When out of home campaigns go wrong

A well-conceived out-of-home campaign draws attention for all the right reasons: It’s eye-catching and conveys the message the advertiser wants to get out.

A poorly conceived out-of-home campaign draws attention for all the wrong reasons: It’s offensive or idiotic, and the advertiser’s message is lost in the resulting  embarrassment or firestorm.

And sometimes even decent ideas bomb because of bad execution.

For instance, you might have a persuasive billboard for a breakfast sandwich of the high-fat kind but it’s going to put out the entirely wrong message if it happens to appear next to another billboard warning of the dangers of heart disease.

The key to avoiding a disastrous OOH campaign is to look at the idea from every angle and try to anticipate any problems.

Unfortunately for these advertisers, the people charged with executing the campaigns failed to see all the angles, and that’s why they are among the five biggest OOH mistakes of recent years.

There are lessons to be learned from all of these faux pas, which media people would be wise to remember.

1. A case of being too clever by half

Last week the UK supermarket chain Morrisons outraged residents of Gateshead, Tyneside, after it projected an ad for bread onto the Angel of the North, a sculpture that pays tribute to the town’s mining past.

The supermarket projected a baguette spanning the length of the angel’s wings, some 177 feet, with the words “I’m cheaper” in the right-hand corner.

The chain did not get permission to use the Angel for advertising.

After outrage grew on Twitter, Morrisons responded with this tweet: “We’re sorry if you thought we got carried away with our latest marketing. We were trying to have some fun and didn’t mean to offend anybody.”

Anthony Gormley, the artist who created the 65-foot-tall sculpture, told The Guardian, “I’d rather the Angel is not used for such purposes.”

Lesson: Don’t hijack revered local icons in your advertising.

2. Lest we forget our post-9/11 sensibility

In one of the all-time biggest OOH slip-ups, Adult Swim in 2007 placed electronic light boards around Boston and other cities featuring a character from “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” giving the middle finger.

The battery-operated boards didn’t include any branding to show they were advertisements, and people panicked when confronted with small blinking boxes.

They thought they were bombs.

Two people were arrested in Boston and charged with disorderly conduct and placing a hoax device. Adult Swim later ran an apology during commercial breaks, saying it regretted “the hardships experienced as a result of this incident.”

Lesson: An OOH stunt that can be misinterpreted as a bomb will always blow up on you.

3. Elevator ad headed for a crackup

The last thing you want people thinking about when you’re an airline is a plane crash, but that’s exactly what came to mind when looking at Turkish Airlines’ ad in a mall in Muscat, Oman, in 2010.

The ad was placed on the side of an escalator, with the plane facing nose-down, making it appear the plane was about to crash land into the floor.

The ad was widely ridiculed on ad-industry blogs. The placement apparently was a mistake made by the company that installed the ad and was taken down in two days.

Lesson: Always check out your OOH creative as soon as it’s been put up.

4. ‘Say, what are we looking at here?’

Two years ago Danielle Smith, the leader of Alberta, Canada’s Wildrose Party, toured around in a fully wrapped campaign bus that included her picture.

Nothing unusual about that; politicians ride around in campaign buses all the time.

The problem was Smith’s image was placed above the bus’s back two wheels, making it looks as if the wheels below were her breasts.

As you might imagine, the bus prompted lots of online buzz and even earned mention on “The Tonight Show” as a part of then-host Jay Leno’s headlines segment.

The bus was altered, moving Smith’s image to the center, away from any wheels.

Lesson: Always use a dirty mind to scout any potential problems.

5. ‘Geez, I’m hungry. Second thought, maybe not.’

There have been many examples of poorly placed billboards over the years, and one particular instance in 2012 in Louisiana stands out.

Burger King posted a board promoting its rich, buttery Croissan’wich breakfast sandwich. The ad showed two of the sandwiches, complete with meat, eggs and cheese.

Right next to the Croissan’wich ad, however, was a billboard for Heart.org that seemed to argue against ordering one of the fat- and cholesterol-laden treats.

It read, “One in three people in Louisiana will die from heart disease.”

Lesson: Find out what’s around your billboard before you commit to advertising.

Tags: adult swim bomb scare, morrisons, OOH, ooh disasters, out of home, out of home disasters