Top 2022 Campaigns that Went …Viral

authentic, emotional messages can carry just as much power in getting noticed and shared

by Casey Binkley, CEO at Movia Media

As we look forward to a strong 2023, let’s highlight the top four viral OOH ads from this past year to celebrate the resilience of the industry.

Ted Lasso/U.S. Men’s National Team

Just in time for the 2022 Qatar World Cup, several billboards were placed in the hometowns of different players from the United States Men’s National Team  heading to the World Cup. The billboards were partly installed to appeal to fans and support the team, but they had another purpose – to promote the third season of Ted Lasso, an Apple TV+ series following a local college football coach from Kansas hired to coach a professional soccer team in England.

By keeping the Apple TV+ branding out of it, and keeping the sponsorship subtle, the billboards felt more authentic. They were shared multiple times on socials and the Ted Lasso Twitter account garnered 10,000+ likes for each tweet.

Nike Air Max Day Ad

In March 2022, Nike installed a giant 3D digital billboard ad in honor of Air Max Day. This billboard debuted in Tokyo, Japan and was designed by Kota Iguchi and his team. The ad displayed a huge Nike shoe box which opened to bring to life various Air Max designs with charm and whimsy.

{ AD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6v7HQiCNiQ }

This brilliant ad caught the attention of many Nike fans, not just in Tokyo, but all over the globe. People stopped on the streets to take pictures of the billboard and post on social media raving about its creativity.

Resident Evil Billboard by Netflix

Before the premiere of the show Resident Evil, Netflix placed a 3D hyper-animated billboard above Time Square in New York City. A crazy mutant Licker randomly breaks out of the glass cage and flicks his tongue at the crowd. The incredible, life-like graphics were scary but fascinating, and unsurprisingly, it trended well on social media. Some of the accounts that captured this creative billboard had more than 945k views.

Mobile billboard campaign for Julian Assange

Trucks were wrapped and driven around Washington D.C. to publicly shame the Justice Department and Democratic Party leaders for what many believe to be an illegal and immoral persecution of Julian Assange.

Randy Credico started with only one truck and a driver for a few hours per day. However, as CovertAction Magazine broke the story by sharing the mobile billboards, other news outlets jumped on it, amplifying awareness of the campaign.

Journalists began writing about ad, praising it for the hope it sparked in those calling for Assange’s release. A massive population became intrigued again by the story and Assange became a trending topic of conversation.

These are but a few examples of how OOH has become much more than a static message on a board. Obviously, large budgets can make a huge splash, but as we can see from the Ted Lasso and Assange examples, authentic, emotional messages can carry just as much power in getting noticed and shared.

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