9 Traffic-Stopping Billboard Activations That Prove Bigger Is Sometimes Better

In June, adidas unveiled the world’s first liquid billboard in Dubai, in conjunction with the brand’s debut of its Burkini Collection. The activation, which took place at one of Dubai’s most popular public beaches, included a 16-foot-high, 10-foot-deep transparent swimming pool that could fit around 3,319 adidas shoe boxes. It held 11,500 gallons of water, which is equivalent to nearly 163 bathtubs. Content from the liquid billboard was also broadcast onto a screen above the Dubai Mall ice rink, next to the adidas flagship store. See the billboard in action here.

Earlier this year, as part of its Built for Business campaign, American Express unveiled experiential installations across New York City, Chicago and Austin featuring billboards that turned into desks, park benches with charging stations and phone booths where folks could take work calls in private.
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To promote its original series Wheel of Time, Amazon Prime Video teamed up with London-based creative studio Amplify to create what organizers are billing as the first-ever human anamorphic billboard. Located in New York’s Times Square, the billboard depicted a digitized version of actress Rosamund Pike seemingly popping off the screen to face her character's enemies. For the debut of the billboards in November, Prime Video tapped street teams to bring battle scenes from the show to life, with actors on the ground interacting with the billboard; the action was also livestreamed to viewers at home. The billboards were later rolled out in global cities like London, Paris and Madrid.

To promote the launch of its new Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur, Jägermeister opened a pop-up coffee shop in London’s Shoreditch in August. In conjunction, the brand, which is known for its herb and spice digestif, installed a billboard that dispensed bags of premium coffee beans. The goody bag also included a Jägermeister Cold Brew mini, a coffee bean grinder and cocktail recipe cards.

To celebrate its expansion into Walmart stores and its retail debut in Canada, shave subscription brand Dollar Shave Club revealed a mobile OOH (“out-of-hair”) billboard made with razor shavings from real Canadians' beards. Measuring 20 by 10 feet and featuring 30 pounds of hair, the billboard made its way around Toronto in November, stopping at various locations across the city.

Contributions to the mobile billboard include shavings from Toronto-based beards, as well as shavings from the hairy faces of Canadians from across the country.

As part of its #TogetherIRL campaign, Absolut revealed a pop-up billboard in London over the summer that allowed two friends to win an Absolut watermelon and lemonade drink by stopping the flashing blue lights around the bottle outlines using a game show-style buzzer. Talon handled the production.

In August, fans of McDonald’s were able to score a free McFlurry made with vanilla ice cream and Oreo toppings via a walk-thru billboard in London, as part of the brand’s larger “Fancy a McDonald’s?” brand platform in the U.K.

In June, artist Swae Lee performed a waterfront concert off the banks of the Miami River District on the CÎROC Summer Citrus Sounds of Summer stage. The floating stage sailed down the river with an LED billboard screen, allowing beachgoers and riverfront crowds to watch the performance.
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In an effort to remove weight stigma and shift the diet conversation during the holiday season, FDA-cleared weight management brand Plentify built an edible billboard in the middle of New York City in December. The activation featured appearances from actress Hayley Hasselhoff, celebrity chef Kelvin Fernandez and nutritionist Joy Bauer. The billboard, which was filled with sweet treats for passersby to enjoy, featured the phrase “Who said you can’t eat what you love while losing weight?”