The best OOH campaigns don't end when someone walks past them. They start there.

By David Hill, Executive Producer

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The latest Point of Social research sheds new light on how Out of Home (OOH) and social work together. The research highlights a mutually beneficial relationship, with OOH priming audiences for social media ads. But when it comes to special builds, advertisers are starting to realise special builds can spark social conversation and, in a more deliberate sense, use them as a physical stage for branded social content.

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Built for sharing

Special builds have always stopped people in their tracks. What’s changed is that audiences now instinctively reach for their phones too. And in feeds increasingly filled with AI slop, there’s something uniquely powerful about capturing a real-world moment.

Audiences are more likely to share content when something creates a strong emotional reaction, particularly surprise. Research shows OOH special builds are 38% more likely to evoke surprise, making them a natural spark for sharing online. *

^{*Source: System 1 Creative Solution OOH testing 2024}

Whether it’s bold installations, or in the case above, a man stuck in a bin, it’s often the first instinct of audiences, particularly Gen Z, to take a photo or video to share online – something even more likely to happen in outdoor environments. And let’s be honest, in an era of endless scrolling, real-world weirdness still cuts through.

While much of that conversation plays out across the usual suspects of Instagram and TikTok, we’ve found the most talked-about installations make their way onto Reddit threads where enthusiastic observers discuss eye-catching campaigns and, in some cases, debate whether they’re even real or just another AI-generated fever dream.

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Setting the stage

Rather than leaving social amplification to chance, advertisers are increasingly planning earned media from the outset and using special builds as part of the content itself. A trend we’ve seen over the past 18 months through the likes of ALDI, Canva, Post Office and loveholidays.

For Canva's 96 sheet billboard on Borough Road, social was baked into the campaign from the start.

Alongside posts with the Canva team using their software to edit the pro shots, the brand also reacted quickly when part of the installation was stolen – creating ‘Wanted’ posters for the missing piece and extending the campaign narrative online. If it helps the investigation, we assume the culprit was called Oli.

Speaking of narrative, ALDI's 96 sheet billboard in Salford took a similarly story-led approach with its Christmas campaign. As the special build evolved throughout the campaign, including the mid-campaign disappearance of the illuminated Spirit of Christmas, social content revealed how the festive ‘heist’ unfolded, with the humbugs arriving under the cover of darkness via CGI wizardry. See the humbugs in action.

Roadside installations naturally lend themselves to creator-style content. Post Office's 6 sheet bus shelter domination featuring a seaside-style ‘hole in the poster’ gave commuters and brand ambassadors armed with swimming pool inflatables something tangible to interact with, creating an ideal setup for vertical social content. Watch the Post Office activation.

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