From “real truth” to Sumo wrestler: Dino Burbidge’s best OOH campaigns of 2025

The Campaign: The Guardian 

The Location: USA 

Why I like this: This special build for the Guardian in New York worked on so many levels. It was primarily a brilliant piece of copywriting theatre that used hiding the truth to tell the real truth… that you weren’t getting the truth. It’s a great example of OOH being a creative starting point for a social media amplification campaign. Using just two flat images on social media wouldn’t work, but adding OOH as the “physical activator” brings the entire idea to life.  

The Campaign: Boiler Room – Underworld 

The Location: UK 

Why I like this: I’m fairly sure this won’t be in anyone else’s list, but to me, it’s possibly one of my top three billboards this year. It either means nothing… or hits so hard, it makes your entire day. For those of a certain age, or a certain background, those words instantly set of a virtual music gig in your head, taking you back to the giddy days of the 1990’s dance scene. Or not, and that’s what I love about it. It speaks to exactly the right people. The mysterious nothingness of the billboard then caused you to Google it… way more powerful and targeted than a standard album release billboard with artwork and a logo. Still not getting it? They are lyrics from Born Slippy, the iconic track from Underworld.  

The Campaign: TD Bank – Own a piece of it 

The Location: Canada 

Why I like this: It’s cheeky and found a way to succeed when others said no. That’s arguably exactly what TD Bank stands for. They allow you to buy fractional shares in bigger brands, but none of those brands wanted to be part of the campaign, so TD Bank channelled their mischief into this. The hole shows you a small part of the brand behind, again, exactly what TD Band does. A great example of a metaphor becoming real, all made possible by focusing on two of OOH’s greatest assets… physicality and location.  

The Campaign: Selleys Liquid Nails Extreme Grab 

The Location: Australia 

Why I like this: Sometimes you just have to demonstrate your product to communicate its benefit. Liquid Nails literally stuck stuff to their billboard and challenged passers-by to remove it to win it.  And obviously, the glue was too awesome. Sure, it has a glossy video on YouTube but when you can get normal people videoing themselves doing abnormal stuff in public, for your brand, you know you’ve won.  

The Campaign: UNICEF Finland – Air Raid Alerts  

The Location: Finland 

Why I like this: I love how location is at their heart of this campaign. More specifically, it also brings an important story from a far-away location, right to the centre of your world. UNICEF used data from Ukraine’s official Air Alarm app to trigger the billboard, also triggering you to imagine what it must be like for those in Ukraine, and how lucky you are. The link to donate via MobilePay turns that emotional trigger into a tangible donation. 

The Campaign: JCDecaux – Meet Marina Prieto 

The Location: Spain 

Why I like this: This is an OOH industry insider job that brilliantly sets out to prove why OOH works. Sure, brands get results using OOH, but how do you show it wasn’t the brand just being famous? You find a random, unfamous person, stick them on billboards on Madrid’s subway and make them famous. This random person was actually 100-year old Marina Prieto. In terms of data benchmarks, she was as good as any with just 28 Instagram followers. Did it work? I just checked… 9200 followers. So, yes, OOH does indeed make anyone, and any brand, famous! 

The Campaign: Dentsu x PlayStation 5 – “It Happens on PS5” 

The Location: Japan 

Why I like this: A creative execution few will understand close-up but makes complete sense when seen from afar. This ad is synced with arriving trains at Japan’s JR Ryogoku Station, near the Kokugikan Sumo wrestling arena. When triggered, the sumo wrestler seemingly slows the train to save the cute cat. Ok, the cat was a bit random, but I loved how this felt like magic and captured people’s imaginations.  

The Campaign: Specsavers – Sydney Glebe Island Silos 

The Location: Australia 

Why I like this: No list would be complete without a Specsavers campaign. Thankfully, they not only delivered, but they delivered on the largest Out of Home billboard in the Southern Hemisphere. Well, half of it anyway. I love this as it continually demonstrates that given the right creative strategy, the creative execution seems almost effortless. Every brand manager and marketer is jealous of Specsavers, and rightly so. 

The Campaign: Uber 

The Location: UK 

Why I like this: It’s a rainy night (as usual) in Manchester, UK. You’re sat at a freezing bus stop… 18 minutes to the next bus. The Uber logo appears on the ad-shell. It says almost nothing, yet says everything at the same time. A brand is the most important asset any organisation has. They spend years, millions building it, making sure people know what it does and what it stands for. All so that one night, at a cold bus stop, showing your logo on a black background is all that’s needed. A great example of right location, right message, right time… and a brand, so confident, it can carry this off. Credit to Elly Knott for spotting it! 

The Campaign: Hiscox – The most disastrous campaign ever - ’Infringement’ 

The Location: UK 

Why I like this: This ad is part of a series called “Most Disastrous Campaign Ever”. Among other things, Hiscox insures businesses against stupid business mistakes. This is a great example of the “Aha!” effect, where you give the audience just enough to work it out for themselves and get a nice (scientifically-proven) boost to your campaign effectiveness at the same time. I especially like this as they’ve somehow got other brands to play along… even the gods of the “Aha!” moment… Specsavers. Smart! 

The Campaign: Dutch Barn – Fake underground billboards 

The Location: None 

Why I like this: A controversial choice, on many levels, but it shows how OOH is seen as a trusted medium, especially to give credibility to a fake social media campaign. Although these ads never ran, or were never even submitted, they used OOH precisely because OOH is one of the most trusted advertising mediums. The “hoops” we all have to jump through give any ad an implied credibility. Another reminder that the oldest medium in the world is looked up to by the newest.