How Brands Are Connecting Outdoor Advertising to Facebook

January 31, 2012

To many old school marketers, making the leap from traditional marketing to social media marketing is still a challenge they’re having trouble with. Brand managers find themselves investing time and energy into proving that traditional marketing and social media marketing can be successfully integrated, and in fact, they should be integrated at every opportunity.

Some brands are providing great examples to learn from and use as a launch point for strategic planning meetings. Let’s take a look at two brands that are connecting outdoor advertising to Facebook marketing in creative ways.

Chevrolet

The Turning Billboards into Ads campaign married outdoor advertising with Facebook in a clever way that also looped in social responsibility and cause marketing opportunities. See the ad below, or click here to view a larger size from Ads of the World (ad agency: MacLaren McCann, Canada).

The copy in the ad explains the complete campaign, including the Facebook connection:

“Where do billboards go when they die? Well, in this case, they went into the hands and onto the shoulders of everyday people. On September 25th 2010, the Cruze launched with one of the biggest media buys in Chevrolet Canada’s history. From billboards and transit shelters, to bus wraps and station dominations, the urban landscape was wallpapered with Cruze ads. But rather than just taking the materials down and shipping them to landfills, we wanted them to live on in a meaningful way. So we collected all the outdoor vinyl, combined it with recycled seatbelts and bicycle inner tubes, then created messenger bags, laptop sleeves, plus oversize totes. The result? Hundreds of highly functional bags made from 100% locally sourced, upcycled materials. But this is just the beginning. Stay tuned for what’s next on Facebook.com/chevroletcanada. Turning ads into bags is just one more way Chevrolet is Driving Our World Forward, one billboard at a time.”

There are so many brilliant pieces of this campaign and it should definitely get the creative juices flowing and pique the interest of executives who might not see how traditional marketing and social media marketing can and should coexist.

The National Lottery U.K.

The National Lottery U.K. launched a social media promotion on its Facebook Page and integrated it perfectly into an ad campaign, which included the billboards shown below (ad agency: Camelot Creative, U.K.).

Click here to see a larger version of the ad below from Ads of the World.

Click here to see the ad below in a larger size from Ads of the World.

The billboards shown above are certainly attention-grabbing and they tie in perfectly to the “What would you do?” campaign. “Not what you’d do” if you won the lottery? Then tell the world what you would do with your winnings by visiting the National Lottery U.K. Facebook page and sharing your story. It’s a great way to connect traditional advertising to a social media campaign.

These are just two creative ways that brands connect social media and traditional marketing. Hopefully, they’ll help to inspire creativity in your next campaign.

What do you think? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

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Susan Gunelius

President & CEO at KeySplash Creative, Inc.

Susan Gunelius is the author of multiple marketing, social media, branding, copywriting, and blogging books, and she is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She also owns Women on Business, a leading blog for business women. She is a featured columnist for Entrepreneur.com, a featured writer for Forbes.com, and the Guide to Blogging for About.com. Additionally, her marketing-related articles have appeared on websites such as MSNBC.com, FoxBusiness.com, WashingtonPost.com, TheStreet.com, SmartMoney.com, TodayShow.com, BusinessWeek.com, Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo! Small Business, and more. She has nearly 20 years of experience in the marketing field having spent the first decade of her career directing marketing programs for some of the largest companies in the world, including divisions of AT&T and HSBC. Susan also appears at in-person and virtual events where she speaks about marketing, branding, social media, and more (visit www.SusanGunelius.com for more information). You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.