Although billboards are one the most popular forms of OOH advertising with a high-density consumer exposure, using them for campaigns in an innovative way proves quite the task. There are certainly great exceptions to the regular way of using them and finding a way of engaging with your audience – just like Heineken’s ‘Probably the Best Billboard in the World’ or ‘The Survival Billboard’ by McCann London – and that’s exactly what Ogilvy & Mather Berlin managed with their series of regular billboards being turned into workout equipment. Let’s get active in this weeks #ThrowAdThrusday column.

These pop-up exercise installations, which took home a Bronze Lion in the Outdoor category at 2015 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, were created for sports drink company Powerade and invited everyday Germans to break a sweat and thus prove the company’s motto “You Have More Power Than You Think”. The aim of the campaign was to establish Powerade in Germany as a drink for athletes. However, as it’s quite difficult to reach such a group with simple advertising, the company decided to engage in sporting activity with them. Katia Luebbert, (at that time) Senior Brand Manager at Coca-Cola Germany, said the fun and memorable campaign “inspired us to do something unusual where people could prove they have more power than they think in everyday life… through fun workout billboards.”

Curious pedestrians and other passers-by were encouraged to use a set of three regular billboards, that were installed in high-traffic areas of Berlin back in March last year, as equipment such as a scrolling climbing wall, a punch bag slash meter and a lateral pull-down bar. After completing the exercise the participants were then rewarded with a bottle of Powerade to re-hydrate with a thirst-quenching drink in question.

People of all ages were inspired to take part in this mini workout and as Katia Lubbert added: “Everyone was super excited and many people wanted to take part. People loved the interaction the workable billboards created between them and the brand and there were some pretty amazing people… we loved the grandpa who outperformed himself.” So, as you can see billboards don’t need to be only eye-catching, but also surprisingly physically demanding.

Credits:

Client: Powerade

Project: “Workout Billboards”

Agency: Ogilvy & Mather, Berlin

Executive Creative Directors: Tim Stübane, Birgit van den Valentyn

Creatives: Matthias Bauer, Janne Sachse