June —OOH OF THE MONTH
Taking a step back and looking at the big picture of OOH
OOH of the Month June 2025
Each month in this feature, we’ve been spotlighting individual Out Of Home ads which have the “OOH factor”. They stand out on one or other of System1’s Test Your Ad Out Of Home metrics and carry creative lessons for other brands wanting to make excellent poster or digital billboard ads.
But it’s also worth taking a step back and looking at the big picture of Out Of Home effectiveness. That’s what System1 and JCDecaux are presenting at Cannes this year, with new research bringing together testing of over 100 global out-of-home campaigns. It’s a study that puts some hard commercial foundations under the best practice for out of home work, showing that emotionally engaging and clearly branded Out Of Home ads don’t just stand out. They also deliver twice the commercial benefit of average work.
Poster and out of home ads don’t always feature heavily in the conversation at Cannes, but each year we see out of home work which proves how vibrant, bold and creative it can be. This month, we’re looking at three shortlisted and prize-winning works which definitely have the OOH Factor we’re after at System1. These pieces of work combine cutting-edge creativity with exceptional scores on our Test Your Ad platform – they catch both the jury’s and the public’s eye.
What’s more, all three of them are creative ideas which could only be realized in the static or out of home medium. Each of them takes advantage of the format in a unique way that helps drive the idea and connects to the product and brand. This is creativity that just wouldn’t work so well on video or online.
First up, we have an ad from Lidl in the UK, which was shortlisted for a Lion. At first sight, you might not see why – it’s just a poster of a jacket potato with the words “LIDL JACKET” alongside. But context matters. The poster was originally shown next to another billboard of rock star Liam Gallagher, starring in a campaign for high-end fashion brand Berghaus, modelling an expensive jacket. So Lidl reacted quickly, putting their “Lidl Jacket” next to the “Liam Jacket” and getting plenty of amused coverage in the press.
That kind of quick, public juxtaposition is something you can only do with Out Of Home advertising, where you can have full control over where you position your ads. It was a rapid response that won publicity while reinforcing Lidl’s reputation as a low-price, down to earth brand. What’s interesting, though, is that you don’t need that context for the ad to work. On Test Your Ad, tested without the Gallagher connection, it achieved a good 3.2-Star Score, above the Out Of Home average, and got an Exceptional Brand Fluency rating, showing how strong and immediate the Lidl branding was. The lesson is that you can create reactive, topical work that also acts as effective Out Of Home advertising even for those with no idea of the context.
Next there’s a Burger King ad, also from the UK, which won a Silver Lion at Cannes. Burger King have built a reputation for bold advertising and a willingness to take the fight to the competition with stunts and taboo-breaking ads. Here they’re spotlighting their delivery service in a cheeky way, showing mum tucking delightedly into a burger with her newborn baby in her arms.
Predictably, the juxtaposition created some negative reaction among the audience but as others pointed out, the mother looks very happy (and after going through labor she frankly deserves a treat!) and the point of the ad is to make a visually startling joke, not to offer a training manual for new mums. And, as mentioned, this is what Burger King has often done well – offer visually memorable images which work on different levels and stick in the mind. It’s something Out Of Home ads are ideal for, and this one rewards the brand with a strong short-term Spike rating and a huge 99% Brand Fluency. Love the work or hate it, people know who it’s for.
Our third ad this month comes from the US, for Cheetos, and it’s a poster which ties in to their current campaign around people eating Cheeto’s with their dominant hand. The snack brand used this idea in their Super Bowl ad this year, but this Lions-shortlisted outdoor ad is a great encapsulation of the theme. Next to a very shaky drawing of Chester the Cheetah, the ad informs us that most people use their dominant hand to eat Cheetos – illustrators included.
It’s an ad which takes advantage of the graphic, visual medium to make a joke you couldn’t using text alone. And like the UK Lidl ad, it works on two levels. If you pause to think, there’s the payoff of understanding the gag. If you don’t, well, it’s still a highly recognizable Cheeto’s ad using the brand’s most distinctive asset, even if he is badly drawn. With a 98% Brand Fluency score and a strong Spike Rating, it’s clear the ad works just fine on those levels.
Before we leave Cannes it’s also worth pointing out that two ads we’ve previously featured in this Out Of Home column took home Lions. One’s a Silver Lion winner from Spain for a beautifully visual Cornetto ad using the brand packaging to evoke surfing and summer. And the other is a UK Heinz ad which makes very bold choices around using the product and the logo typeface to evoke the brand, and carried off a Gold Lion in the process.
We weren’t just at Cannes to celebrate the winners with the biggest OOH Factor, though. System1 was also there promoting its recent Double Take research with JCDecaux. The Double Take report brings together all our findings on what makes for effective Out Of Home advertising, combining our Test Your Ad metrics for the first time with JCDecaux’ campaign analytics. The result is a white paper that demonstrates the power of great poster ads, showing how strong branding and powerful emotional content combine to drive profit. If you want your next outdoor campaign to have the impact of these Lions winners, it’s a must-read.
Credits
Brand: Lidl
Agency: Droga5 London
Artworker: Dipesh Soni
Creative Directors: Joe Holt, Luke Ramm
Executive Creative Directors: Adam Kean, Ben Thomas
Head of Design: Simon Wakeman
Production Lead: Christina Lambrou
Retouching Manager: Ray Lee
Social Agency: Coolr
Account Manager: Rupert de Teissier
Business Directors: Rupert Bloor, David Eyre
Head of Studio: Mike Almond
Senior Account Director: Adriane Bowes
Media Agency: OMD UK
PR Agency: The Romans
Brand: Burger King
Advertising agency: BBH
ECD: Felipe Serradourada Guimarães
Creative director: Lawrence Bushell
Copywriter: Katy David
Art director: Simran Sidhu
Designer: Keiti Collins
Strategy Director: Arabella Saunders
Managing Director: James Rice
Senior Account Director: Louis Haskell
Account manager: Charlie Morgan
Agency print producer: Pippa White
Media agency: Walk-in-Media
Brand: Cheetos
CCO, Cheetos: Chris Bellinger
Agency: Goodby Silverstein & Partners
CCO: Margaret Johnson
ECDs: Eamonn Dixon, Stefan Copiz
Copywriter: Pedro Furtado
Art Directors: Fabio Leite Santoro, Cale Berry
Production Company: Dummy
Director: Harold Einstein
DOP: Glynn Speeckaert
Production Designer: Patrick Lumb
VFX/Finishing Company: The Mill
Creative Director/VFX Supervisor: John Leonti
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