Beyond the Billboard- The Floor

When tackling an advertising focused brief, the first thought is to design for a billboard, but why is this the case? There are so many other ways of advertising. Below are examples of where else you can advertise.....

On the Floor

Designated smoking areas in Singapore are usually yellow boxes outside office buildings. Advertising agency Dentsu Young & Rubican spotted the perfect opportunity for their client The Singapo Cancer Society. The main aim of this campaign was to remind smokers of the consequences of smoking, being painted all over Singapore. 

Using the floor to advertise is often used by design agencies, as it is a good way to portray messages to the public, instantly attracting their attention. 

This was a great campaign for Amnesty International created by the agency Michael Conrad & Leo Burnett.  The intention behind this campaign was to portray the hard hitting message that in too many places within the world people are locked up in terrible conditions for no real reason, simply due the fact of their religion or skin colour. The campaign as you can see above, contained model hands gripping the grille of street drains, to give the impression that the person was beneath.

Quoted by Jurgen Kratwald from Amnesty International - 'Our aim was to draw attention to human rights violations. These life-like hands were attached to drains at the traffic lights of Frankfurt's most frequented crossroads. Due to this activity, 860 poeple signed up on Amnesty International's subscription list to protest against all countries that arrest or torture people because of their faith, opinion or skin colour.

This was a campaign in Australia titled Drink Driving Ends Here. This campaign was thought out by Saatchi & Saatchi in Sydney for their client Pedestrian Council of Australia. From eye catching campaigns such as these, the hard hitting messages are being portrayed, resulting that the roads in Australia are becoming increasingly safe, explained by road safety researchers. This inparticuler campaign consisted of black skid marks, as you can see above, that lead from the rod on to the pavement towards various different end points, including bush shelters, park benches and brick walls, with the waords 'Drink driving ends here' printed at the end point. I feel this is a great way of advertising, attracting the consumers attention. 

A campaign designed by an Advertising agency in Toronto called Downtown Partners, for their client Canadian Red Cross. The message being portrayed was that the woman printed on the floor had fallen down the stairs in a Cineplex Theater in Toronto. Again it attracts the public attention instantly, portraying the message as well as increasing their awareness of the company Red Cross, a company which helps people affected by emergencies or disasters. 

Similiar to other adverts we have seen, this guerilla advert takes advantage of the visual associations, using sewer grates to advertise BBQ grills. It is a clear, concise and clever way of grabbing the consumers attention, in order for them to buy the item being advertised.

Below are a selection of a few more examples of floor guerilla advertising... 

Water is life painted street ad

The Town of Drachten in the Neverlands experienced an extreme makeover in 2008, when an artist named Kenk Hofsta painted a KM long strip of the main road blue. The idea was to give citizens of the town an idea of what life would have been like back in the day when this road in Drachten was a canal, something there are at present re introducing.  

Folgers Man Hole Ad

When you see the steaming manhole in NewYork Cty, the usual thing you get from them is fumes from the smelly sewer that lurks beneath. Folgers decided to give it a new connotation by using the street tickerss, transforming manholes into hot, enticing cups of coffee. Again, a great example of using everyday things to entice people in. 

Vodafone Retro Games

Vodafone introduced retro arcade games such as Space Invaders and Pac Man available to to play on phones. They then publicised  it with a series of attention-grabbing chalk street ads. 

The idea for this campaign was for drivers to pull over when they see these 'sticker' pitholes, when they then see it is a sticker, lifting it up to read the message on the reverse side. This is an example of when guerilla advertising can be taken to far, something that one needs to be careful of. As well as it being unpractical people having to stop in the middle of the world.... it is also potentially dangerous. 

Outdoor campaign for Sony Cybershot camera. Personally I am not sure it is trying to say, this being an example when Guerilla advertising can get a bit too confusing, somthething one should be careful of doing. 

Try K2r - K2r

This was a simple guerrilla advertising campaign for a popular French stain remover product. The campaign involved finding stains on pavements, roads and streets around France, then painting a simple white outline of an item of clothing around the stain. Again its simple but effective, as well as being appropriate to the product. 

This was an advert in cinema toilets to advertise the film Kill Bill. It is a simple and effective way of catching the audiences attention to promote an upcoming film, to help increase awareness of its upcoming release.