3 creative examples of OOH advertising from Asda, B&Q, and Cleanipedia that stood out in March 2024

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‍1. Season's greetings from Asda

Normally we wouldn't highlight an ad like this. But it's interesting for a few reasons...

• It's a lovely, quaint creative idea - who doesn't want to believe that their Easter Eggs are grown on a farm??
• For the first 20 seconds, the ad does product placement and pack shots really quite
  nicely. Unintrusive but clear and obvious - like a good video assistant referee.
• The last 10 seconds are truly bizarre.

And that's why this ad is in this breakdown. Having seen the farmers gather up the Easter eggs for an Asda driver to collect, we're taken indoors as a VO tells us that "At Asda, we've got Easter sorted". But not only because they have Easter eggs, but because they've also got hot cross buns. That are "as tasty as M&S"................

Asda launched their 'Taste Match' campaign in late 2023. M&S CEO Stuart Machin dubbed it a “marketing gimmick”, calling it “strange” to use a rival’s brand in advertising. Now that's odd, because 'Price Match' has been a supermarket ploy for years now.

This is particularly interesting because Price Match has a clear, measurable claim. 'Taste Match' isn't as clear. Were products taste tested? Is an on-product badge enough to convince people? Supermarkets are some of the most warlike advertisers in the game, battling for market share and creating some of the most inspired and innovative strategies. So watch this space...

2. B&Q brilliantly turn to OOH

The follow-up to one of my favourite campaigns of the year so far.

We had B&Q's TV ad for this campaign in a Brief Breakdown a few weeks ago. You can rewatch the ad and read our in-depth analysis of that here.

This is the OOH follow-up, and it's brilliant. There are a few executions, from the very simple to the more involved. At its simplest, the campaign rips out the "t" from "You can't do it", to land B&Q's famous strapline. In others, copy reads:

"Your dad could do it.
Your sister could do it.
The handyman could do it.
But they aren't going to do it.
You can do it"

Sometimes good advertising is simple. Land and use your DBAs, evolve the central creative idea without changing it, and keep things fresh. It's a simple brief, and it leads to some satisfying creative - that we hope are just as satisfyingly effective.

3. Stunt-vertising from Cleanipedia

Now for a wildcard.

We can't tell if this is 'good' advertising.

Cleanipedia is a cleaning advice platform owned by Unilever. They gather up lots of their content on-site, but get most of their views co-opting #CleanTok.

In three OOH executions, seemingly ordinary ads for mattresses, men's underwear, and sportswear are transformed with a blacklight. A message is revealed, showing Cleanipedia's real message - they have cleaning tips for everything.

Now on the one hand, I hate this. For 99% of the time that someone sees this ad (since OOH viewership falls dramatically when it's dark), they won't know who is behind the ad.

On the other hand, this ad is clearly made for social, despite being a real-world OOH installation. The point is not to get people to stand and wait for the blacklight to turn on. It's to create 7-second videos (callback to OG Tiktok) that show the transformation. Throw in some sordid blacklight humour, and you might just get a viral ad.

This could be a very smart campaign. The objective is clearly views and engagement -‍online. And this work could easily achieve it. So with that in mind, I feel forced to concede‍that by throwing best practice out the window, Cleanipedia might have knocked this‍campaign out the park.