Summer Magic with Minute Maid’s Open Billboard

Billboards are the lifeblood of out-of-home advertising. But on a sunny day, you want to see the sky when you look up, not some giant ad. Even if you love advertising, the sight of it isn’t always welcome.

That’s one reason Minute Maid’s beautifully simple “Open Billboard” has scored so well on Test Your Ad Static, landing the juice brand an Exceptional 5.2-Star score, up with the very best juice advertising on video. By removing the “board” part of the billboard, leaving just the frame and some corner branding and message, the ad makes the open sky itself part of the creative.

It’s a brilliant idea and the impact is glorious – putting a frame around the sunlight that streams through the Open Billboard makes an audience notice the sky when they might otherwise take it for granted. With Static advertising it’s often the most elegantly simple ideas that make the biggest impression, which is important for a medium where rapid impact and strong branding are vital.

The Open Billboard is one of several executions Minute Maid has launched to support messaging around the healthy benefits of orange juice and the Vitamin D it contains – the same Vitamin D we get when our bodies drink in the sunlight. Other ideas from the campaign, like the extra seat at a bus shelter facing out into the sun, are also fun and clever, but it’s the Open Billboard which really archives that big, emotional cut-through.

It also earns strong Brand Fluency scores – 91% of the audience recognise the brand after 2 seconds exposure – and an Exceptional short-term Spike Rating. The messaging is getting across too – “healthy” is the second-most-common association for the billboard’s audience.

The Open Billboard is smart, effective outdoor advertising – it’s also perfectly timed, as people get out and enjoy the sunshine without baking in the summer heat. The summer months are when outdoor advertising really comes into its own, and the Open Billboard sets the bar for ideas and execution delightfully high.