What are these Faux OOH Videos?
Faux OOH is about engaging your audience with the help of CGI. The idea is to use CGI to create a digital representation of your marketing concept and place them in the physical world. It’s about taking a concept that marketing professionals could only dream up, or would never be able to get permission to do due to budget restrictions or health & safety, and getting to actually do it by using CGI to digitally add the idea into a real world video. Typically, Faux OOH Videos have huge success on social media and Digital Out Of Home (DOOH) spaces.
What is the most popular way to do Faux OOH Videos?
There are a few ways to do Faux OOH videos, however, there are two very specific variations that have been going viral in 2024. The first is to take your product, make it huge and pop it in a city. The faux side of this is that the product isn’t actually this size and you aren’t able to visit it in real life. The second variation is where brands are creating huge art installations on the side of buildings and stores and making them move, for example you might add a floral installation on a building and the flowers are moving in the wind. Again, the faux element of this is that in most cases installing a moving art installation on the side of buildings wouldn’t gain planning permission and therefore it wouldn’t have been brought to life with the imagination of marketers. These videos take on a life of their own and brands are able to create something incredible to engage their audience.
Why are brands using Faux OOH?
Traditional OOH marketing can be expensive, the fantastic thing about Faux OOH is that everything is done digitally. Therefore you can cut down on the costs of location permits, production crews, and physical materials. This approach not only saves on traditional production expenses but also opens the door to limitless creative possibilities without the need for extensive physical setups or expensive photoshoots.
Who came up with this idea?
Ian Padgham is credited to have been making this type of video for a few years now, however in the last year he has worked with huge mainstream brands such as Bershka, Apple and more importantly the Maybelline ad campaign which brought about global attention with their London underground mascara ad. “For me it’s surrealism, I’m thinking about what would look really cool in an alternate universe,” he says.
Is this JUST a trend?
OOH videos have been around for a very long time, however, this new style of Faux OOH Videos has been going viral. Brands are jumping on this trend as it seems to be ‘scroll stopping’, meaning its engagement is clearly resonating with large social media audiences.
DayOne has been fortunate enough to create 10 of these ‘faux OOH’ videos for C4 Energy, Brands such as C4, provide us with so many opportunities to jump on trends and showcase our creativity. Each project challenges us to blend dynamic visuals with impactful storytelling, ensuring that each campaign not only captures attention but also resonates with a wide audience.
If your business has a best selling product, then jumping on this trend could be a fantastic opportunity to showcase it on social media and DOOH spaces. The trend can be kept on brand through the use of your businesses home city and enlarges your product to a ‘showstopper’ level – quite literally making it larger than life.
