Good outdoor advertising is hard to beat. According to Mark Tutssel, chief creative officer at Leo Burnett and this year's chief judge of the 67th OBIEs, top-notch outdoor is the purest distillation of a brand. All 11 winners of this year's OBIE Awards, announced today by the Outdoor Advertising Association of America, achieved that purity. The winning campaigns distilled the brand's story down to its simplest form and, at the same time, invited consumers to engage with the brand.
"The work has to surprise and delight," explains Tutssel. "It has to bear repeated viewing. It has to be rewarding each time you look at it. The winners have to be an inspiration for the industry."
Talk about distillation. Leo Burnett's award-winning fresh ingredients campaign for McDonald's capitalizes on simplicity. Last year, it was lettuce growing on a billboard to spell out "Fresh Salads." This year, it was "Fresh Eggs" and "Always Fresh Coffee."
To depict Fresh Eggs, Leo Burnett created a mechanical egg that begins to crack at 5:30 a.m. when McDonald's starts serving breakfast, and gradually opens to reveal the yolk and the message, "Fresh Eggs Daily." By 10:30, the egg closes up. Located at the McDonald's outside Chicago's famed Wrigley Field, the egg has practically become a landmark in its own right, featuring the most engaging of McDonald's outdoor displays. "It's become an entertainment portal," Tutssel says.
Big can often be a reliable attention-getter in outdoor, and Gillette put its own stamp on that notion. Created by BBDO in New York, larger-than-life Gillette Fusion Power razors were affixed to the backs of Zamboni machines, to give the ice a smoother shave.
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