Saturday afternoon was spent lazing about underneath a tree on Hampstead Heath, me and my friends slowly working our way through a gigantic picnic. Whilst doing a bit of cloud watching, we spotted a helicopter pulling a gigantic PKR Poker banner across the sky and we followed its journey across they sky, as did everyone else who happened to be sunbathing on their backs with their eyes open. Ten minutes into the flight, more people would have paid attention to the ad than if it had been popping up on people’s internet browsers, or whizzing past them on the tube. This got me to thinking about advertising in unusual places and how much more effective it is than slotting in amongst the hundreds of others in TV breaks or on Tube billboards.
Here are some original ideas from around the world!
A juice bar next to a yoga centre in Shanghai are hosts to this rather clever little advert which is likely to be marvelled upon by anyone who sucks their juice through it.
Only in New York! some clever dick came up with this concept for a branded man-hole cover. This coffee advert even had holes cut into it so the steam from the drains could escape.
The advertising agency TBWA/London developed this campaign to raise awareness about drink spiking by dropping one of these umbrellas into peoples unattended drinks.
Back to New York, where FedEx Kinko’s commissioned the ad agency, BBDO to install giant bottles of corrector fluid, highlighters and even desk lamps on the busiest streets of the city for a few days.
A similar idea was adopted by Bic razors!
Or how about this for a witty idea? Admittedly it comes at the expense of the unsuspecting person sat in front of you and might cause aeroplane paranoia if pointing and laughing occurs.
So when you next sit down to discuss where your advertising budget is going to be spent, have a think outside of the box, the general public have had enough of spam, junk mail, annoying radio jingles and TV breaks which are usually spent making a cup of tea. An unexpected and cleverly placed advert can save you thousands of pounds and earn you instant respect.
By Jessica Hazel - freelance creative writer
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