Fake out of home examples: the best FOOH ads and why they worked

Fake out of home examples: the short answer

The best-known fake out of home (FOOH) examples are Jacquemus’s Bambino bags driving through Paris (2023), Maybelline’s mascara-coated London Tube train (2023), Adidas’s Messi film on the Dubai Frame (2022), the giant Barbie by the Burj Khalifa (2023) and BINGE’s dragon burning a Sydney billboard (2024). All are CGI placed into real street footage and posted on social.

Below are 18 FOOH ads by category, each checked against a published source, with one line on why it worked. None of them is ours: our own films have their own section. For the definition and how a film is made, read what FOOH is.

The best FOOH ads at a glance

Brand	Year	Place	The idea	Made by
Adidas	2022	Dubai	Messi’s World Cup film on the Dubai Frame	TBWA, Vertex
Jacquemus	2023	Paris	Bambino bags driving through traffic	Origiful
Maybelline	2023	London	A Tube train getting its lashes done	Origiful
Barbie (unofficial)	2023	Dubai	A giant doll leaves her box by the Burj Khalifa	Eye Studio
McDonald’s UK	2023	London, Birmingham, Edinburgh	Christmas props on three landmarks	Red Consultancy, Pebble Studios
Disney+ Hotstar	2023	Mumbai	The show’s red cups on landmarks	Not credited
JD Sports x The North Face	2023	London	Big Ben in a puffer jacket	Not credited
CeraVe	2024	Singapore	A lotion bottle circles Marina Bay Sands	Aundraj Jude
Reese’s	2024	Toronto, Montreal	A caramel cup dripping from a crane	Jimmy
Garfield	2024	Mexico City	Garfield out of home, then on a real billboard	Archer Troy
Cathay Pacific	2024	Hong Kong	An Olympic swimmer on The Henderson	With Publicis Groupe
L’Oréal Paris	2024	Mumbai	Real mascara billboards brought to life	Posterscope
OPPO	2024	Singapore, Rome and more	Landmarks turned to liquid silver	Not credited
BINGE	2024	Sydney	A dragon burns a real billboard	Mindshare, POLY
Starbucks	2024	Singapore	The Merlion Bearista lands on a store	In-house team
Caudalie	2024	Paris	A serum bottle clears the Seine	Not credited
Nissan	2024	UK	A Qashqai flown by drones, then a real one on a chimney	TBWA\London
Far East Hospitality	2025	Singapore	Seven hotels, one CGI moment each	TEAM LEWIS

Fashion and luxury FOOH examples

Jacquemus: Bambino bags on wheels (Paris, 2023)

In April 2023, Jacquemus posted an 8-second clip of giant Le Bambino bags driving through Paris traffic. Ian Padgham of Origiful modeled the bags in 3D and matched their light and shadows to the footage, as he told PAPER. Many viewers could not tell if it was real, AI or CGI.

Why it worked: the product did one impossible thing, in the brand’s own city, in a clip short enough to replay.

JD Sports x The North Face: Big Ben in a puffer (London, 2023)

On November 8, 2023, JD Sports posted Big Ben wrapped in a giant The North Face Nuptse 1996 jacket, with passers-by filming it, under #BensNotHot. The posts did not say it was edited, and Snopes fact-checked it. No studio is credited.

Why it worked: a national landmark dressed for the cold, in November. The joke needs no caption.

Beauty FOOH examples

Maybelline: Sky High lashes on the Tube (London, 2023)

In summer 2023, Maybelline New York posted a London Tube train and a bus with giant lashes, coated by oversized Sky High mascara wands. In New York, a long purple bus drove down Broadway. Marketing Brew credits Origiful and reports that the brand winked at the CGI in the comments.

Why it worked: the product’s promise shown at the size of a city. In March 2024, Maybelline built a real version on Manchester trams: the fake became the brief for the real thing.

CeraVe: a lotion bottle over Marina Bay Sands (Singapore, 2024)

For its Singapore launch in March 2024, CeraVe showed the shadow of a giant lotion bottle over the Singapore Flyer, then the bottle circling Marina Bay Sands and landing, joined by a tub of cream. Marketing-Interactive credits the local 3D artist Aundraj Jude.

Why it worked: one piece of news, “now available here”, told with the skyline everyone in the country knows.

L’Oréal Paris: real billboards brought to life (Mumbai, 2024)

For the India launch of Panorama Mascara in June 2024, L’Oréal Paris ran real billboards across Mumbai, then used CGI online so they seemed to move. Posterscope ran the campaign, Manifest Media reports.

Why it worked: the fake sits on a real placement. Anyone who checks finds the billboard is there.

Caudalie: a serum bottle on the Seine (Paris, 2024)

As Paris prepared for the 2024 Olympics, Caudalie posted a Vinoperfect serum bottle sailing down the Seine, turning the water from green to blue, with a caption about clearing the river’s dark spots. Marketing-Interactive lists it among the year’s notable FOOH ads.

Why it worked: the product claim became a joke anyone gets, in the city the world was watching that summer.

Food and drink FOOH examples

McDonald’s UK: Festive Wins (London, Birmingham, Edinburgh, 2023)

In late October 2023, McDonald’s UK sent baubles driving through Oxford Circus, burger boxes bursting open outside Birmingham’s Bullring and crackers along Edinburgh’s Royal Mile. Marketing Beat credits Red Consultancy with Pebble Studios.

Why it worked: one idea, three cities, one landmark each. Every city gets its own version to share.

Reese’s: caramel from a crane (Toronto and Montreal, 2024)

For National Caramel Day in April 2024, Hershey Canada hung a giant Reese’s Big Cup with Caramel from a Toronto crane, dripping onto a car, and turned Montreal’s Olympic Stadium into a cup. The content was made by Jimmy, per Campaign Canada.

Why it worked: the new ingredient is the action. Caramel drips, so the film shows it dripping, on a day made for it.

Starbucks: the Merlion Bearista (Singapore, 2024)

In July 2024, Starbucks Singapore released two films with the Merlion Bearista, a character based on the city’s Merlion: drinks landing on a store roof near Marina Bay Sands, then the character rising out of the Singapore River. The in-house digital team made them, per Marketing-Interactive.

Why it worked: a local symbol mixed with the brand’s mascot, made for one market, without a big production.

Entertainment and streaming FOOH examples

Barbie at the Burj Khalifa (Dubai, 2023)

In July 2023, the week the Barbie film opened, a giant 1959-style Barbie stepped out of her Mattel box next to the Burj Khalifa. Eye Studio, a UAE and Saudi agency, made it from iPhone footage in about two weeks, and told Campaign Middle East it was not an official collaboration. It passed 3.7 million views within a week.

Why it worked: the timing, a box everyone recognizes and the world’s tallest building as the scale reference.

Disney+ Hotstar: Koffee With Karan cups (Mumbai, 2023)

For the October 2023 premiere of Koffee With Karan season 8, Disney+ Hotstar placed the show’s red coffee cups at the Gateway of India, on Marine Drive, on the Bandra-Worli Sea Link and on a bus outside Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Medianews4u reports.

Why it worked: the prop is the brand. Fans recognize the red cup without a logo.

Garfield: out of home, for real (Mexico City, 2024)

In April 2024, Sony Pictures and the agency Archer Troy sent Garfield out of his armchair and through the streets and sky of Mexico City. The film’s Mexican title is Garfield: Fuera de casa, literally “out of home”. The CGI image then went up on a real billboard (Ads of the World).

Why it worked: the title turned the format into the joke, and a real billboard closed the loop.

BINGE: House of the Dragon (Sydney, 2024)

On June 17, 2024, the day season 2 premiered in Australia, BINGE released a CGI film of a dragon breathing fire on a billboard at Taylor Square. Then the real billboard was changed to look scorched. BINGE worked with Mindshare and POLY, oOh!media’s creative studio, which documents the campaign.

Why it worked: the film gave a real billboard a story, and the scorched board was there to see.

Sport FOOH examples

Adidas: Messi on the Dubai Frame (Dubai, 2022)

After Argentina won the World Cup in December 2022, a grainy, unbranded 6-second clip showed Messi’s World Cup moments playing on the Dubai Frame, a monument with no screen. The Drum reported it was an Adidas film on TBWA creative, that the CGI studio Vertex had two days to fit it into the Frame, and that it drew 250 million organic views.

Why it worked: speed, a moment the whole world was watching, and footage that looked caught by a fan, not made by a brand.

Sport ties FOOH to a live moment, so the idea and the 3D assets must be ready before the result is known.

Tech and auto FOOH examples

OPPO Reno12: liquid silver landmarks (2024)

In June 2024, OPPO launched the Reno12 with films in cities such as Singapore, Rome and London. At Jewel Changi Airport, liquid silver pours from the Rain Vortex and wraps a passing train. In Rome, the Trevi Fountain turns silver and the phone replaces the statue (Marketing-Interactive).

Why it worked: the phone’s finish became the action, and each market got its own landmark.

Nissan Qashqai: drones, then a real car on a chimney (UK, 2024)

In September 2024, TBWA\London launched the new Qashqai with three CGI films of drones flying the car from its Sunderland factory across UK cities. The payoff was physical: a Qashqai fixed to the Truman Brewery chimney in East London, reports Creative Salon.

Why it worked: the CGI told the story and a real stunt proved it.

Travel and city FOOH examples

Cathay Pacific: Every move counts (Hong Kong, 2024)

In May 2024, Cathay Pacific posted CGI simulating a projection of Olympic swimmer Siobhán Haughey on the curved facade of The Henderson, a new tower in Central, developed with Publicis Groupe. Cathay confirmed it was CGI, and the monitoring firm CARMA counted 62% positive mentions in 24 hours, Marketing-Interactive reports.

Why it worked: a building the city was curious about, used as a screen it does not have. Saying it was CGI did not kill the interest.

Far East Hospitality: seven hotels, one moment each (Singapore, 2025)

In February 2025, Far East Hospitality and TEAM LEWIS released two films across seven Singapore hotels: a life-sized tea ceremony, a rainbow road over a facade, a giant suitcase rolling into a lobby, a tower turned into a waterfall (Marketing-Interactive).

Why it worked: each building gets one image that sums it up. FOOH works for places, not only for products.

Our own FOOH campaigns

We kept KOSMO out of the list above. FOOH is where we started, and all our FOOH films are online. The numbers come from our project records.

• France TV (Paris, 2025): dinosaurs in Paris for the series Sur la terre des dinosaures. 25M+ earned media.
• Uber Eats x Team France (2025): a news-hacking film at Clairefontaine for the partnership with the French football team. 25M+ earned media and a pickup on TV.
• Extrême (Paris, 2024): the summer packaging at street scale. 15M+ earned media.
• UEFA, PSG’s Champions League win (Paris, 2025): 15M+ earned media, 350K+ engagements.
• Maisons du Monde (Paris, 2024): Christmas baubles taking over Paris, the brand’s most viewed video. 12M+ earned media.
• Oysho x Premier Padel (2025): one idea in Rome, Milan and Valladolid. 6M+ earned media across the series.
• Jylor (Paris, 2024): a beauty pop-up opening. 2.5M+ earned media.
• Renault x Roland-Garros (2025): the electric R5 at the tennis. 2M+ earned media across the campaign.
• Keepcool (2025): a nationwide back-to-school offer. 1.5M+ earned media.
• Zalando (Paris, 2026): an impossible stack of fashion on a bench for Zalando Lounge, a giant tennis ball on a fountain for Privé by Zalando.

Four more, three of them with full case studies. The last two were our own initiative, not commissions:

• Netflix, Big Mistakes (Los Angeles, 2026): a real billboard on Sunset Boulevard, then a CGI thief stealing its necklace, shot like CCTV. Read the Big Mistakes case.
• Netflix, Avatar: The Last Airbender (Los Angeles, 2026): a real stencil on a cracked sidewalk, then the ground opens. The post passed 30K likes. Read the Avatar case.
• Netflix, Below (New York and Niagara Falls, 2026): a tentacle takes a patrol boat in front of the Statue of Liberty, then the same creature surfaces under the Horseshoe Falls. 56.8M views on Netflix’s Instagram in eight days. Read the Below case.
• Yoshi eggs (New York, 2026): a self-initiated concept for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, not a Nintendo commission. 5M views, 15M earned media impressions, $0 in paid media. Read the Yoshi eggs case.
• iPhone 17 Pro Max (2025): a self-initiated launch concept, not an Apple commission. 46M+ earned media, 1.2M+ engagements.

Fake out of home ideas: what the best ones share

The same patterns come back across the list. Use them as a checklist.

• A real anchor. BINGE scorched a real billboard, Nissan fixed a real car to a chimney, Garfield and L’Oréal ran on real boards. Our Big Mistakes film steals from a real billboard. The CGI only has to sell one thing.
• Scale with a reason. The Reese’s cup drips because the news is caramel. A giant product with no reason is just big.
• A story in one sentence. A dragon burns a billboard. A thief steals a necklace. If people cannot retell it in one line, they will not share it.
• Low-fi beats polished. The Adidas clip looked like a fan’s phone. Big Mistakes is graded like a security camera.
• Timing. A World Cup win, a film’s opening week, National Caramel Day, Christmas.
• A local symbol. Big Ben, the Merlion, the Gateway of India. Local pride drives shares in the market you care about.
• A series. McDonald’s in three cities, Far East Hospitality across seven hotels, our Oysho films in three cities. Each film is another chance to be seen.

Is the fake out of home trend over?

The format still works. The template does not. In 2023, a giant product next to a landmark stopped the scroll. Today feeds are full of them, viewers assume CGI, and “is it real?” is no longer a hook.

What no longer works:

• Scale alone. A big product on a skyline is now the default, and it gets scrolled past.
• The template everyone copies. In March 2024, Burger King in Ecuador answered a McDonald’s FOOH ad with a giant Whopper under a helicopter and the line “Tired of seeing fake things?” (Ads of the World). When a rival can parody your format, it no longer surprises.
• Pretending it is real. In 2023, Gymbox presented a London bus-roof ad as real. Global and Transport for London said it never ran, and the outdoor industry pushed back hard (The Drum).
• Saying nothing. Leave it unlabeled and fact-checkers may label it for you, as Snopes did with Big Ben. Platforms also ask for labels on realistic altered content, as we explain in our FOOH explainer.

We started with FOOH. Today we lead with anamorphic 3D billboards for big brands and use FOOH as their social extension, the BINGE model: the real screen gives the campaign a moment, the film carries it further. More in how a 3D billboard travels on social.

How to brief your own FOOH ad

One page is enough:

1. One product, one action, one sentence.
2. A real anchor, if you have one: a billboard you booked, a store, an event, a launch date.
3. The place and the moment: a city or landmark, and why now.
4. Where it will run: accounts, platforms, formats, languages.
5. Your rules: disclosure, product claims, and any 3D or CAD files.

Keep the fake out of home video short, with the surprise in the first second: the Adidas clip ran 6 seconds, the Jacquemus clip 8. Production takes 3 to 4 weeks from the approved brief. Our FOOH page shows how we pair films with screens.

FAQ

Who made the Jacquemus fake out of home video?

Ian Padgham, a 3D artist based in Bordeaux who works as Origiful. He also made Maybelline’s lash films and an animated wine bottle tram in Bordeaux for Château de Cérons, often cited as one of the first FOOH pieces.

Was the Maybelline fake out of home train real?

No. The lashes and wands were CGI added to real footage of a Tube train. In March 2024, Maybelline did build a real version, with 3D lashes on Manchester trams.

Are FOOH ads legal, and do they have to be disclosed?

Most markets have no FOOH-specific law. In 2024, Singapore’s ad industry said it had no clear rules yet and advised licensing location footage and checking landmark permissions (Marketing-Interactive). Platform labels and rules against misleading claims still apply. Our advice: let people in on it, and never fake what the product does.

How much does a FOOH ad cost?

There is no fixed price. It depends on the shoot (location, permits, night, drones), the CGI (a rigid product is simpler than characters or liquids), the number of shots, formats and languages, and one film versus a series. The projects KOSMO is built for usually land around €40,000.

What is the difference between FOOH and CGI ads?

FOOH is one kind of CGI ad: a CGI object placed into real street footage and posted on social. CGI ads cover any computer-generated advertising. See our guide to CGI ads.

Is a FOOH ad the same as a 3D billboard?

No. A FOOH ad only exists as a video. An anamorphic 3D billboard plays on a real screen, and people film it themselves. See how anamorphic billboards work.

Planning a FOOH film?

Tell us about the product, the city and the date on our contact page. We come back with the format that fits: a FOOH film, an anamorphic 3D billboard, or both from the same 3D assets. Not ready to commit? Ask for a free concept first.