Why Adland Will Never Fall Out Of Love With OOH

A golden age for out-of-home advertising dawns.

There’s a magic that follows a great OOH campaign. Minding your own business – on the train, in a cab, halfway through a podcast you’re not really listening to – and then, boom. A line hits you. A visual stops you. A giant floating kebab skewer piercing through a building makes more sense than it should. 

This is a celebration of billboards. Of posters. Of the copywriting that is simply genius. Of big ideas that cause a double-take, a laugh out loud - perhaps even an “I wish I’d done that”.

OOH’s origins are often traced back to ancient civilisations: Egyptians used hieroglyphics on tall stone obelisks to publicise laws and treaties. It’s since meandered over time, with the introduction of the printing press, the computer, and even artificial intelligence (AI) - but the flow of wanting to communicate a message remains the same. 

For a time, it took a backseat to newer technologies – from the growth of television to the rise of smartphones – as audience attention shifted.

For Shivani Arora, head of global campaigns at British Airways, OOH is a must-use medium for the brand that has led to unexpected results. 

“We see OOH as a hero channel,” she says, speaking at Creative Circle, Margate. “It delivers huge impact; much of our outdoor work has achieved over 94 per cent brand recall since the pandemic, which is brilliant.

“We’ve also seen significant spikes in bookings, showing that the activity is driving action - something we didn’t fully expect. The goal was to inspire and build brand awareness but people see the ads and respond. For us, that’s a fantastic result, and we credit OOH for it. There’s undeniable power in investing.”

And with the Less Healthy Food regulations now in force, but not impacting OOH, it's likely a growing number of brands will turn to the medium, knowing they can still display their products to mass audiences at all hours.

The Growing Popularity of Outdoor

In recent years, OOH has been on the rise. Not only are OOH posters making a comeback, with campaigns rolling out like clockwork, the figures support it.

According to the Advertising Association, UK OOH ad spend rose by £1.3bn (just under 8 per cent) in 2024 compared with 2023, which is forecast to continue rising across the next few years.

This isn’t just in the UK; in the US alone, OOH revenue surpassed $9bn in 2024, according to the Out of Home Advertising Association of America - a historic milestone, and on a global scale, growth is expected until at least the end of the decade; the 2024 net worth of $32.3 bn is expected to reach $52.4 bn - an 8.4 per cent growth. 

“I think the resurgence of OOH is a response to a changing media landscape,” says Felipe Serradourada Guimaraes, executive creative director at BBH. “OOH, when done well, offers an equally powerful yet more cost-effective way to get people talking. It literally forces creativity. It demands an idea that is so good, so simple, that it can’t be ignored. When a campaign like that goes viral it gives a brand fame and cultural currency that far outweighs the initial investment.”

Whether on the morning commute, a lunchtime walk or bumbling around as a tourist, OOH ads are everywhere - so much so, 98 per cent of the UK population are exposed to them weekly, according to Route.  

Where else would displays of minimalist food offerings, punny catchphrases, or even an army of glass-blown cats charging down scaffolding (we’ll get to that) make sense?

OOH is back - seemingly for the long run.

We take a look at some of the best pieces of OOH work from the last year, discussing the makings of and why, ultimately, the medium came out on top. 

Focus: Stella Artois - Grey London

'The Sip of Sanctuary', 'Protector of The Chalice' and 'Happiness within Chaos’ by Grey London for Stella Artois, winning three Gold Lions at Cannes Lions this year in the Outdoor category. 

The posters reflect the relatable feeling of trying to get through a packed crowd while trying to protect a pint.

From the first week of its release, the work received over 3.5 million impressions, according to agency figures - 44 per cent above the AB InBev benchmark, according to its creatives.

“Stella wanted a new global campaign that was bold and disruptive but still grounded in its existing creative platform: the idea of Stella being worth sacrifice,” explains Chris Lapham, creative director at Grey London. 

“We started by looking at real drinking culture, and the one image that kept coming up was the chaos of a packed bar. Everyone fighting to get served, then fighting to keep their drink safe – it’s something all of us have experienced. And we realised that’s a form of sacrifice too.” 

The work didn’t start out as an OOH campaign, however, reveals Aaron McGurk, creative director at Grey London. 

“As it developed it became obvious it was the perfect medium. Few other channels let you be this stripped back. It forces restraint, which in a world of noise, creates cut-through.

“We didn’t need a sprawling narrative or overt branding. Just a cinematic image, the iconic Stella glass, and two words. The ads invite interpretation rather than dictating meaning. That’s how you create connection.”

The strategy behind the work proves a bold one - and Tarek Sioufi, Grey London’s chief strategy officer is quick to praise Stella for tearing up the “FMCG rulebook”. 

“Showing the reality of a packed bar rather than an over sanitised, aspirational version of nightlife - or the perfect pour vs the imperfection of the product moment. I think that’s exactly what makes the campaign feel fresh, human and memorable.”

He adds that such work winning big at Cannes Lions has had a “hugely positive impact” for the agency. 

“First off, clients are coming to us and want something just as impactful. It’s opened doors and helped win pitches,” Sioufi continues. “It’s also attracting the right kind of talent. Creatives want to make work like this – bold, original, effective – and they’re excited to join a team that’s actually doing it.

“And maybe most importantly, it’s re-energised our creative department. It’s shown what’s possible with a small team, a strong idea, and a modest budget. It’s raised our creative bar, which we now strive to meet, or beat, every time.

Focus: Tesco - BBH London

BBH has a long-standing legacy when it comes to producing great work, from Levis' iconic 'Laundrette' ad to Johnnie Walker's 'Keep Walking'. For Guimaraes, who stepped into the role of ECD earlier this year, OOH is part of his creative mission for the agency to continue making iconic work.

“This focus on putting OOH back on its pedestal was one of the first things I set out to do as ECD,” says Guimaraes. “We’re an agency that is known for creativity and craft, and OOH is the toughest test for both of those things. Our goal with recent work was to bring back that iconic, single-minded punch, but with a modern, culturally relevant twist. We wanted to create work that not only gets noticed but also becomes a part of the conversation."

Tesco’s ‘Icons’ campaign caught attention by removing the brand’s logo and replacing it with its products.

“It’s such a massive brand,” says Alex Grieve, global CCO, BBH. “To do something of that calibre at that scale, with all the usual pressures in place, and to have Tesco fully back it and be as proud of it as we were was really satisfying.”

Its work with the brand continued across the year; some of its most recent being a celebration of England and Wales for the Women’s Euros 2025. 

“We had already started creating memorable OOH that cuts through, and when it came to the Euros, our 'Receipts' campaign was a perfect example of a long-term strategic vision/brand platform, meeting a moment in culture,” explains Serradourada Guimaraes. “It started as a proactive idea, and thankfully, Tesco completely bought into the creative ambition and backed the idea as much as we did. The work was designed with the hope and confidence that the Lionesses would bring it home - and of course, they did.”

The joys of producing OOH work, according to Grieve, are “the challenge of expressing an idea in the simplest possible way”. 

He adds: “The best OOH work looks completely effortless, like it was the only possible answer. But usually, that’s the result of hundreds of hours of thinking, refining, and reworking.

“For us, it’s also about going back to BBH’s core principles: great ideas and great craft. There’s no better medium than OOH for those two things to collide. It’s reignited belief, reconnected us with our foundations - and it’s good fun. We even put them up in the atrium at BBH. It started with the classic posters through the years and now each time we make a new one, it goes up there. The old ones come down, and something like Tesco Icons takes their place. Teams literally see their work enter the Hall of Fame.”

Most recently, Tesco has been using OOH to promote eating more fruit to children, with poster sites covered in branded stickers.

Focus: Dreamies - adam&eveDDB

In yet another display of disruptive effectiveness, adam&eveDDB turned the tables with ‘Ad Attack’ for Dreamies - a (literal) visual representation of cats doing exactly that. Billboards featuring a bag of Dreamies’ cat food were surrounded by a range of different handmade cats, utilising the environment around them to get to the destination - whether climbing a scaffolding pole or a drainpipe.

For Zoe Nash, creative at adam&eveDDB London, the idea of scaling cats around a billboard was a wacky idea that was written in the brief. 

“Sometimes you question those ideas because they feel too simple, but often the simple answer really is the best one,” she begins. “We loved the idea that it might look real at first glance - enough to make a passerby do a double take. That’s why all the cats were life-sized fibreglass replicas.

“It also gave us the chance to play with the environment - rooftops, drainpipes, lampposts - and that kind of interaction is really fun. There is so much opportunity to be creative in different OOH spaces. Plus, everyone loves something that breaks the rules a bit when it comes to ad formats.”

The ad attack took place across several London locations from Kingsland Road and Shoreditch's Quaker Street; according to Nash, the 3D fibreglass felines caught the eyes of over 173 million people globally within the first 24 hours, thanks to over 240 media outlets covering the work.

“The most impressive stat is that we created 2160 whiskers," she concludes.

Focus: British Heart Foundation - Saatchi & Saatchi

Saatchi & Saatchi’s ‘Til I Died’ was another award-winning OOH campaign. Working with The British Heart Foundation, the work used the insight that the nation is largely unaware of the devastating effect heart disease has on young people, and aimed to shift the perception of heart disease and raise awareness that it can strike anybody regardless of age. 

With the UEFA Euros 2024 approaching, the pair worked together to commemorate the lives of 12 young football fans whose lives were tragically ended by heart disease.

“We [Saatchi & Saatchi creatives] learned from the British Heart Foundation that 12 young people die every week from sudden cardiac death - a shocking stat that shaped everything,” begins Pete Ioulianou, associate creative director at Saatchi & Saatchi, talking at Creative Circle, Margate. 

“Murals felt like the perfect fit to commemorate them meaningfully; they live in the football world, much like the murals celebrating football players we all know. It was the real sweet spot.”

Ioulianou describes the process as an “emotional and intense” one - the work didn’t appear out of thin air; families were involved, and careful research determined which stories to tell - as was having to navigate tough conversations. 

“We poured everything into it: ensuring likenesses were perfect, the copy was respectful, and the chosen phrase honoured the memory.”

The 12 murals across the country, he notes, weren’t designed for traditional OOH impact alone. “The murals weren’t just static - they sparked conversation. We insisted they wouldn’t be painted over immediately; they stayed up throughout the tournament, making sure the stories weren’t forgotten overnight.”

For Sue Frogley, CEO of OOH experts Talon, who also helped bring the campaign to life though media buyer PHD, the work was a perfect example of effective advertising. 

“Effective advertising all starts with audience - because if you’re not reaching the right people, at the right moment, what’s the point? 

“Families came, communities rallied, and the campaign got people talking about something that really matters and bringing in an incredible 55 per cent increase in donations - that’s creativity that moves people, literally and emotionally.”

The Future Of OOH

While OOH currently provides a breath of fresh air for agencies and their clients from society’s digital fatigue and constant scrutiny, the future is one that will be supercharged by technology, fuelled by AI and dripping with data-driven smarts. Digital out-of-home (DOOH) will take a driving seat; the billboards of tomorrow won’t just know where you are - they know who you are (and how you like your coffee). 

(Credit: WPP Media OOH and DOOH.com wowed clients at their annual flagship event, NextM, with holographic capabilities in partnership with Hypervsn.)

As screens get smarter and creative gets braver, OOH is becoming more personal - less a canvas, more a conversation.

“Unlike mobile or digital platforms, OOH is still fundamentally a broadcast medium,” explains Frogley. “It’s about reaching groups of people in public spaces, not individuals on their personal devices. 

“We can tailor DOOH based on triggers such as the pollen count, local weather, or even what’s trending in a specific neighbourhood, like we did for Uber Eats, adjusting menus based on local favourites. That’s personalisation that feels helpful, not invasive.”

However, as advertising grows increasingly fragmented and AI continues to develop, industry leaders emphasise that the need for OOH and creative simplicity will never go away. 

“What’s interesting is how well OOH also translates to social media,” says Grieve. “The way we scroll - image after image - actually mirrors the format of OOH. A great poster doesn’t just work in the world; it also stops people mid-scroll. That’s powerful.” 

This too translates to virtual activations; back in 2022 the power of DOOH was unleashed on two of the world’s famed landmarks - Times Square, New York, and Piccadilly Circus, London, with live music performances from the Gorillaz.  

Passersby, whether they realised it or not, experienced a ground-breaking use of DOOH - one that set a benchmark for work going forward.

Coca-Cola too used large-scale DOOH with its ‘#TakeATasteNow’ campaign in 2023 by creating an augmented reality experience in collaboration with Tesco Group, allowing smartphone users to interact with QR codes on screens in real-time and change the visuals on the screen. In turn, they received a digital Coke Zero bottle and voucher to claim the real deal from a Tesco store. 

Meanwhile, Nicole Lonsdale, CCO, WPP Media OOH outlines the impact of the Coca-Cola activation.

"The 'Take a Taste' campaign set a new benchmark for innovation and impact. By teaming up with DOOH.com’s Connect technology, we made OOH shoppable - engaging consumers directly via mobile to play, download, and redeem a free Coke at Tesco," says Londsdale. "Redemption rates soared fivefold, proving the power of OOH to seamlessly bridge physical and digital experiences.”

Sioufi says that while the industry grows ever more complicated, creatives also need to fight to grab audience attention; consumers have become “experts at filtering out unwanted noise”. 

“In this environment, shouting louder just doesn’t work for brands. What does work is simplicity - a smart, insight-led idea that lands in a second. Something visually brilliant, not heavy with copy, delivered through media with scale and stature. That’s exactly what OOH does.”