blogonawire

I’m sure there’ve been a few times in your life when someone has told you to “think outside the box.” And I know there’ve been a few times that Taco Bell has told you to “think outside the bun.” But what about “think outside the billboard?”

It seems like companies are doing just that.

$7.3 billion was spent on outdoor advertising last year, a 7% raise from 2006. 16% of that was used for “alternative advertising,” i.e. not billboards, bus shelters, etc. And it seems to have been put to good use.

Kraft Foods stuck a sticker of a large Oreo cookie onto the side of a glass elevator in Manhattan Mall; as the elevator descended, the Oreo “dunked” into a sticker of a glass of milk. The ad was only there for a day, but the YouTube video has been viewed over 100,000 times! Milk’s favorite cookie, indeed!

Right Guard deodorant sewed video screens playing Right Guard commercials into the arm-pits of a team of people crowded in subways across London. Yes, “pit-vertising” was about as awkward as the structure of the previous sentence.

A Chevrolet ad in the U.K. was covered with pennies…and quickly stripped of said pennies within 30 minutes. I’m sure there’s a witty joke here about the European economy, but it’s lost on me.

A really big ad project was just completed outside the Denver International Airport. Papa John’s Pizza made a massive, crop circle-esque display, advertising their new whole-wheat crust pizza. Appropriately, it is located in a wheat field.

So are these crazy advertising gimmicks a success? Well, I’m writing about them, and you’re reading about them so…

For a few more examples, read the complete article from “The New York Times” here.

P.S. I just had to add this picture of a “Kill Bill” ad…this ad takes the “think outside the billboard” challenge to a whole new level!