Last month we revealed that Ocean Outdoor was giving YOU a chance to win a very expensive digital billboard campaign. The entries were displayed LIVE between Septemeber 27th and October 1st where they were judged by a handful of people including ad agency creatives, our friend Adrian from Daily DOOH, and the Head of Media at Westfield Malls. We were very interested to see what the outcome would be.

The winning entry (above) was a spot for British Airways that displayed a women in her bikini, sitting leisurely on the beach through a live webcam. People passing by were invited to guess where this webcam was located through twitter. These tweets were displayed at the bottom of the screen in a CNN-style ticker. One of the judges stated he liked “the fact that there was subtle movement of said bikini lady in the webcam usage – pretty much a ‘true’ animated poster in my eyes”.

Subtly can be a powerful thing, particularly with out of home advertising..  a medium that was traditionally designed for print. It seems some of the contestants are starting to understand how to create content for the digital billboard. The second place was a bit less subtle.

Unfortunately another specimen using assets from a movie trailer and repurposing it for the billboard. Not so subtle..Quick cut montage may work for TV, but for out of home advertising it is distracting at best. Like the abominable The Last Exorcism motion poster, it does little more than to contribute to the collective visual noise. Again, to beat the drum.. if this medium is to thrive, it has to have a reason to exist.

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