Tubi 3D billboard

What’s next for 3D billboards?

We’ve recently seen a glut of exciting billboards demonstrate the magic of 3D. Here, Thomas Valente, ECD of Inertia Studios, examines how creatives can help move the medium beyond a gimmick

Anamorphic advertising, better known as 3D billboards, is suddenly dominating the digital OOH landscape. London’s Piccadilly Circus is crammed with anamorphic executions. As is New York’s Times Square, which has fast become the epicentre of this advertising trend. Wherever you look, 3D billboards are now showing up everywhere.

It could be argued that the medium – and its ability to reach few on the ground but millions online, via the sharing of imagery on social media – is fast becoming the new standard for OOH. And with brands chasing that all-important viral moment, there’s a tendency to try and replicate past successes. But if we want to keep this emerging form of creativity fresh, we need to instead look forward, pushing its technology and art form to the max. If brands step into the process with a blank slate and an appetite for creativity, we’ll get freedom to develop strong ideas.

Anamorphic needs to be viewed not as a temporary fad, but as a place to craft stories; a place where existing campaign creative is used as a springboard for ideation.

INTERIOR DESIGNER

OXFORDSHIRE