Spotify won the big prize at the 2018 OBIE competition — fittingly “Platinum” — showcasing how other media rely on out of home (OOH) advertising.
Spotify, the music-streaming platform, won the grand prize for its quirky ad campaign that spoofed 2018 goals. The award-winning campaign was created by Spotify’s in-house group, Ad Age’s 2018 In-House Agency of the Year.
“We are big believers in the importance of out of home advertising in today’s crowded media landscape,” said Spotify. “In advertising, the simplicity of an idea is vital, and being able to effectively communicate a simple idea on a single piece of OOH is an invaluable tool of creativity. And while the (ad) industry is doing incredible things in all mediums, OOH continues to produce some of the most impressive work year after year.”
Spotify’s award-winning campaign was inspired by the creativity and quirkiness of its users, the company said. Discovering an “I Love Gingers” playlist comprised of 48 Ed Sheeran songs provided fodder for creative ad ideas.
OBIE awards for outstanding creative in OOH media were presented May 8 in Austin, TX, by the Outdoor Advertising Association of America. Nearly a quarter of the advertising campaigns selected as finalists in the OBIE Awards were from media companies.
Netflix and Hulu also won OBIE awards, along with other leading media brands in print, film, radio, and broadcast. Ad teams for these other media said out of home amplifies their message in the real (physical) world.
Droga5 agency, which created the award-winning “The Truth is Hard” campaign for The New York Times, said creative work in the evolving media landscape “should continue to live beyond broadcast, online video, and social media in order to make a cultural impact.”
“Although we did not intend for this campaign to engage influencers,” said Droga5, “our work inspired notable influencer, and leader of the free world, President Donald Trump to weigh in on the creative work.”
National Geographic publishes and broadcasts premier photography. It won a special OBIE for OOH display of photographer Joel Sartore’s Photo Ark images of endangered animal species.
“We launched the campaign in the heart of Times Square with an orchestrated, hour-long takeover of more than a dozen digital billboards,” recalls National Geographic. “Thousands of Times Square visitors were stopped in their tracks by 30-foot-tall images and videos of endangered species.”
Kinetic Worldwide won OBIE recognition for NBC’s “This is Us,” which chronicles the Pearson family across the decades. Kinetic said its work on this inter-active campaign – featuring selfies — reminds “marketers it’s not always about pushing out content but creating it together.”
Viceland and HBO also won OBIE honors, along with leading film studios.
Capping the point that old-is-new, Minnesota Public Radio’s OBIE-winning campaign promoted classical music.
Since 2009, spending on OOH ads increased more than 25 percent to $7.7 billion last year.
In 2017, billboards accounted for 65 percent of total OOH revenue, while street furniture, transit and place-based ads accounted for the rest.
The top-20 OOH advertisers last year (in order) were McDonald’s, Apple, Geico, American Express, Google, Amazon, Coca-Cola, HBO, Verizon, Chevrolet, Netflix, Warner Brothers, Sprint, State Farm, AT&T, Metro PCS, Samsung, Disney, Toyota and Comcast.