🏊🏼♀️ A billboard where you can really swim
Adidas promoted its inclusive swimwear with a PR stunt in Dubai
Impossible is nothing
👙 Adidas found that only 12% of women are completely comfortable wearing a swimsuit at a public beach or pool, while body shame and lack of privacy are the two main reasons women don’t feel comfortable in their swimsuits. So they decided to design a range of accessible and more inclusive swimwear, informed by community engagement and insights from around the world.
🌊 To launch its collection, Adidas built the "first-ever liquid billboard" on a popular Dubai beach and invited women to dive in. Supporting the movement Beyond the Surface, a strong activation was needed: a mini swimming pool, with the equivalent water of 163 bathtubs.
🔊 The stunt was amplified with press coverage and influencers, with brand ambassadors and the media being invited to swim first, including amputee triathlete Dareen Barbar and Saudi Arabian climber Raha Moharrak. A live footage from inside the billboard was streamed on a digital screen at a Dubai Mall, next to the Adidas flagship store.
🩸 This campaign is part of an Adidas broader campaign, that aims to break sport taboos, like period leakage that was leading to sports drop out from teenage girls. Check other brands also actively fought the stigma surrounding period symptoms.
Useful billboards
Creativity was the boss in some billboards that (besides increasing brand awareness) were able to inspire and deliver something more to their target.
🍺 Carlsberg had probably the best billboard in the world, with a poster in East London and Porto, that dispensed free beer, proving that it tastes better than their competitors.
🥤 Coca-Cola created an entire advertising campaign called “You Don’t Know Zero ‘Til You’ve Tried it.” that you can actually drink, whether it’s on TV, Magazine, print ads, billboards or even on radio.
💻 IBM decided to create ads that truly serve a purpose, which won Cannes Grand Prix for Outdoor advertising. As a part of its Smart Ideas for Smarter Cities campaign, there were three billboards with different functions: One is a bench, the other is a ramp for stairs, and the last serves as a rain shelter.
And you? What’s the greatest billboard activation you remember?
☀️ Have a good one and enjoy summer with a swim, either in Dubai or in your backyard! But do have us around!