OOH ADVERTISING

WhatsApp’s innovative billboard activation highlights key features

By our News Team | 2022

Prime Piccadilly Circus site in central London has been chosen by the platform to push its brand story and engage consumers.

Along with Times Square in New York and Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo, London’s Piccadilly Circus is one of the world’s prime sites for out-of-home (OOH) and digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising.

Little wonder, when you consider that by some estimates Piccadilly Circus has around 100-million people passing through this famous intersection each year. Many are wealthy locals, while others are well-heeled foreign visitors out to see the sights of the British capital.

Photo credit: Supplied

Renting the high-profile digital billboards – there have been billboards on the site since 1908 – can set you back US$6-million a year, according to some industry sources.

One of the current OOH activations that is catching people’s attention at Piccadilly Circus is a 3D billboard ad for WhatsApp, which is being described by some marketing industry media outlets as “mind-bending”.

Promotes WhatsApp’s revamped privacy and safety features

It promotes the social media platform’s revamped privacy and safety features, as well as its messaging service.

“Following the introduction of three new features on WhatsApp, this campaign shows how WhatsApp’s features provide interlocking layers of protection and give users full control over the level of privacy they are seeking,” its Global Head of Brand, Vivian Odior said.

“With both outdoor and digital placements, we want to highlight the closeness that’s possible on WhatsApp when you can message confidently and worry-free in a secure space.”

Among the new innovations on WhatsApp that are being graphically illustrated to passers-by are: the ability to make once-off messages ‘disappear’ and with no capability for recipients to screenshot them; updated security features; and a reminder that messages are end-to-end encrypted, meaning no third parties will be aware of them.

You can see the Piccadilly Circus OOH activation here.

The Meta-owned firm has also ‘taken over’ live streaming platform Twitch and online game Roblox in a series of week-long activations to mark the culmination of its long-running promotional push.

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