OOH Of the Month —March

Welcome to System1 and JCDecaux UK’s OOH Of The Month!

Each month, we’ll look at Out Of Home advertising and bring you some of the most effective work we’ve found – Out Of Home ads that really do have that “Ooh!” factor.

We share three of the best ads we’ve seen over the past month. OOH Of The Month is a collaboration between System1 and JCDecaux UK, so as well as the metrics you might be familiar with from System1, we’re bringing in JCDecaux UK’s Attention Score, which predicts the elements of each ad that will attract audience focus. On the System1 side of things, our reports include our short-term Spike Rating and long-term Star Rating, which have been predicting advertising effectiveness for 15 years. And we also look at Fast Fluency – how much of the audience recognizes the advertised brand.

System1’s Test Your Ad isn’t just about video. They also predict the long- and short-term impact of Out Of Home ads, both static images and digital billboards, and each month System1 and JCDecaux UK put the top three under the spotlight to see who really has the OOH Factor.

OOH of the Month March 2026

Spring is here, and the brighter weather and longer days mean more visibility for out of home ads. Brands are responding with the year’s first 5-Star poster ads, and for this month’s Out Of Home recap we’re focusing on the confectionery and soft drinks sectors – sectors where a bold, creative poster can spark desire and boost impulse buying.

Confectionery and soft drinks are areas which get a natural emotional boost because – unlike some household goods – they’re associated with positive usage occasions. That doesn’t make a brand’s job easier, though. Quite the opposite – when the overall level of emotional response in your category is high you have to work even harder to cut through and stand out. The ads we’re focusing on this month understood the assignment.

We’ll start with a UK ad for Twix which uses their recently launched brand positioning, “Two Is More Than One”. The message is so simple it comes off as funny, while also capturing the essence of the brand as a snack you can share with a friend or just enjoy twice yourself. Alongside the new slogan is a picture of Wallace, the much loved Aardman Animation character usually seen with his dog, Gromit, in tow.

Gromit’s absence gives the ad an extra layer – here’s a famous half of a duo alongside the “Two Is More Than One” slogan. Wallace on his own feels incomplete, but luckily Twix gives you that sense of completeness. You might say that the ad fulfills the need it’s just subconsciously created. In any case, even on his own Wallace and chocolate are a very winning combination, and Twix gets an Exceptional 5.3-Stars on Test Your Ad. That puts it in the top 2% of all UK posters.

Next up is Dairy Milk, a consistently strong performer in any UK media format. Here the brand is launching the latest run of its limited edition “Made To Share” packaging, where the idea is that the pack is divided into multiple irregular sections based on who gets which chunk. So in this ad the person “Who Spent Ages Looking For The Remote” gets ¾ of the bar, and the person “Who Was Sitting On It” gets the rest.

It’s a fun way of presenting the packs and becomes more intuitive when you see it on the bars themselves, but on a poster it can take a couple of looks to register the brand and understand the creative. Fortunately, Dairy Milk’s other assets are easily strong enough to pick up the slack. Even without their signature purple, the “glass and a half” logo and the happy image showing a couple laughing on the couch are enough to push this to a strong 4.1-Star Rating on Test Your Ad.

The best poster we’ve seen this month, though, comes from the US and Sprite, and it’s a poster absolutely bubbling with energy. Rather than use copy or clever messaging to get its point across, Sprite use the poster canvas itself, with artwork created to look 3D and break through the top of the billboard. It looks like a woman is reaching out to offer you a can – the can is ice cold and she has an expression that’s delighted and surprised, like someone who’s just been hit with a blast of cold water on a boiling hot day. “It’s THAT Fresh” reads the copy.

It’s an ad where every creative element is aligned to get across one key point – refreshment! – and the results speak to how well Sprite have done that. The poster scores a truly exceptional 5.6-Stars, making it one of the first US outdoor ads to hit the top bracket in our Test Your Ad system. It also lands an exceptional short-term Spike Rating. The can, the woman’s face, the slogan and especially the dynamic use of the canvas all make this a showstopping and highly effective poster.

The lessons for other confectionery and soft drink brands seeking what we call the OOH Factor – out of home effectiveness – are that if you’re selling an indulgent treat, you need advertising that really conveys the feeling of that treat, instantly and emotionally. From a cool drink on a hot day, to cosying up on the couch with a bar of chocolate, this month’s ads bring the experience across as much as the product.

Credits

Cadbury & VCCP

Mars & Born Licensing

Sprite & forpeople