OOH OF THE MONTH MAY 2026

For this month’s Out Of Home standouts we’re looking at three campaigns where the product is very much the hero. In fact, almost all you see in these static ads are the product. But they’re using those products in some very creative ways, and that shows up in their Test Your Ad results and diagnostics.

Product prominence, like logo placement, is especially important in out of home ads because the potential viewing time is so limited. When you have seconds to play with, you need instant recognition and high Brand Fluency. At the same time, some viewers of an out of home ad may see it many times. So you want a balance between the product itself and visual or conceptual interest that might spark emotional response.

Our first campaign, from McDonalds in France, has plenty of conceptual intrigue, though it isn’t necessarily built for an Out Of Home format. But in terms of fluency, it’s close to unbeatable. The idea of “Office Delivery” is to showcase that particular McDonalds service by scanning McDonalds products through an ordinary office photocopier. The resulting images were sent to offices across France, as if from a document scanner, with a promotional deal attached.

That context is hard to grasp from the images alone, which at a glance are just McDonalds products on a plain black background. Fortunately, that doesn’t matter for Brand Fluency, our measure of rapid and accurate recognition. The average Fast Fluency (recognition at only 2 seconds) score for an Outdoor ad in France is only 62%. For McDonalds’ ads it’s an Exceptional 95%. In other words, for the typical Outdoor ad 38% of passing traffic never knows who the ad’s for. McDonalds have cut that to 5%. And it means that the short-term Spike Rating sales boost we predict is above the norm too. It’s the power of a clear product.

Our other campaigns are both from IKEA, with one ad in the US and one in Sweden. For the US, the brand teamed up with Post breakfast cereal for an ad which showed a box of Post Honeycomb and scattered individual cereal pieces on one side, and then on the other a clean white image of an EKLATANT Jar neatly filled with the cereal.

This ad is showing the product being actually used, which helps boost emotional response, and the ad’s 2.7-Star Rating is well above the US Outdoor average. Fluency takes a little bit of a knock from some viewers assuming the ad is for Post not IKEA, so the branding could probably be clearer. But the most interesting results are in the demographic diagnostics, where we get indicative results from subgroups. This suggests the poster is far more strongly appealing to men and to young (18-34) people. The dual branding and the appeal to organization may be playing a major part here.

And sticking with IKEA but moving to its home market of Sweden, we have our top Outdoor ad this month, a delightful creative execution for a simple product – the company’s blue FRAKTA beach bag. The poster is simple but beautifully done, a shot upwards from the bottom of the bag so the blue of the sides opens onto the blue of the sky above, with an orange beach ball sailing overhead.

It’s an ad that’s purely about the product, but also perfectly captures the feeling of Summer. As one of the positive verbatim comments puts it: “You feel Summer coming, vacation sun and swimming.” That reaction is reflected in its good 3.0-Star Rating, measuring emotional response and predicting long-term business impact. The key associations for the ad also show that the poster is quickly and effectively communicating its summer theme.

So we have three different campaigns, each of which are focused on the product but in a subtly different way. A campaign with the products photographed in a curious new context; one which shows them in use; and one which uses them to capture wider feelings of happiness and sunshine. Simple designs, effective executions: the kind of thing only Outdoor advertising can achieve.

McDonald’s France
TBWA\Paris
IKEA
Rethink
IKEA Sweden
Åkestam Holst NoA