But where's the sign filled with tartar sauce?

Not to be outdone by America's booming gimmicky posters industry, a Frankfurt seafood restaurant called Fisch Franke souped up a poster frame and filled it with water, then added live trout. At that point, it's less a poster than an aquarium, but it was reportedly good for business so we'll put the semantics on ice for now. Besides, it's a cool idea and gives them an immediate marketing advantage over, say, a steakhouse. Hat tip to Chris Rawlinson.

—Posted by David Kiefaber

Published on July 21, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (4)
Filed under Germany, Kiefaber, Outdoor, Seafood

Columbus gets cascade of caffeinated water

It's hard to miss the 30-foot-wide bottle of Avitae Energy Water that appears to be splashing its contents down the side of a building and into a pipe in Columbus, Ohio's Easton Town Center. Orange Barrel Media designed the wallscape, and it's an impressive piece of work. That said, it's a sad commentary on our consumer-driven society that the most innovative and artistic use of public spaces these days is reserved for huge ads touting items like caffeinated water. Such real estate could serve as the canvas for far more meaningful and socially dynamic causes — like the preservation of the magazine industry. Surely a five-story-high mural of Penthouse Pet of the Year Erica Ellyson would boost newsstand sales and drive some Web traffic, right? The right people for the job would definitely be Orange Barrel, who got international attention in 2007 with the massive Nationwide installation shown below.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Published on July 7, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Filed under Gianatasio, Orange Barrel, Outdoor

A record 15,000 butts used to fight smoking

I must say, I was disappointed when I learned that something called a "15,000-butt billboard" turned out to be an anti-smoking thing. But I suppose I should put my game face on for this – it's not every day that Cigarette Hitler gets topped (he was made of just 13,000 smokes). According to Copyranter, the 15,000 butts for the Peruvian display shown above were gathered by volunteers and hand-glued by an artist. Of course, if you're a smoker, this project might have you reaching for a light, so the effectiveness may vary according to perception.

—Posted by David Kiefaber

Published on February 20, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (2)
Filed under Anti-smoking, Kiefaber, Outdoor

ESPN responds to theft of its turf billboards

The other day we mentioned that thieves in NYC and elsewhere have been stealing ESPN's Monday Night Football billboards, make of real NFL turf, from bus shelters and other locations, to decorate their homes and impress their friends. Now, Wieden + Kennedy and ESPN have responded with special ads at the crime scenes, featuring police tape and comically worded warnings that karma, basically, is a bitch. (Click the image above to enlarge.) Read more over at Wizards of Weimer.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on September 30, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (4)
Filed under ESPN, Nudd, Outdoor, Wieden + Kennedy

Sports fan go nuts for ESPN's turf billboards

According to The New York Times, Wieden + Kennedy's three-dimensional AstroTurf-like billboards for ESPN keep getting stolen by football fans. We are simply shocked that sports fans are acting irrationally in pursuit of items with negligible value. Most of this thievery is taking place in New York (of course), where "72 of 90 bus shelter postings have been stolen and all of the 85 more traditional billboard posters have been stolen." Los Angeles and Chicago have been hit by this crime wave, too, although not as hard as the Big Apple. Authorities have been wondering what's being done with the stolen billboards. Of course, big-city apartments could always use a little more green.

—Posted by David Kiefaber

Published on September 26, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (5)
Filed under ESPN, Kiefaber, Outdoor, Wieden + Kennedy

How much is that soulmate on a billboard?

Are you aging, single, lonely and desperate—or shall we say, particular? If so, you should do what everyone with high standards does and throw your classy mug up on a billboard in an attempt to find a mate. Ten Australians (including the naturally posed lady above) are doing just that through a new program called Life Rules. They appear on billboards, and people pay to contact them, with proceeds going the Cure Cancer Australia Foundation and Heartkids Australia. If this doesn't work, they can always advertise on bar napkins. In Australia, that might work even better than billboards.

—Posted by David Kiefaber

Published on September 15, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Filed under Dating, Kiefaber, Outdoor

Our vandals deserve better pulic schools

My wife and I ran across this defaced sign in her small hometown of Rockton, Illinois. There's a certain sadness to the idea of vandals risking arrest on a downtown street, only to misspell "pubic parking." Or maybe they were tired of the old pubic gag and wanted to go for the more esoteric "P.U. Lick Parking" joke. Or perhaps they have bright careers ahead of them in the NFL.

—Posted by David Griner

Published on September 8, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Filed under Griner, Outdoor

'90210' pool billboard upsets Brooklyn Jews

In addition to plausibilty, teen drama 90210 has violated Hasidic Jewish law with a billboard showing mixed company lounging around an oddly shaped pool. Unlike the Parent Television Council, United Jewish Organization president Rabbi David Niederman isn't worried about threesomes. Instead, he says the billboard offends merely because "having men and women swimming together is ... not permissible, even if they are fully clothed," which is why he's protesting its placement facing his Brooklyn community. We'd love to ask him why he's getting bent out of shape over something that's tame by contemporary ad standards. But actually, we'd rather know what percentage of his community goes swimming fully clothed. Via Jossip.

—Posted by David Kiefaber

Published on September 3, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Filed under 90210, Controversy, Kiefaber, Outdoor

Classic stars come out to play in Emmy ads

WongDoody has created the ad campaign for the 60th annual Emmy Awards, airing Sept. 21 on ABC. The tagline, "Where TV comes together," is unfortunate, but less so than the name of the agency that created it. The campaign's visuals, however, are lots of fun, focusing on the small-screen characters we've come to know and love over the past 60 years. A wrap shows them riding the bus! Ha-ha! Hardly a new idea ... but look, there's the Incredible Hulk and Eric Cartman! I bet neither paid the fare. Hey, Fonzie, "sit on it!" No really, take my seat, you shouldn't have to stand. But … why would Superman need to take the bus? A collage of more than 400 characters and personalities will run as a poster or two-page spread in magazines and newspapers. But seriously, why would Superman be taking the bus? Is Lex Luthor on the bus?!

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Published on August 29, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Filed under Emmys, Gianatasio, Outdoor, Print, WongDoody

Advertising in Toronto spans earth and sky

Thanks to agencies Zig and Bos (who should team up for an Adult Swim show), you can't look up or down in Toronto without seeing an ad. For radio station CFRB 1010, Zig poses controversial questions that the broadcaster might cover—such as "Should panhandling be illegal?" or "Is crime getting out of control?"—and brings them to life on the streets. Panhandlers cradle signs posing the first question, while police chalk outlines on the pavement illustrate the latter. There's something touching about that panhandler's expression and body language. And the somber juxtaposition of the street people's plight and the chalk outlines gives the campaign extra emotional resonance. (See more photos of the work after the jump.) In fluffy contrast, Bos is sending Pillsbury Doughboy-style balloons and Flogos (which we've written about before) into the Toronto air for wireless provider Fido. Do Canadians appreciate their skies cluttered with marketing messages? Maybe that could be the topic of CFRB's next show.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Click to read more ...

Published on August 28, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (3)
Filed under Bos, CFRB, Gianatasio, Non-traditional, Outdoor, Zig

Be careful not to step on the tiny billboards

Deutsch/LA deserves a steak dinner. In marketing the new PlayStation game LittleBigPlanet, they've come up with the best kind of billboard: the kind I can't see. These little boards are apparently springing up around San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York, and they're easy on the eyes. And a shin-high promotional campaign won't hurt the game much, even if LittleBigPlanet is basically Second Life without all the sex and gambling. In that spirit, they should change the headline here to "Good graphics shall overcome."

—Posted by David Kiefaber

Published on August 26, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (3)
Filed under Deutsch, Kiefaber, Outdoor, Sony, Video games

At gun shows, the terrorists always win

Modernista!'s new Stop Handgun Violence billboard throws a spotlight on the legal loophole that permits the sale of firearms at gun shows without IDs or criminal background checks. The ad's message is clear: "We sell guns! No ID required. No background checks. Criminals and terrorists welcome!" (See a larger image here.) The billboard, on the Mass Pike near Boston's Fenway Park, is huge—the nation's largest, supposedly, so none is likely to miss the point. Great. Now, all the criminals and terrorists will know where to go for guns. And, as shocking as it might sound, I've got enemies. Harry and Louise, for example—and they're gun nuts. Or was that Thelma and Louise? Plus, SHV's last big billboard brought out lots of vitriol here on AdFreak. Thanks a lot, Modernista. (I left the exclamation point off on purpose. I'm just not feeling it, OK?)

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Published on August 19, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (4)
Filed under Controversy, Gianatasio, Modernista!, Outdoor