What Netflix’s Billboard and Fun-Plex’s Mammoth Teach Us About the Future of Out-of-Home (OOH) Advertising
For decades, out-of-home advertising had one primary objective: get noticed.
Put a message on a billboard, bus stop, or building, and hope enough people pass by to make an impact. Today’s most effective campaigns are asking something different. Instead of simply capturing attention, they’re creating experiences that people want to photograph, share, and talk about.
Recent examples from both Hollywood and Omaha prove the point.
To promote its new thriller The Last House, Netflix placed a man inside a billboard overlooking Sunset Boulevard, recreating the film’s premise in real life. The activation quickly expanded beyond Los Angeles as videos, social posts, and entertainment stories spread online.
This past spring, we took a similar approach with Fun-Plex Waterpark & Rides to reveal and promote their new roller coaster, Mammoth. Rather than simply unveiling the attraction, we created a citywide mystery. Teaser content lead into the reveal, a fictional story, and Mammoth sightings, transforming the campaign from a ride announcement into an experience.
At first glance, the two campaigns may not seem related. One featured a man living inside a billboard. The other centered around a giant mammoth roaming Omaha. Strategically, however, they share the same DNA.
Out-of-home advertising is becoming experiential
Earlier this year, Event Marketer noted that “not every live engagement needs to be an elaborate event.” In an age of shrinking attention spans, the publication argues that interactive billboards and OOH advertising succeeds because they create quick, memorable experiences that are “primed for sharing.”
That’s exactly what Netflix and Fun-Plex Waterpark & Rides accomplished. Both campaigns used physical to spark curiosity and invite participation.
The question is no longer, “How many people saw our activation?”
It’s become, “How many people saw our activation online?”
The goal isn’t exposure—it’s participation
For marketers, that shift changes the creative process entirely. Instead of asking, “What do we want people to see?” brands should ask:
- What do we want people to feel?
- What will make someone pull out their phone?
- What story will they tell afterward?
- How can the environment become part of the campaign?
Great out-of-home doesn’t stop at the installation
The biggest takeaway is that neither campaign depended solely on the physical activation. The billboard became social content. The mammoth became local news. The activations became public relations. The story became user-generated content.
The future of out-of-home advertising is storytelling
You don’t need a Netflix sized budget or a giant mammoth to create a story or an experience. The brands that win with out-of-home advertising will be the ones that understand that modern out-of-home creating stories that people can’t wait to share.