OUT OF HOME OF THE MONTH —January

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 has been predicting advertising effectiveness for 15 years. And we also look at Fast Fluency – how much of the audience recognize 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.

OUT OF HOME OF THE MONTH – January 2025

Out Of Home advertising is a canvas for creativity, but the best static ads – the ones with the OOH factor we’re looking for at System1 – often combine cleverness and simplicity. They are surprising and intriguing, but immediate enough that you can always spot the brand or get the joke. Sounds easy? Far from it. It’s a tricky balance to strike, but System1’s Test Your Ad platform is built to identify the Out Of Home ads which get quick recognition while still doing something entertainingly different.

One of the best ways of doing this is to play around with a brand’s distinctive assets. If your brand assets are strong enough they’re instantly recognizable, and that fact gives you the freedom to put a fresh spin on them for creative effect. Of course it’s a delicate job – go too far and you risk the very Brand Fluency that assets provide.

This month’s OOH Of The Month puts a spotlight on three brands doing this in different ways – from a reframing of the logo, to a color change with a message, to a (literally) cheeky use of a brand’s well-known UI. All of them either scored well all-around in Test Your Ad, or excelled in one particular metric. And they all should provide inspiration for brands wanting to try it themselves.

First up is Kellogg’s, the cereal brand who recently scored a System1 Ad Of The Week with a masterbrand ad that gave a makeover to their classic Rooster icon. Cornelius The Cockerel (the bird in question) strutted the streets of a city at giant size, and that swaggering version is also the star of this Out Of Home ad. When it comes to cereal mascots, Cornelius’ six decades of experience really does make him “The OG”, and the ad plays on that, magnifying the “OG” in Kellogg’s to make a visual pun that’s also immediately recognizable.

The brand gets a good score on all of our metrics, with a 3.9-Star Rating showing the poster’s high potential for long-term growth through positive emotional response. But it really shines on Brand Fluency, getting an Exceptional score on both Fluency (overall recognition) and Fast Fluency (instant recognition within the first two seconds). Even cropped and enlarged, almost everyone spots the Kellogg’s logo: now that’s a hard-working asset.

Next, from the US, it’s Ralph Lauren’s turn to shine. The fashion brand is known for its classic polo pony logo, reflecting the brand’s heritage in high-class menswear. For a Cancer awareness campaign, though, they’ve joined the pink pony club, with a bright pink logo reflecting the color that’s become so associated with breast cancer research and the hunt for a cure.

The startling juxtaposition of an iconic fashion logo and a surprising color change makes an immediate impact, with the ad getting a good score on all three key metrics, above the average for US outdoor work. Again, though, it’s Fast Fluency where Ralph Lauren really excels – you can change the pony’s color but the power of the logo shines through. The comments from audiences show that the fighting cancer message has really cut through – an example of how the power of distinctive assets can speak louder than words.

Finally, an ad from Uber which puts the ass in distinctive assets, superimposing the rideshare app’s familiar user interface onto the bare bum of a marble statue. It’s fair to say not everyone who saw this was a big fan of the concept, but to put it in context, the ad is going to be shown on posters at a major UK airport, so audiences will be primed for travel and a lot more likely to see the funny side of this Rome-referencing image.

But whether they got the joke or not, viewers certainly grasped who made it. Uber got an exceptional Brand Fluency score, well above the UK average. It’s a very strong performance for a poster where the viewer’s attention is firmly drawn to the bottom in the center, not the logo in bottom right. Uber took a risk here not just with the cheeky content but with making the UI the star of the ad, trusting in users to recognize how the app presents information.

What all these ads display is a confidence in the brand’s assets and a willingness to play with them in a way branding purists might frown on. But when you have assets this powerful, they are such an advantage that you can use them to convey a message and still earn exceptional Fluency. That’s what separates these ads from the pack and gives them the OOH factor this month.

Credits

Kellogg’s
Agency: Leo Burnett
Jenn Carker, vice-president at Kellogg’s Cereal
Mark Elwood, chief creative officer at Leo Burnett UK

Uber
Agency: Mother
Photography: Nick Meek

Ralph Lauren
Agency: in-house

- Advertisement -