Compared to the early days of the pandemic, the advertising industry has come a long way. 2021 helped marketers break the usual cliches of advertising and connect to the consumers through creative, interactive, and empathetic OOH messaging. We’ve seen several campaigns and different brands that thrived throughout a very challenging year.

We’ve come up with a list of the most trending, innovative, and impactful OOH Ads for 2021, just to showcase how outdoor advertising can help you and your brand flourish.

Here are our top 5 OOH Ads of 2021:

1. COCA-COLA

Coca Cola Beverages Philippines Inc. (CCBPI) implemented the “World Without Waste” program and invested in a recycling facility. This is the company’s initiative and commitment to collect and recycle PET plastic bottles worldwide. Last June 2021, they signed a memorandum of agreement with the City of Manila for the plastic bottle collection. They placed recycled park benches, chairs and contour bottle bins where people can deposit their PET plastic bottles at the Kartilya ng Katipunan. 

The awareness and commitment towards having a more sustainable and zero waste lifestyle in the Philippines continues to grow. This does not only instill accountability in consumers but to other brands as well to take their part in caring for our environment. We can classify this as an OOH effort by the brand as this is definitely also a branding campaign which has been executed outdoors. Very clever, and very socially responsible.

2. NETFLIX: TRESE and MONEY HEIST

“TRESE”, a Netflix’ animated adaptation of a graphic novel series by Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldisimo. Few weeks before the release of the first season of Trese, they placed “vandalized” billboards and that have writings that read, “Layas! Siyudad namin ‘to!”. These billboards caught the attention of many commuters and became a trending topic on different social media platforms. The illusion of these billboards being violated brought extra attention to these ordinary tarpaulin billboards, and so credit to the creative team for executing this perfectly.

Aside from “Trese”, another Netflix series that millions of people worldwide follow is Spain’s most popular series, “Money Heist”. A lot of fans praised Netflix as they brought the characters to life through their large character print outs. NETFLIX placed these ads in 5 different places: The Palazzo Eastwood City, Uptown Bonifacio, McKinley Hill, Venice Grand Canal Mall, McKinley Hill, Taguig. Many netizens loved the creativity of the people behind the concept and marketing of these OOH Ads as proven by the numerous photos taken and posted on social media.

3. IKEA

Last November 2021, Ikea opened its largest store in the Philippines. Ikea is known worldwide for its high quality and affordable home furniture. They put up a large building mural  along Magallanes intersection featuring more than 1,000 Filipino families and their life-at-home stories. This is quite different than other murals as the material was instaled in pure glass, at the perfect location of EDSA MAGALLANES as it was targeting all vehicles facing traffic headed towards SM MOA.

Our home has become the most important place for us since the pandemic began. We have learned to re-design our home and discover a lot of budget-friendly furniture shops like Ikea. This OOH Ad reiterates Ikea’s commitment to the Filipino market in providing quality products and services.

4. SPOTIFY

Spotify is a digital streaming online platform that provides access to millions of songs, playlists, and podcasts. In 2021, they featured so many artists through OOH and helped them connect with different kinds of listeners. Through this marketing initiative, many local and emerging artists are being discovered and have been given opportunity to promote their music. It was client’s utilization and optimization of their images of these superstars in OOH that caught the attention of commuters and fans alike. Great way to maximize their assets.

5. SMART

Smart surprised many “K-DRAMA” fans by having actors Son Ye Jin, Hyun Bin, and Park Seo Joon as their brand ambassadors. And in 2021, Smart continued to capture every kdrama and Kpop fan’s heart by partnering with the global “K-Pop” boyband BTS, headlining Smart’s 2021 campaign: “Live Smarter, Live with Purpose”. The aim of the partnership was to inspire the Filipino youth to live their lives with passion and purpose. 

Smart and many other brands have slowly turned to famous korean celebrities and groups to appoint as their endorsers. With their huge fanbase, they can certainly reach a wider age range of audience and leave strong brand recall. And what better way to announce these new endorsers but by going BIG on OUTDOOR ADS. This is what SMART certainly did, and we all definitely were caught looking up.

There’s our top OOH Ads for the year 2021! IMPACTFUL, ENGAGING and STRATEGIC. Kudos to all the brands, agencies and people behind these fantastic executions!

Is there a campaign you want to promote through OOH Media? Contact us now and let us help you!