“Three Billboards” Sweeps Golden Globes

By Ken Klein, Executive Vice President, OAAA

As Hollywood enters the award season, billboards are cheering a critically acclaimed film with “billboard” in the movie’s title.

The small-town revenge drama “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” won four Golden Globes on January 7 at the award show broadcast on NBC from Los Angeles (Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor).

In January, the Outdoor Advertising Association of America added sizzle to cheerleading for the billboard movie via strategic displays on out of home (OOH) formats. The industry’s promotional effort highlights five attributes of the medium:

1.) Flexibility

Before the Golden Globe show, digital displays in Times Square, Los Angeles, and western North Carolina — where “Three Billboards” was filmed — hyped the movie (THIS BILLBOARD DESERVES AN AWARD).

After the film won four Golden Globes, the copy was changed quickly to express thanks:

2.) Creativity

Award-winning design agency Extra Credit Projects in Grand Rapids, MI, produced creative to tie billboards to the “Three Billboards” movie during awards season. The creative was inspired by the colors and all-caps font of billboards shown in the award-winning movie.

3.) Cultural ties

Billboards are part of our culture via film content and promotion of movies. Warner Brothers, Universal, and HBO were among the top-20 buyers of out of home ads in 2016.

4.) Broad industry involvement

In Sylva, NC (population 2,644), family-owned Allison Outdoor Advertising custom-made billboards used in the “Three Billboards” film; paper was printed by Associated Posters Inc, in Kernersville, NC.

On January 5 (two days before the Golden Globe award show), Allison Outdoor posted on its digital billboards: THIS BILLBOARD DESERVES AN AWARD. In frigid weather, Allison President Gary Ayers took photos of his FORMETCO billboard in Sylva, where much of the movie was filmed.

From Los Angeles, Rick Robinson of the Billups agency re-tweeted an Ayers’ photo (@thepeoplespace).

By 3 p.m. on January 5, the Gannett newspaper in Asheville, NC, posted an article about billboards cheering for the billboard movie. By the next day, the promotion campaign reached thousands via social media.

Fairway Outdoor Advertising ran the Golden Globe-related copy on digital billboards in western North Carolina. City Outdoor, OUTFRONT Media, and Vector Media donated prime space in Times Square and Los Angeles.

OUTFRONT Media’s digital display in Times Square

5.) Fun

In New York City at OUTFRONT Media, Carly Zipp: ” I LOVE this!”

In Grand Rapids, MI, as Extra Credit Projects finished sizing multiple formats to cheer the billboard movie, principal/creative director Rob Jackson: “Fun stuff.”

In Sylva, NC — on Outdoor Drive — when Gary Ayers at Allison Outdoor learned that the “Three Billboards” film received four SAG Award nominations (Screen Actors Guild), he said: “Keep those accolades coming!”