And as such, outdoor media owners all across town are bringing a bit of catwalk glamour to out-of-home consumers.

In the West End, Vogue and Ocean Outdoor are teaming up to bring London Fashion Week to the style-conscious shoppers of Westfield W12.

The magzine is using Ocean’s Eat Street digital billboard as a live canvas to reach shoppers at the iconic London mall, bringing them exclusive video of Stella McCartney’s Olympic Adidas collection.

That green jacket is only marginally less valuable than this board

When Stella’s tracksuits aren’t dominating proceedings, the screen is featuring daily highlights of impossibly thin and attractive people walking around in a range of unusual outfits, punctuated by a never ending stream of commentary on Twitter. Sounds to me like the perfect fit for a fashionista audience…

And there’s no escaping LFW – even Underground. As part of an ongoing partnership with the British Fashion Council, CBS Outdoor UK is bringing a live feed from London Fashion Week to over 60 Cross-track projection screens in tube stations across central London, with images being projected alongside highlights from the @LondonFashionWk Twitter feed.

It just goes to show what we already knew – if you want to reach the cool kids, you have to go outdoor.

Poster Boy

PS Got something interesting to share from the world of outdoor? Get in touch with me directly on iamposterboy27@gmail.com …

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But somehow I managed to fight through the massed hordes of amorous humans threatening to batter down the door of my secret London office and sneak (heavily disguised) into Victoria Station, where I knew the only lasting object of my affections would be waiting for me. Namely, some interesting out-of-home advertising.

It must be Dove (Dove, Dove)

I’d heard that the Unilever-owned beauty brand, Dove, were doing something special on the Victoria  concourse – with its daily footfall of 350,000 people. And almost as soon as I arrived I was handed one of the paper birds pictured above – encouraging me to Tweet a soppy message to my many, many loved ones.

Reluctant to choose, I instead snapped another handsome couple who were being asked to share their loving thoughts via text or Twitter onto the big screen behind them.

Nothing says 'romance' like a loitering man in a high-vis jacket

I hung around for a while, reading the messages and silently correcting the spellings – as Dove’s brand ambassadors fanned out across the station, handing out tulips and paper birds to people waiting for the 12.45 to Gatwick.

He's not a keeper, Katie - he forgot the possessive apostrophe

If you want to be part of the campaign (created by Billington Cartmell and booked by Kinetic and Mindshare on JCDecaux sites) there’s still time – it runs until 19th February. And if you manage to get the words ‘Poster Boy’ onto that Victoria screen, then I might even break my anonymity to buy you a drink…. provided, of course, that you’re extremely beautiful.

Poster Boy

PS Got something interesting to share from the world of outdoor? Get in touch with me directly on iamposterboy27@gmail.com …

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Now on her twelfth studio album, Madonna (an artist not adverse to the odd publicity stunt) found an interesting way of promoting her latest smash, ‘Give Me All Your Luvin’.

The single – the first to be taken from Madge’s new album, MDNA – debuted on Clear Channel billboards across the US, France, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Singapore, Belgium and Finland on the 3rd of February, in promotional push with outdoor at its heart. The media giant expects the campaign to reach 150 million people worldwide.

And in Britain the video appeared at Piccadilly Circus, while also streaming on hundreds of Clear Channel owned radio stations across the globe. For those of you who weren’t able to get away from the office/a pressing three hour lunch to watch the premiere, the song is here:

Madonna looks as good on a billboard as she does at the Super Bowl , taking over MTV or snogging Britney on You Tube, so much so that I still can’t believe she’s 53 years old.

Incidentally, that makes her old enough to be my mother – who, thank heavens, is yet to appear in anything like this.

Poster Boy

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As well as a neat 60 second spot the £10m product launch includes a striking 48-sheet outdoor campaign, planned by Carat and appearing across premium sites in London such as the Imax, Clapham Colossus and Battersea 7.

And as I waited for the last tube home on Saturday night, I snapped the ad at Oxford Circus. My travelling companion – not as interested in all things outdoor as I’d like, despite my protestations – said it was the “best poster I’ve seen in ages.”

I quite like it too – it’s simple, striking and stylised enough that even a glance communicates the brand in an instant. And, more importantly, it does a good job of reminding us how much nicer those horrid vegetables taste when they’re coated in lovely butter.

Well done Lurpak and W+K London..

Poster Boy

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For a lucky few, that might mean a full 3D home cinema experience with a Sky package the size of Western Australia, while for others a mere 40 inches of HD plasma pleasure will have to suffice. And while yours truly still goggles at the box in black and white (saves a fortune on the licence) even I’m going to have to upgrade to digital TV when London’s analog signal is switched off in April.

Digital UK – who are managing the switchover – have a big communications challenge on their hands to remind millions of the UK’s telly addicts that change is in the air. Perhaps it’s not surprising then, that the innovative use of outdoor is at the heart of their latest campaign.

As well as 600 T-Sides, and 1,000 supersides and interior bus panels targeting commuters a CBS Outdoor campaign (planned by MediaCom) has also turned an entire Central Line Tube train pink to raise awareness of the biggest change to broadcasting in a generation (and turned one hapless passenger into a gawping robot):

I love what they've done with the train...but if that giant teddy thing tried to chat to me on a crowded Monday morning platform I'd probably pull its head off.

The train is wrapped in Digital UK’s distinctive pink livery, as well as windows that form TV screens and switchover information on every train door. Furthermore, all Tube card panels inside the train advertise switchover and all 272 seats have been turned pink…. certainly one way of getting your message across:

There's that annoying teddy again, ruining an otherwise pleasant picture.

For the web savvy among you, Digital UK have a nifty Facebook page (though if you add their mascot as a friend I’ll think you’re a mug) and CBS have done a decent YouTube video showing how they wrapped the train.

Have a good weekend,

PB

PS Got something interesting to share from the world of outdoor? Get in touch with me directly on iamposterboy27@gmail.com …

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Each cab will be uniquely branded with different property data from various parts of London, in support of Zoopla’s ‘smarter property search’ campaign – which is also running in print, on radio and on national television.

Ubiquitous MD Alex Barnett said that the relatively affluent average cab passenger makes the medium perfect for a property-seeking audience.

And even those without The Knowledge know that taxi advertising is a great way to get your brand out and about, especially in London – and it’s hoped this distinctive campaign will reach 93% of Zoopla’s target London audience over the next six months.

PB

PS Got something interesting to share from the world of outdoor? Get in touch with me directly on iamposterboy27@gmail.com …

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But those people travelling between around central London on New Year’s Eve (and the hazy hours of New Year’s Day) wouldn’t have been able to miss Channel 4′s takeover of the tube, which saw them use all of CBS’s 1,420 HD digital screens on the Underground network to promote their January highlights as well as the channel’s famous faces. The campaign was made by 4Creative, Channel 4′s in-house ad agency, and planned and booked by OMD and Posterscope:

But that was only the beginning. Using escalator panels, LCD panels and cross-track projection screens, Channel 4 showcased exclusive New Year’s Eve content featuring a host of famous Channel 4 faces, with 40 second ‘Party Carriage’ digital films through to the early morning on January 1st 2012.

If you missed the films – or your memories of them are more hazy than usual – then The Guardian are hosting one of the Party Carriage videos right here.

And in related news, it was announced on 4th January that CBS Outdoor will retain responsibility for all adverts on the London Underground network through TfL’s commercial advertising concession. Media Week had previously reported a difference of views on the contract between CBS and London Underground here and here.

But it seems these disagreements have been put aside. Graeme Craig, commercial development director at TfL, said:

“Following discussions with CBS Outdoor we have reached a comprehensive agreement that sees CBS Outdoor continue to run the commercial advertising concession for London Underground. We are delighted to be maintaining our long and successful relationship with CBS Outdoor.”

Antonio Alonso, chief executive of CBS Outdoor International, added:

“We are pleased that our partnership will continue on what is undoubtedly the best outdoor advertising estate in London and we look forward to working closely with TfL and London in the exciting lead up to the London 2012 Games and beyond.”

PB

PS Got something interesting to share from the world of outdoor? Get in touch with me directly on iamposterboy27@gmail.com …

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Did I return successful, arms laden with gifts and gadgets for my friends and family? No. But I did come back with some good pictures of how brands are using Westfield – and the latest out of home technology – to execute some eye-catching and immersive advertising.

My first observation is just how drab the centre would be without the universe of ads which it hosts. In a space this size, the ads help break up the monopoly that steel and polished stone (nice as they are) can hold in places like this. Plus, I never want to look at an unadorned lift door again:

The nature of Westfield’s layout (and the distribution of its electronic screens) means that each floor can carry a series of different campaigns simultaneously. As I negotiated the shops on the ground floor it was ads for Orange and Christmas must-have-game Drake’s Deception:

Not my cup of tea (though no doubt very popular with tens of thousands of young shoppers who were, to use the old journalistic cliche, “thronging” the centre). Up on the first floor, however, was an ad that had my (dusty) wallet itching:

Wookies aside, the real Westfield Ad Wow Factor was in its larger screens.  This one dominates one of the main shopping concourses and was running a nicely produced Adidas ad when I walked past:

Impressive stuff – but perhaps the most striking was the screen above one of the outside courtyards. On sunnier days the space underneath this screen would be packed with shoppers taking a breather:

It wasn’t quite enough to push me in the direction of Westfield’s third floor cinema (to be fair, I’m not the target market for Alvin and the Chipmunks) but in a space packed with kids and families (and one which also contains a cinema) it struck me as a smart piece of planning.

With Christmas footfall at Westfield potentially in the hundreds of thousands - (made up partly of desperate men like me, clambering at the last minute to part with their cash) the centre really is a clean, modern and well-designed advertising site…with a few shops thrown in for good measure.

See you soon,

PB

PS Got something interesting to share from the world of outdoor? Get in touch with me directly on iamposterboy27@gmail.com …

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Its notoriously fashion-concious residents might look about 23, but boy have they seen it all before – so I was interested that the people the new Boxpark pop-up mall in Shoreditch used carefully targeted outdoor ads to build a bit of excitement among the trendy young things of E1 before opening its doors on 3rd December.

I snapped this ad in Hoxton a few weeks ago. I didn’t know what Boxpark was then, but I liked the look of the poster (and everyone needs a hobby).

A few weeks later I saw similar ads on some of the buses trundling both ways along Bethnal Green Road, and driving right past the site where the mall was due to ‘pop up’. More smart use of outdoor to target a fairly tightly located audience.

Just a stone’s throw away from the site itself appeared another eye-catching billboard, also carrying the Boxpark logo:

And finally, the site itself – sporting a logo which was alien in mid October, but embedded in East London – and in my mind – before the mall had even opened. And all thanks to the canny use of outdoor advertising…

Poster Boy

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I am obviously getting really old – back in 1998 when I last listened to a Now cassette (remember cassettes?)  there was no ‘blipping‘* of adverts. Hell, we didn’t even have Facebook, and the thought of sticking QR codes on posters was the stuff of science fiction..

Despite all that this ad outside a London supermarket caught my eye. I’ll be back to ‘blip’ some outdoor ads soon – and I’ll let you know how I get on.

Poster Boy

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