OOH Today’s Top 10 OOH Creatives for 2024

by Amber Larkins, OOH Today

Beyond marketing to sell products and services, outdoor advertising is part of the landscape and backdrop to our daily lives. OOH frequently takes a high level of creativity and artistry far beyond the reach of capitalism to surprise, delight, and inspire us. The best creative professionals continuously revitalize old approaches with the awesome power of new perspectives to keep OOH fresh and compelling.

Last year, OOH Today embarked upon a journey to find the finest OOH design creators. Our goal was to identify the individuals most responsible for the consistent year-in and year-out creation of the best outdoor advertising. We have the privilege of representing our Industry and the pride of enjoying its impact on the street.  To keep this recognition from becoming a popularity contest, over the last 12 months, we’ve selectively surveyed leading OOH Industry executives, searching far and wide for the superior ‘best of the best’ in out-of-home design.  Wrapping up our survey of accomplished, well-qualified, experienced, and knowledgeable OOH leaders on February 1, we felt it was time to share the compilation results of OOH Today’s Top 10 OOH Creatives.

The names below (in no hierarchical order) are the ones that were nominated repeatedly and also passed OOH Today’s thorough vetting of skills and durational competence, making them this year’s top creative professionals in outdoor advertising:

1. Rob Jackson

Rob Jackson, Principal, Extra Credit Projects

Rob Jackson’s work ethic is attributed both to his military experience as an illustrator for the US Navy, and his time spent with legendary mentors like Lou Dorfsman and Milton Glaser. His agency, Extra Credit Projects, has an educational theme, perhaps due to his pursuit of higher education in the arts.

He is a winner of many awards from Communication Arts to Cannes Lions. He has won 21 OBIEs and been a finalist 58 times. ECP has won more than 300 local, regional, and national ADDY awards under his guidance. He was named a Silver Medal Award recipient by the American Advertising Federation of West Michigan for his lifetime achievements. In 2019, Jackson was awarded the Out of Home Advertising Association of America Ray L. Vahue Marketing Award of Merit, the outdoor industry’s top marketing award.

2. Melody Roberts

Melody Roberts, Founder and Chief Creative Officer of OOHC (Out of Home Creative LLC)

Melody Roberts is a dedicated and enthusiastic OOH advocate who has been in the outdoor industry for more than 20 years;  inspiring clients, driving sales, and mentoring the next generation of designers to redefine their boundaries in the OOH space.  She started Out of Home Creative LLC as a creative agency specializing in outdoor advertising. Her agency provides consulting, speaking at industry events, webinars for sales, management, and creative professionals, and developing campaigns for local, regional, national, and international clients.

Roberts has a strong command of the medium, especially locally.

“I am passionate about this industry because OOH has diverse scale, size, location, and creative possibilities unmatched in other media. It continues to push creative boundaries, embrace innovative design, and challenge us to think differently,” Roberts said.

Melody is an award-winning designer and multi-OBIE finalist whose work has been recognized internationally by OMA’s ‘Best of OOH Worldwide’.

3. Randy Fung

Randy Fung, Creative Director at Lamar Advertising Company

As the Creative Director at Lamar Advertising Company, Fung oversees the day-to-day activity and workflow of the in-house creative department and provides client creative services from conceptualization to copywriting to creative direction for the Seattle Outdoor market. He believes that great OOH creative consists of a simple, well-executed original concept that is not only captivating and thought-provoking but also engages with its intended audience on an emotional level.

“When developing a concept, my aim is to distill things down as far as I can, to its core essence…hopefully, without too much overthinking,” Fung said.

Randy Fung has won multiple awards, including two Bronze OBIEs, two Silver OBIEs, two Silver ADDYs, and, in 2021, the Communication Arts Advertising Award of Excellence. Fung’s OBIEs were all for tributes – to David Cassidy in 2018, Robert Indiana in 2019, Alex Trebek in 2021, and Tommy Lasorda in 2022.

4. Nathan Linder 

Nathan Linder, Sr. Art Director/Eastern PA and Norfolk Region at Adams Outdoor Advertising

Nathan Linder says he’s been labeled as “Creative” as far back as he can remember. He got into advertising in college and is happy to enjoy a career that allows him to contribute to and lead in a creative environment. Though he enjoys doodling during sales meetings, his true passion is using the medium of Outdoor Advertising to provoke, amaze, and enlighten.

“The secret sauce? It’s that spin on the client’s message they weren’t expecting but still ticks all of the boxes they requested. It’s that moment you reveal the creative and see that lightbulb of inspiration switch on in their eyes,” Linder said.

Linder, who describes himself as loyal and hardworking, is an award-winning creative professional. He has won multiple AAF Greater Lehigh Valley Silver and Gold ADDY awards, including a BEST IN SHOW. Most recently, the Allentown Fair won top honors at The IAFE (International Association of Fairs & Expositions) Communications Awards for “No A.I.” campaign. He has won 3 OBIEs.

5. Mendi Robinson

Mendi Robinson, Vice President of Creative at Lamar Advertising Company

Mendi Robinson’s personal work primarily revolves around helping to market Lamar and build its brand. She’s most proud of Lamar’s recent brand refresh. As a Creative leader, she spends a lot of time educating and training folks on creating effective OOH.

She’s had a hand in two recent OBIE Awards, one for a Lamar self-promotional campaign and another for Kraft Foods. Her in-house marketing design team has also won several ADDY Awards. But awards are not what is most important to her.

“Getting the sale is 100% more important than awards,” Robinson said. “OBIEs are great, and all, but lifelong clients are what we’re chasing.”

6. Mike Sukle

Mike Sukle, Owner, Sukle Advertising & Design

A humble man, his eponymous website’s ‘about us’ section describes his clients rather than himself. Some of the work he is most proud of includes campaigns with Denver Water, Noodles, Wyoming, and GOCO. His company’s work has been acknowledged by the One Show, Communication Arts Advertising, Design, and Typography Annuals, The Radio Mercury Awards, Graphis, The National Addy’s, The Venice Festival of Media, Lüzer’s Archive, and the OBIEs. The company has won 3 OBIEs in the Best of Show category and was inducted into the OBIE Hall of Fame for its ‘Use Only What You Need’ campaign for Denver Water.

“Ideas must be based on a human truth,” Sukle said. “An insight that penetrates the heart and the brain. When you combine those two things, magic happens.”

7. Brandon Sweeney

Brandon Sweeney, a Michigan native who graduated from Kendall College of Art & Design during the Great Recession, used to be a welder. But he was persistent in his passion for graphic design and finally was offered an opportunity to design billboards starting as an entry-level designer in a small town in South Carolina and working his way up to the Southeastern Regional Art Director in Charleston where he designed out-of-home advertising campaigns for brands like McDonald’s, Sonic Drive-In, Charlotte Panthers, Michelob Ultra, and more. He has won over 40 awards in his career.

“I have loved designing for billboards because it has offered me a canvas of epic proportions, allowing myself to unleash my creativity on a grand scale, while captivating audiences with larger-than-life visuals,” Sweeney said. “The challenge of distilling a message into a concise yet impactful visual composition pushes me to innovate and think outside the box, to create memorable and impactful advertisements.”

8. Todd Turner

Todd Turner, Founder, Up to Something Agency

With over 15 years of experience in creating award-winning out-of-home ads for media companies, Todd Turner founded Up To Something, a two-person shop that helps mid-size brands and small businesses get the most out of out-of-home advertising. In addition to ads, he has a passion for helping ad copywriters improve their creativity through play. He created a headline-writing exercise called “Wash-a-Pig” that gamifies wordplay and sparks the imagination. It started as a fun tool for my own team and grew into a successful product used by creatives worldwide.

Turner has won what he estimates to be over 30 OBIEs and ADDYs for clients ranging from local small businesses to national brands. The biggest OBIE he’s won was Best of Show in 2015 for Sonic Drive-In. He’s won other OBIEs for numerous campaigns including McDonald’s and Adams Outdoor self-promos.

“Great ads are unexpected and compelling,” Turner said. “The best OOH ads don’t feel like ads at all.”

9. Michael McGraw

Michael McGraw, Senior Vice President and Executive Creative Director, Clear Channel Outdoor

An accomplished, results-oriented, award-winning creative professional with over 25 years of OOH industry experience, Michael McGraw has long been recognized for his expertise in creating digital and traditional OOH advertising campaigns. At Clear Channel Outdoor he is responsible for developing impactful Out-of-Home (OOH) solutions where creative excellence is a driving force. He leads a team of talented designers, producing eye-catching campaigns for national and local clients across CCOA’s footprint.

Though McGraw could not be reached for comment in time for the deadline, under his creative direction, CCOA took home its first Golden OBIE in 2020 for The Gospel of George.

10. Eddy Herty

Eddy Herty, VP, National Creative Director of OUTFRONT Studios at OUTFRONT Media

Eddy Herty, who leads OUTFRONT Studios, an in-house boutique creative agency for OUTFRONT, has committed to helping businesses from various industries differentiate from their competitors in the OOH landscape. He has spoken at industry-leading events, including Infinity Film Festival, HOW Design Live, and NY AdClub, and he’s been a judge for OAAA’s OBIE awards.

“By helping establish a creative-first environment, we are committed to changing the perception of Out of Home with a consultative approach and dedication to craft that cuts through mediocrity in the world’s oldest advertising medium,” Herty said.

His favorite work is one of the first billboard campaigns he worked on for Second Harvest Foodbank.

What do you think? Did we miss anyone you would have chosen for the list?  Let us know in the ‘LEAVE A REPLY’ box below.

- Advertisement -