Tag: Innovative Billboards

Powerade: Workout Billboards in Berlin

A billboard does not just tell you to train. It invites you to climb it, lift it, or punch it, right there on the street, then hands you a Powerade when you are done.

Powerade, with the help of Ogilvy & Mather, set up several workout billboards in Berlin that, apart from advertising the product, also doubled up as workout equipment to emphasize the brand’s attitude, “You have more power than you think”. Here, “workout billboards” means the billboard structure is built to be used as simple exercise equipment.

People practicing their rock climbing, weight lifting, and boxing skills on the unique billboards were also rewarded with some free Powerade to help replenish their electrolytes.

Why this works as outdoor advertising

The mechanism is a clean value exchange. The brand offers an activity that creates immediate proof of effort. The participant gets a short challenge and a visible outcome. The product then shows up as the natural next step, not as an interruption. Because effort comes first, the product feels like a reward rather than an ad.

Extractable takeaway: When outdoor media gives people a small, safe task to complete, the brand message lands as earned proof, not as a claim.

In sports and performance brands competing for attention in dense urban spaces, turning an ad surface into a usable experience is a direct way to earn participation instead of only impressions.

What Powerade is really buying

This is not mainly about reach. It is about association. The ad makes the brand feel like a training partner, not a poster. It also turns physical engagement into a public spectacle, which draws more people in and makes the moment more memorable than a standard billboard.

The real question is whether your activation gives people something they can do in public, not just something they can look at.

Steal-worthy moves for participatory OOH

  • Make the product a logical reward. The drink lands because effort comes first.
  • Design for participation, not just viewing. If people can do something, they will stop and watch others do it too.
  • Keep the idea explainable in one line. “Billboard that is also a workout” travels fast.
  • Let the environment do the distribution. Public performance creates its own audience.

A few fast answers before you act

What is a “workout billboard” in this campaign?

A billboard installation that doubles as real workout equipment, so people can climb, lift, or punch as part of the brand experience.

Why does turning a billboard into equipment change behavior?

It shifts the role from passive viewing to active participation, which increases time spent, memorability, and the likelihood people talk about it.

What is the main value exchange for the audience?

A quick public challenge plus a tangible reward. Free Powerade after effort makes the product feel earned and relevant.

What is the biggest execution risk?

If it looks unsafe, complicated, or embarrassing, people will not try it. The interaction has to feel obvious and low-risk at first glance.

What is the simplest way to apply this idea without building hardware?

Create a participatory moment that produces visible effort and a clear reward, even if the “equipment” is replaced by a simpler challenge format.

The Disappearing Billboard

A glowing Audi A7 appears in mid-air on a city street at night. Then it fades. The “billboard” leaves nothing behind but steam.

The product truth. Zero emission, water vapour only

The Audi A7 Sportback h-tron is built using zero emission fuel cell technology coupled with a hybrid battery and an electric motor in the rear. Due to this, the car gives out nothing but water vapour from its exhaust.

The idea. Advertising that leaves nothing behind

With such an innovative product, Audi teams up with German agency thjnk to create advertising that mirrors the product promise. A billboard that also leaves nothing behind.

If the claim is “leaves nothing behind,” the medium should leave nothing behind too. The real question is whether the medium can behave like the promise, so the claim becomes self-evident.

Here, “disappearing billboard” means a timed projection onto water vapour, not a physical poster.

How it works. Projection onto water vapour

  • Water vapour is used as the surface.
  • The car and message are projected onto the vapour cloud.
  • The installation appears in busy city areas after dark, then disappears.

In European city streets, the hardest part of outdoor work is creating a memorable moment without leaving permanent media behind.

Why it works. The medium is the message

Instead of explaining “nothing but water vapour,” the execution behaves like it. It turns a technical claim into a visible moment people can experience, photograph, and talk about.

Extractable takeaway: When a product truth is hard to feel, design an execution that behaves like the claim. Let the medium do the proving.

Borrow the disappearing-surface play

  • Mirror the claim. Choose a medium that behaves like the product truth, so the message is the proof.
  • Make it legible fast. One glance should explain what is happening and why it matters.
  • Design for capture. Build the moment so people want to photograph it and share it.
  • Time-box the surprise. Appear briefly, then disappear, so the absence becomes part of the story.

A few fast answers before you act

What is the Disappearing Billboard?

An outdoor activation where Audi projects the A7 Sportback h-tron and message onto clouds of water vapour, creating a billboard that vanishes.

What is the connection to the car?

The A7 Sportback h-tron emits nothing but water vapour, so the advertising surface is also water vapour.

Where does it run best?

In busy city areas after dark, where the projected vapour image reads clearly and feels unexpected.

What is the core mechanism?

A timed projection onto water vapour that appears briefly and leaves nothing behind.

Who creates the work?

Audi with German agency thjnk.

Ikea RGB Billboard

German ad agency Thjnk and production studio I Made This teamed up to create a unique RGB Billboard that revealed different messages depending on the colored lights.

The billboard featured three different messages in three different colors. Cyan, magenta and yellow. At night, the billboard was lit up by red, green and blue (RGB) light bulbs, which made the different messages visible depending on the shining light bulb.

The red showed the cyan text. The green made the magenta text visible. And the blue light revealed the yellow text. With this simple visual trick, the billboard made the most of its limited space and embodied IKEA’s space-saving message.

How the RGB trick works

The idea leans on a simple perception hack, meaning the light color determines which printed layer stands out to the eye. You print multiple messages in different ink colors, then you control which one becomes dominant by changing the light color that hits the surface.

By switching between red, green, and blue lighting, the billboard effectively “filters” what you see. One physical surface. Multiple readable layers. No moving parts required. That works because each light color makes one printed layer readable while pushing the others back.

In crowded retail and FMCG environments, that kind of space efficiency matters because one surface often has to carry more than one job.

Why this is a very IKEA way to communicate

IKEA’s promise often comes down to doing more with less space. This billboard does the same thing. It demonstrates the benefit while delivering the message. The medium becomes the proof.

Extractable takeaway: When the medium visibly demonstrates the product promise, the ad explains itself faster and sticks longer.

What the idea is trying to do for the brand

The real question is not whether people notice the trick, but whether the trick makes IKEA’s value proposition easier to remember.

That is exactly the right move for out-of-home. The business intent is to turn a space-saving claim into a live demonstration, so one billboard works as both message and proof.

What to borrow for your next OOH idea

  • Make the constraint the concept. Limited space becomes the creative engine.
  • Use a mechanism people can explain. “Different lights reveal different messages” travels fast.
  • Build a repeatable reveal. The change over time, or over conditions like day and night, creates a reason to look twice.

A few fast answers before you act

What is the IKEA RGB Billboard?

It is a billboard designed to reveal different messages depending on whether it is lit by red, green, or blue light.

Who created it?

German ad agency Thjnk and production studio I Made This.

How many messages did it contain?

Three messages, printed in cyan, magenta, and yellow.

What lighting was used at night?

Red, green, and blue (RGB) light bulbs.

Why was it a good fit for IKEA?

It demonstrated a space-saving principle by making one billboard placement do the work of multiple messages.