon in London. The confectionery brand has put a specially build OOH display live at the historic spot in the city, showing a poster entirely
made of Braille—a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired. The campaign created by AMV BBDO is accessible for all through a combination of audio description and a translation hosted on Maltesers’ UK Facebook page. The Braille billboard is the latest iteration of the same ‘Look on the Light Side’ campaign, which saw three TV adverts featuring disability debut during the opening ceremony of Paralympic Games 2016.
Microsoft UK gets refreshed with architectural signage
Just recently, Microsoft UK got transpired into a fresh outlook as the signage firm Signbox was roped in to undertake a full signage audit across the company’s 200 acre business park in Sonning. Engaged initially by commercial property consultants CBRE, Signbox was tasked with redesigning more than two hundred signs with a brand refresh issued by Microsoft’s corporate communication team in the US. The brief included external high-level signage, numerous way-finding totems, internal reception branding, and an LED illuminated 8x2 metre monument sign.
Scotland’s largest
double display
Forrest Media, one of the widely recognised digital out-of-home players in Scotland, has launched its newest digital superstructure in the heart of Glasgow. A spectacular ‘V’ angled double digital display, overlooking the main arterial Clydeside Expressway, attracts a huge number of people plying vehicles (over 1.75m fortnightly impacts) to and from Glasgow and connecting on to the M8 for Edinburgh and the West, the Clyde Tunnel and the M74 South, as well as to the centre of Glasgow itself. Each face of the double-digital display portrays an impressive 50sq m of high resolution image, mounted onto an instantly recognisable LED ellipse.
