Blue, bold and bloody huge – last month Ikea’s colossal tote bag took over Oxford Street’s skyline in a creative that is set to remain until the Swedish retailer opens its city store in autumn 2024.
Inspired by the clever piece of high-profile marketing, we’ve wrapped up – yes, pun intended – six of the most innovative ways brands have made the most of outdoor space.
IKEA – Blue, bold and bloody huge
It’s hard to miss IKEA’s enormous version of its iconic big blue tote bag, part of a celebratory campaign marking the presence of the furniture retailer’s new Oxford Street store.
Led by its agency of record, Mother, creative 62-feet-tall and 128-feet-wide campaign transformed scaffolding on the historic grade II listed building into a larger-than-life advertisement.
The work is a prime example of how iconic brand symbols, like Ikea’s blue FRAKTA bag, can instantly grab the attention of passers-by and create brand familiarity. In 2022, Ikea reported that since opening in the UK, the retailer has sold over 3 million FRAKTA blue bags, meaning almost half of all Brits (45%) have one in their household.
“The sight of the famous blue IKEA FRAKTA bag on Oxford Street sends a powerful message – that the nation’s favourite high street is back and retailers want to be here,” said Westminster City Council’s cabinet member for planning and economic development, councillor Geoff Barraclough.
Vodafone – balancing history with brand
In a London first move to mark the telecom firm’s latest accolade – Best in London Network award – Vodafone became the first brand to advertise on an Ocean Outdoor purpose-built sleeve covering Marble Arch.
Vodafone’s true achievement, however, should be in its impressive capture of the fine line between advertising and preserving the monument’s historic charm.
The wrap depicts a true likeness of the historic arch, only tastefully incorporating the telecom network‘s distinctive red branding through the arches and panels of Marble Arch, as supposed to overwhelming the entire structure.
What is even more commendable is that the revenue from the creative, achieved while the 200-year-old landmark is undergoing an extensive conservation project, is said to be going towards charity English Heritage, which is leading the renovation project.
Remarking on the achievement Ocean Outdoor UK CEO Phil Hall said: “This has been one of the most ambitious installations Ocean has ever undertaken and to get it right required a monumental collaboration from all the partners involved.”
Nike and Lloyds Bank – building wrap boost
Not every brand has a spare building needing to be renovated – but this was not a hurdle for sportswear brand Nike. In a stroke of genius, the sportswear giant played to its strengths, using a visually interesting creative to wrap its Stratford-based multi-story window building.
The image featured footballer Edgar David’s mid-run, in full Nike gear. In a combination of wrap material choice, thoughtful photography and clever angles, the advert gives the effect of David bursting out of the building.
At over 10,000 metres squared and equivalent to the size of the Statue of Liberty, the 2000’s creative wrap currently remains a record breaker for the biggest building graphic in the world.
Another notable example of this approach comes from British bank Lloyds, which sponsored the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Aiming to create a visual journey for commuters, it wrapped not only the outside of London’s Stratford station, but also various indoor locations, including stairs and windows.
Adorned with its ‘For the Journey’ slogan, the campaign was a statement of inclusivity, but also a reminder of the vast potential for using the outside of functional buildings in creative ways.
Netflix – inside the TfL tunnel
Seen best – but not restricted to – within Transport for London’s (TfL) network, tunnel wraps are a perfect example of utilising high foot-fall outdoor spaces.
With the London underground handling over five million passenger journeys a day, it is no wonder brands are clamouring to advertise within the network.
From movie promotions to product launches, regular commuters of central London’s underground stations would be familiar with the wall-to-floor wraps in the passages in-between platforms.
Notable examples include Netflix’s Glass Onion movie and John Wick Chapter 4 featuring American actor Keanu Reaves. Both wraps utilised the entirety of the space, layering the wraps with bold OOHs and running scenes from the movies on the station’s DOOH screens.
Other brands who have staged station take-overs through immersive TfL tunnel wraps include Free Now, Under Armour, Oatly and Charlotte Tilbury to name a few.
Hendricks – a feast for the nose
Some brands have taken wraps to a whole new level, by incorporating both visual and olfactory features by producing scented wraps.
Alcohol brand Hendricks encouraged passengers to ‘step into the delectable’ with its quirky creative at King Cross St Pancras Underground Station.
Covering a massive 1,000 sq m across the tunnel, walls were adorned with illustrations of brand characters and flying gin bottles, but also rose and cucumber scented graphics.
Developing a bespoke scent specifically for the project, the scented graphics were each digitally printed then screen printed to infuse the aroma into the image.
Earlier this year, Twinings also placed a scented corridor within a train station in a bid to promote the brand’s ‘Sleep’ tea. OOHs were scented with spiced apple, vanilla flavours and floral notes, releasing chamomile scents all along the tube corridor.
The two campaigns were followed closely by alcohol manufacture Pernod Ricard’s launch of Beefeater Pink, where strawberry scented graphics were produced at Oxford Circus tube station.
Installed along the exit corridors, passengers had the opportunity to smell the graphics as they walked pass in a creative that was dubbed ‘the first strawberry scented graphic at a tube station’.
A niche accolade, but still an entirely valid one.
Miss Selfridge – thinking outside the box
Wrapping up our list, high street retailer Miss Selfridge served as a reminder that a brand does not need to wrap an entire building to make a eye-catching statement.
In a bout of innovation, the retailer announced the arrival of a collaboration with dance studio Pineapple through a commissioned a wrap of its flagship store. Featuring Pineapple’s iconic logo in vibrant pink, the larger than life creative stretched over the box windows and floor of the London store – making it a creative that ‘literally’ sat outside the box.
A sharp contrast to the stores’ traditional looking display windows, the giant wrap was effective in drawing attention to its ultimate message, text that read that the collection ‘had dropped’.
