Marketers are always on the lookout for the next biggest trend to use in their campaigns. They need to create a campaign that stands out and captures the attention of its target audience. But with new strategies to have come out, let’s take a look at FOOH advertising and how brands are using it to engage with their audiences.
What is FOOH Advertising?
FOOH advertising stands for Fake-Out-Of-Home advertising. This is a relatively new advertising technique that makes use of Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) or Augmented Reality (AR) for an entirely different experience. The technology is used to make immersive campaigns designed primarily to capture the attention of the public, elicit engagement and produce buzz on social media.
The technology creates realistic ads that would make the public wonder whether or not the image or video really exists. This allows marketers to create a hyper-realistic experience to leave viewers captivated and astonished.
FOOH advertising helps produce these results:
- Creates eye-catching visuals
- Promotes services or products creatively
- Creates narratives
- Generates buzz and excitement
Because it creates an emotional connection with its audience, FOOH advertising can also be classified as experiential marketing, which engages customers in live situations so they can directly connect with the company.
6 Perks of Using FOOH Advertising
Traditional marketing tactics don’t work as well as they did. In fact, a study revealed that 77% of large organisations now use experiential marketing to create and cultivate loyalty among the audience. Since brands don’t just depend on the number of sales generated, they desire to build an emotional connection with their customers. FOOH advertising is one way they can build this for them.
Through FOOH campaigns, businesses can get the following perks:
- Build customer loyalty: Brands who build customer loyalty help create a positive reputation for a brand. A study showed that experiential marketing campaigns produce a better attitude toward the brand among 91% of involved users.
- Leads to future sales: Although they do not necessarily result in sales right away, experiential marketing helps leave a mark among the audience. When it’s time to make a purchase, customers get to recall the name of the brand that was etched on their minds from the experiential marketing campaign.
- Produces high engagement: FOOH campaigns come in the form of short-form videos. When exceptionally done, they can lead to high engagement with the number of people who share and comment on these posts.
- Allows creativity to shine: FOOH campaigns allow marketers to practise their creativity. Since they use technology, there is no limit to how creative they can be. FOOH advertising allows advertisers to explore various concepts they never thought would be possible. And the way to measure the success of these campaigns is through the number of interactions and reactions it generates on social media.
- Cost-effective advertising: Contrary to what you would expect, FOOH ads are cheaper to create compared to traditional out-of-home ads. With the former, you don’t need to pay for expensive printing costs, billboards, or bus stop ads. You only need to leverage social media, a video production team, and CGI technology to create the campaign.
- Presents a more sustainable option: In addition to being cost-effective, FOOH ads are more sustainable since they significantly reduce waste and carbon footprint. You won’t need to spend for your creative team to install the physical ad or take down the ad when needed. With digital tracking and monitoring tools, you can easily see how your FOOH ads are performing in real-time.
A well executed FOOH campaign has the potential to go viral and reach a larger audience. This is why it’s best to be thorough when planning the campaign so it can be created really well.
6 Examples of FOOH Campaigns That Did Really Well
FOOH campaigns have been fairly new. This type of advertising strategy only started to pop up on social media in 2023 as initiated by high-fashion brand campaigns like Alexander Wang, Isabel Marant, and Jacquemus.
The pioneer of this style of advertising, however, was Ian Padgham, a visual artist known as Origiful. His wine bottle tram in Bordeaux FOOH campaign for Château de Cérons is the first to gain global attention.
Ever since the campaign went viral, several others have popped up. Padgham calls this art as “surrealism, I’m thinking about what would look really cool in an alternate universe.”
Let’s take a look at the different FOOH campaigns that stood out:
Maybelline’s Sky High Mascara Express
Photo Credit: Maybelline
One of the most successful FOOH campaigns to have rolled out is, without a doubt, Maybelline’s Sky High Mascara Express.
The team first created a faux OOH campaign Padgham’s creativity by infusing London’s public transportation with eyelashes that fit right into the mascara brushes on certain stops. The campaign was created so realistically that made people wonder whether it was real or not.
Jacquemus’ XXL Bags
Photo Credit: Jacquemus
In April 2023, Jacquemus’ social media pages were taken over by videos of gigantic handbags roaming around the streets of Paris. When the campaign was released, it amazed a lot of people since the FOOH trend was fairly new. Many shared the campaign as they were excited with the creativity of this ad strategy.
Although the footage taken was from a real street in Paris, the handbags were added in virtually. Unfortunately, none of it actually happened and there are no gigantic handbags anywhere.
JD Sports’ The North Face Jacket on Big Ben
Image Credit: JDSports
Another FOOH campaign that came out was JD Sports’ viral video of the Big Ben transformed into a mannequin wearing a yellow jacket from The North Face. The addition of real people looking at the structure made the campaign appear believable, especially those who were seeing the FOOH trend for the first time.
The campaign quickly went viral on social media after its November release.
Barbie at Dubai
Image Credit: Revista InformaBTL
Shortly after the live-action movie, Barbie, was released in Dubai, locals were in for a treat as they spotted a video of a gigantic Barbie stepping out of her pink box beside the Burj Khalifa. Those who shared the video believed were misled that a real-life installation of the doll was put up beside the tallest building in the world.
After it became viral, however, it was debunked as a fake campaign by social media agency, Eye Studio. The agency also shared that this video was not part of the movie’s official marketing campaign.
HBO GO’s House of the Dragon Launch
Image Credit: Marketing-Interactive
In Asia, FOOH marketing is also being widely used in various campaigns. One of the most successful ones is from HBO GO’s launch of House of the Dragon season two.
The campaign called for avid fans of the series to show their support for the two houses by covering famous landmarks with the house flags of Queen Rhaenyra (Team Black) and King Aegon (Team Green).
Some of the locations that were used in the viral marketing include the National Gallery and Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. They also included other historic landmarks throughout Asia, such as:
- Hong Kong: ICC and IFC Buildings
- Malaysia: Petronas Twin Towers and Merdeka Square
- Taiwan: Liberty Square and Taipei 101
- Philippines: Manila City Hall and Intramuros
- Thailand: King Power Mahanakhon building and Siam Square
Aside from the banners, fans were also treated to a video mapping of a dragon flying and breathing fire over selected landmarks.
Adidas’ ADIZERO Adidas Pro 3
Image Credit: AdidasHK
During the Hong Kong Marathon, Adidas ran a campaign to promote its new shoe: the ADIZERO Adidas Pro 3. The team made use of augmented reality by having a gigantic pair of shoes fly over the sky and hang on top of the IFC building.
The campaign quickly gained more than 200,000 views and hundreds of shares upon its launch.
How to Run a FOOH Campaign
With the current trend for FOOH advertising, many brands are showing interest in launching their own take. But it’s important to be aware that this type of campaign may raise ethical questions and require brands to be more transparent about their strategies. Since these campaigns create an illusion and mixes it with reality, brands need to have a balance between the two.
Still, the transparency should not compromise the creativity brought about by the illusion.
Brands need to remember to remain ethical when using FOOH campaigns since these can mislead customers. In some cases, these ads can even lead to deception, which can break consumer trust in the brand.
Still, there are plenty of people who appreciate the creativity that advertisers express in this innovative marketing strategy. The trick is to remain truthful and let customers know firsthand that this is a FOOH campaign and not happening in real life.
If you are interested in running a FOOH campaign, here are some things you need to consider:
1. Know Your Audience
Before deciding to run a FOOH campaign, it’s best that you get to know your audience and whether such a campaign will work with them. Knowing your audience is not limited to a FOOH campaign. This will help you with every marketing campaign you run since you can set the right tone and voice for them.
Here are some things you can do to get to know your audience:
- Research: Do your market research by studying the demographics of your brand and product. For example, a brand selling baby strollers won’t be suitable for a market with an age group between 12 to 18 years old. At the same time, a bar wouldn’t be the ideal establishment that would attract new mums.
- Competitor Study: Taking a look at your competitors is also one way of conducting market research. Evaluate your competitors, at least the ones who have the same target audience as you have. Analyse the marketing strategies and messaging they’ve used. How have these strategies worked for them?
- Create a Customer Persona: Businesses need to create a customer persona, an in-depth understanding of their target customer. This is a fictional character you create with the information that would fit their demographic. Try to come up with their information, such as career and income, family life, education level, personality traits, and even a name.
- Get to Know Your Customers: If you already have existing customers, you can get to know them on a personal level. Try to know what appeals to them and what products they are looking for.
- Monitor Social Media Engagement: When running your social media strategy, try to check out the comments and engagement you’ve received. How are people responding to your posts and how often they’re responding. This will also give you an idea on what type of content works best for them.
- Conduct Surveys: After a customer exchange, try to get your clients to answer a survey so you can know more about them. You can use their answers to build your customer persona and use that to build your ad campaign.
2. Be Clear With Your Campaign
Since FOOH ads are fairly new, they can easily mislead customers to believe they are real. Here are some things you can do to prevent this:
- Use disclaimers: When you launch an FOOH campaign, make sure to use a disclaimer or tag that these are fictional or computer-generated.
- Check for legal issues: Thread your legal boundaries carefully. Make sure you stay compliant with regulations covering truth in advertising.
- Collaborate with ethical CGI artists: Make sure to work with ethical CGI artists and agencies that follow ethical practices. This way, you can stay committed to creating a responsible campaign that wows your audience.
Being transparent with your use of CGI may be a small thing, but can mean a lot to your audience. When you are transparent about this, your audience learn that they are watching a crafted visual experience. This can avoid disappointment from your audience.
3. Monitor Your Campaign
The best thing about using FOOH advertising campaigns is that you no longer have to rely on traditional forms of marketing. This means that you have access to analytics and what people are saying about your campaign.
Using the data available, you can make changes according to what your audience is looking for.
The Future of FOOH Advertising
FOOH advertising has opened the door for unlimited potential and creativity for marketers. This presents an entirely new frontier in the realm of advertising. If you are interested in taking advantage of this opportunity, it’s best that you work with an agency that can adhere to what your brand embodies and will make a viral FOOH campaign to remember.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do Fake Out-Of-Home ads differ from Out-Of-Home ads?
The biggest difference between these two types of ads relies on its name. Just as its name implies, FOOH ads are “fake” or “faux” ads that occur outside one’s home. You can see these in physical advertisements, such as billboards, TV commercials, or posters.
FOOH ads make use of CGI or AR mixed with real video footage. Because of this, FOOH ads only occur on social media or digital platforms.
Are FOOH advertising cheaper than OOH ads?
The costs involved in FOOH advertising vary largely on a number of factors, especially on the professional fees of the agency or artist working on the content. But they are generally cheaper than OOH ads since you no longer have to deal with other factors that can increase costs, such as location scouting, actors, rent for physical space, printing costs, and many more.
How long are FOOH advertising?
FOOH advertising usually take between 10-15 seconds. One shot can be done in six weeks, as long as the concept behind the ad has already been finalised.
How does FOOH advertising work?
FOOH advertising are digital advertisements that make use of CGI combined with real-world video footage shot prior to the 3D animation or object added in post-production.
