System1 and JCDecaux UK’s OOH Of the Month
MARCH
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 has been predicting advertising effectiveness for 15 years. And we also look at Fast Fluency – how much of the audience recognizes the brand being advertised.
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 2025
This month in the world of static and outdoor advertising we’re looking at three ads from around the world which make great use of celebrities and media characters. Using an existing superstar – whether it’s a pop icon or a videogame character – in your Out Of Home ad has the same risks and rewards as using them in a TV or digital ad. They can draw instant attention to your poster or digital billboard. They can also be a distraction from the brand itself.
At System1 we’ve analyzed year’ worth of Super Bowl TV ads, for instance, and found that including a celebrity makes on average zero difference to overall effectiveness. You don’t need one, but they can work brilliantly when used in the right way. That is an even sharper challenge for Out Of Home advertising, given the shorter window for attention and the limited space available. But these ads manage to marry iconic characters with the OOH factor.
First up we’ve got Swiss chocolate brand Frey, with their Digital Out Of Home ad starring Rowan Atkinson as a character who bears strong similarities to his classic Mr Bean creation. The Frey brand is owned by supermarket chain Migros, and the ad is part of a wider campaign with a version on TV too. Atkinson plays a chocolate maker who makes several bumbling attempts at creating fancy premium chocolate – of the kind sold by Frey’s branded rivals – before realizing that the simple bar of Frey is his finest creation.
The ad performs exceptionally well as a TV commercial, hitting the maximum 5-Star rage in its full version on Test Your Ad. Its transfer to Digital Out Of Home is about more than just maximizing the value of an expensive guest star. Migros and Frey are banking on the presence of Rowan Atkinson grabbing attention and tempting passers-by into checking out the full digital billboard ad, in a way a non-celebrity ad would struggle to do. Using a celebrity as a hook to get attention can be highly effective.
Our second ad takes a different angle. It’s from Levi’s – their “Fit For An Icon” campaign which stars Beyonce in full denim. There’s a mutual benefit here – Beyonce’s upcoming tour is centered around her country-themed Cowboys Carter LP so the denim look suits her current branding. And, obviously, she brings some serious star power to Levi’s. It’s a great modern example of one of the most traditional ways to use a celebrity in an ad – as an endorsement of the product.
Beyonce is also starring in a reboot of Levi’s legendary “Pool Hall” commercial, originally soundtracked by The Clash, so her current involvement with the brand goes deeper than this billboard. It’s a reminder of Levi’s rich advertising heritage and the benefits of consistent creativity – it goes you a powerful legacy of ideas which can be redeployed in a modern context. (Check out System1’s Compound Creativity study for more details on how this works).
Levis’ Out Of Home ad gets an above average score for outdoor ads overall, with a particularly healthy performance in Fast Fluency (rapid identification of a brand). This might not seem like a stellar performance but fashion ads are a notoriously underperforming category in effectiveness terms. Despite being so visual, it’s rare for the fashion category to offer much in the way of emotional impact, and this is where getting a superstar like Beyonce on board can pay off for Levi’s.
Finally, we have a wonderful bit of creativity from Pringles, in collaboration with Nintendo’s iconic Mario character. Even more than Levi’s, it’s an ad designed to maximize benefits for both brands involved, using distinctive assets from Pringles and Mario for a witty and clever visual. Mario is seen jumping pipes, as in the classic Super Mario World game, but the colorful pipelines are replaced by Pringles cans. It’s a team-up of the branding world’s most famous moustaches and both sides of the collaboration are instantly recognizable.
The Pringles x Mario ad gets a very impressive set of Test Your Ad results, with strong scores both on short-term Spike Rating and long-term Star Rating and an Exceptional rating on Fluency. Of all the ads this month it’s the one which comes closest to our advice for using celebrity guests in a TV ad – show them doing what they’re most famous for, but with an exaggeration or a twist which surprises and entertains the audience. Pringles’ use of Mario is a delightful example of that.
So how do you get the OOH factor with a celebrity in your outdoor ad? We’ve seen them used effectively this month to grab viewer attention, to endorse a brand in a meaningful way, and to make a clever visual joke. Those are all effective ways to add star power to your Out Of Home ad while keeping your brand firmly in the audience’s mind.
Credits
Brand: Frey | Migros
Agency: Pumpkin Film Zurich
Agency: Thjnk Zurich
Talent: Rowan Atkinson
Brand: Levi Strauss & Co
Agency: TBWA\Chiat\Day LA
Production: de la revolucion/PRETTYBIRD
Chief Marketing Officer: Kenny Mitchell
Director: Melina Matsoukas
Cinematographer: Marcell Rev
Talent: Beyonce
Brand: Pringles and Super Mario (Nintendo)
Marketing Lead UKI: Rebecca Worthington
Agency: Grey London
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