Let’s paint the town ‘you’
When was the last time a person queued to have their photo taken in front of your ad?
You might think this never happens, but it was a regular occurrence last summer when people stood and waited for their turn to get a snap in front in front of the beautifully painted mural AMEX created in partnership with High Rise Murals, sitting right outside the front door of Shoreditch House.
In the last few years, we’ve seen mural-based advertising start to pop up throughout London and New York, and we see in this a huge opportunity for B2B brands that want to do something creative and memorable which sets them apart from their competitors.
At first glance, you might see a mural as simply doing the same job of a traditional billboard ad, but a bit bigger and with paint. But they really are so much more.
Murals typically stay up for 2-4 weeks, and the brands which use them have to consider the art above advertising – because it’s not about shouting a marketing message, it’s about bringing the brand to life and giving audiences something they can’t help but engage with.
Kelly Peppers, MD of Colossal Media, said: “The reaction was inspiring. I saw so many more people stopping to take photos. I saw so many photos sparking conversations on social media,” about the effect she’d seen as a result of Colossal’s outdoor murals.
A number of Colossal’s case studies demonstrate the momentum these murals can gain online, beyond the walls they live on. Freeform’s ‘I’m a boss, bitch’ mural, for example, achieved a social reach of 8.5 million people simply by tempting passers-by to stop and take a photo.
Murals also give brands an opportunity to create additional content – from ‘making of’ videos to influencer interviews – as well as creating a different kind of ad altogether, as Gilette did with their ‘World’s biggest shave’ campaign in Manhattan.
The location of a mural can be as strategically valuable as the content of the mural itself, enabling brands to target specific audiences and businesses and be seen by the right people, in the right place at the right time.
Murals used to be the sole province of fashion, beauty and music brands, but their growing use and success by brands outside of this trio mean that there are plenty of opportunities for b2b brands to put their colours on the wall.
Qualcomm, the b2b telecoms solutions provider, proved the truth in this when their initial 8-week mural-based campaign in downtown Manhattan was so successful, they ran a second campaign and expanded its scope to include Brooklyn as well.
But apart from Qualcomm’s effort, the b2b mural space is eerily quiet.
With 82% of B2B buyers saying they wish B2B had the same levels of creativity they associate with B2C, murals could be the perfect way to make an expressive impression.
Naturally, we practice what we preach – we very often see people stopping to take in the mural that adorns our London office windows, and it even pops up on Instagram every so often when people tag us in their posts.
So if you’d like to give some thought to painting the town with your brand, get in touch with us any time.
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[Header photo: Steve Spicer]
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[Header photo: Steve Spicer]
