Near the Santiago Bernabéu, next to the Paseo de la Castellana, Joan Laporta greets the people of Madrid with a provocative message: “Looking forward to seeing you all again”. The face of the lawyer, former president of F.C. Barcelona and candidate to return to the club’s presidency, covers the entire façade of a building next to Real Madrid’s football stadium. Few will have seen it on the street. Most of us first came across it on social media and then in the media. DOOH, an acronym for Digital Out of Home or digital signage, has ultimately become a conventional billboard. [Updated: 4 January 2021].
Ever since the end of the mandatory lockdown to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain came into view, we have witnessed the greatest creative boom in outdoor advertising. Just as QR codes were resurrected from the dustbin of obsolete technologies thanks to the need for contactless solutions, giant adverts on building scaffolding have entered their own Golden Age. If now is precisely the time when we should be spending as little time as possible going in and out of our homes, why this medium and why at this particular moment?
Since the end of lockdown, we have witnessed the greatest creative boom in outdoor advertising
Large-scale advertising has sought to capture the attention of mass audiences through its spectacular nature, but not through its ability to target specific audiences. Until now, the only way to target audiences was to choose the location: the neighbourhood, the building, the layout of the space… Until a few years ago, a billboard of this kind was a massive burst of visibility designed to linger in the memory of the casual passer-by. If you weren’t there and didn’t see it frequently, the billboard failed to have the desired effect.
Netflix leads the way
But a few years ago, Netflix arrived and changed the game. In 2016, its promotion of the series “Narcos” with that direct slogan “Oh, White Christmas”</ a> right in the heart of Madrid’s Puerta del Sol, alongside the face of the drug lord Pablo Escobar, sent shockwaves through the industry. Black humour, provocation and timing were the cards played by the company to target its true audience: carefree, tech-savvy, open to the mass consumption of audiovisual content rather than conventional media. The image went viral on social media and from there, in no time at all, it made the news.
Netflix repeated the formula shortly afterwards, playing another key card: current affairs. With a “Be strong. Narcos is back”, he alluded to the trial over the PP’s ‘slush fund’ and the messages sent by Mariano Rajoy to Luis Bárcenas. Ephemeral advertising for ephemeral channels, social media.
Netflix was the foot in the door that enabled a significant number of advertisers, in a year that was disastrous in every sense, to overcome their fear of controversy. If consumers are now spending more time than ever online, let’s give them images and experiences they want to see and share. Because it’s not the same for a brand to post a photo of its campaign on its Instagram profile as it is to place that image in a public space. What’s the difference? In the latter case, it’s the user who spreads the word. It lends credibility, neutrality and authenticity. In the midst of the digital age, an urban billboard campaign becomes the viewer’s own. It’s the perfect combination.
In the midst of the digital age, an urban billboard campaign becomes the viewer’s own
A wave of outdoor advertising campaigns
In recent months, we have seen provocative campaigns of all kinds. Igualdad Animal protested against the rearing of hens on farms with a live stream “They’re getting on our nerves”. El Pozo took the liberty of giving 2020 the finger, whilst Pepsi hummed along to Mariah Carey, declaring that “all I want for Christmas is 2021”. El Tenedor seized the opportunity to remind us that the restrictions will leave the family’s ‘bro-in-law’ out of the Christmas dinner.
Less successfully, Amazon Prime Video drew on Fernando Simón and his invitation to influencers to raise public awareness in order to propose Borat as an alternative. Heura took a gamble with a message that was as risky as it was debatable given the figures – “A beef burger pollutes more than your car” – and ended up withdrawing it. And in a display of originality, Zalando put up a poster in several European cities reading “We’ll hug again”, which was drawn before the eyes of passers-by by well-known street artists (in Madrid, the artist was Taquen).
The format has been so successful that the Padre Group agency didn’t hesitate to jump on the bandwagon and launch an initiative, #LonaChallenge, to encourage any brand to create its own virtual banner. Inspiration, creativity, audacity and a hybrid format (the physical made digital) marked a turning point in the advertising year with a Christmas campaign designed to generate brand visibility.
The digitisation of the streets was not, in the end, about incorporating technological elements into the urban space or connecting buildings to the internet. It was about creating original, surprising and fun scenes that would spur us on to win the competition to share them before our friends did. Because if there’s one thing social media needs, it’s creative content to share. Outdoor advertising is providing it. And how!
If there’s one thing social media needs, it’s creative content to share
Joan Laporta will continue to smile at the people of Madrid for a few more days, but in reality he isn’t looking at them. He is looking at Barça’s members and supporters, and telling them that he does know where the club’s battle lies and what its objectives are. The impact of this clever marketing campaign has digitised the message and, like a boomerang, has brought it back to print. The day after the sensational move, the banner was the front-page image in the newspaper El País.
Well played.