How a 3D billboard travels on social: from one screen to 3B+ views

The screen is the source

A traditional billboard is seen by the people who walk past it. A 3D billboard is filmed by them. That single behaviour changes the economics of the media buy: the screen is no longer the audience, it is the source of the content. Across our campaigns the result is more than 3B earned and owned media views.

The three waves

The reaction videos. People film the screen and post it. This is the first wave, and it starts the day the screen goes live. It is earned, unpredictable, and the most credible of the three, because it is not the brand posting.

The brand cut. The brand posts its own film of the screen, shot properly, on the launch day. This is the owned wave. It gives the reaction videos something to point to.

The FOOH version. The same 3D scene placed into real footage of a street or landmark, cut for the feed. This is the wave that reaches people who were never near the screen. It is produced from the same assets as the billboard, so it is cheap relative to what it adds. The FOOH page shows how the curve builds.

What makes a screen get filmed

• A viewpoint where people stand still: a crossing, a mall atrium, a station concourse.
• A moment with a clear edge: the product crosses the frame, and people know when to press record.
• A loop short enough to catch in one clip.
• A product doing something, not just being there. The Miele HydroClean building cleaned itself. That is a story in ten seconds.

Plan the waves at the storyboard

The mistake is to plan the screen and hope for the rest. The brand cut and the FOOH version are decided at the storyboard stage, because they use the same scene, the same product model and the same timing. Deciding them after the render means rebuilding.

Measure what you can

Reaction videos can be tracked by hashtag, location tag and brand mention. The brand cut and the FOOH film have their own numbers. Together they give the campaign a figure the media buy alone never had. We put the numbers we can source on every case, with where they come from.

The honest limit

Not every 3D billboard goes viral, and nobody can promise it. What can be planned is the number of chances: a screen people film, a cut the brand posts, a FOOH film that travels on its own. Three waves instead of one.

Start with the screen

If you have a screen in your plan, send it to us. We come back with a free static concept within 72 hours and a view on which of the three waves your screen can carry.