89 Of The Most Creative Billboard Designs

On average, Americans spend 10 hours and 50 minutes per week in their car, the 2019 Daily Ride Index suggests. That means we've all got plenty of time on our hands to look through the window and let our eyes rest on the landscape... until they settle on a billboard.

Zoom in, zoom out, these two seconds are where brands get the opportunity to convince you that you can’t live without trying a new bacon whopper. But while most of these so-called ‘out of home’ ads are tacky, way too bright, and plain boring to get us thinking about the thing they're selling, a few of them are the exact opposite.

So, this time we are off to a walk in the smart, creative, and ‘this is just brilliant’ billboard park where ads are like artworks themselves. Mind-bending, interactive, dimensional, reactive to weather, light or darkness, they totally mess with our senses. Let’s give a big round of applause to all the creatives drained from brainstorming benders and advertising agencies who managed to pitch their ideas to the clients, thanks to whom billboard advertising has now been made great again.

Psst! After you’re done, don’t forget to check out Bored Panda's previous post with 50 excellent examples of ingenious bus advertising.

#1 Capsico Sauce: Burning Hot. Dabur, India

Image credits: Inter Publicity

#2 BBC’s Dracula Billboard Confuses People During The Daytime But Grabs Attention At Night

Image credits: bbccreative

#3 Chilled Mars Billboard

Image credits: BBDO

#4 Save Some Money And Save The Environment

Image credits: atomicprops

#5 These McDonald's Billboards Doubles As Bee Hotels To Support Biodiversity

Image credits: McDonald's Sverige

#6 LEGO 3D Billboard

Image credits: Pascal Gagnon

#7 Double Grill & Bar Creative Billboard Advertising

Image credits: RA Voskhod

#8 TV Rain (Russian TV Channel) - Rain Will Wash Away The Lie

Dozhd means rain in Russian. That’s why we placed this simple message on a billboard: Dozhd washes away the lie.

We just had to wait for the lie to be washed off - literally.

For one month a web camera was streaming a video of the billboard on the main page of the channel’s website. When it rained, everyone would get a 50% discount on a subscription.

Not a single national news media outlet mentioned the billboard.

Image credits: Voskhod

#9 An Ad In Warsaw, Poland

Image credits: Cikago

#10 Corona Oceans Week Billboard With Wave Made From Plastic Gathered In UK And Chris Hemsworth On The Surfboard

Image credits: Wieden & Kennedy

#11 Coca-Cola Hand Knitted Billboards In Serbia Using Traditional Knitting Techniques

Image credits: McCann Serbia

#12 Clever Weather Billboard

Image credits: DRTsorak

#13 Brilliant Ad

Image credits: Colgate

#14 Earth Day's 2019 Theme Is "Protect Our Species". Even The Ones We Are Afraid Of! How Are You Respecting The Planet Today?

Image credits: atomicprops

#15 Designers Used McDonald's Arches As Direction Markers To The Restaurants

Image credits: Cossette

#16 Red Hat - People-Powered Billboard

Image credits: Baldwin&

#17 The Milwaukee Brewers Have An Opening Day Billboard That Unravels A Little Each Day As The Season Approaches

Image credits: PM_ME_YOUR_MOMS_NAME

#18 This Tiny Ant-Man Billboard At A Bus Stop

Image credits: camusfearna

#19 The Billboards That Came From Nature And Went Back To Nature For Toyota Prius Ad Campaign

Image credits: adsoftheworldvideos

#20 BBC World - See Both Sides O The Story

Image credits: BBDO New York

#21 Hotwheels Loop

Image credits: Daniel Andrés Mora Lugo

#22 The New Mini Incredibly Safe Billboard

Image credits: Times OOH

#23 Saw This Sign Advertising A Black Hole Planetarium At The Liberty Science Centre. Definitely The Best Billboard I’ve Ever Seen

Image credits: clear channel creative team

#24 Rust Free Knife Ad In Vienna, Austria

Image credits: Heimat

#25 Calgary Stampede 3D Ad

Image credits: frog3d

#26 Bojangles' Flour

For a brand-building idea that would create some online buzz and engagement during last week’s NBA All-Star Weekend, LGA created an eye-catching billboard for Charlotte-based Bojangles’ Famous Chicken n’ Biscuits that simulates one of basketball’s most popular pregame rituals and the famous biscuits’ most important ingredient. The billboard celebrates the chain’s stars of breakfast – Master Biscuit Makers – by showcasing the dramatic image of a real biscuit maker tossing flour in the air like an athlete. To add to the action, the billboard periodically shoots simulated flour, using a fog machine, to signify that Bojangles’ bakes its made-from-scratch biscuits every 20 minutes.

Image credits: quantzphoto

#27 No Caption Needed

Image credits: atomicprops

#28 Women's Aid - Look At Me

In a world first for digital out of home Women’s Aid created an interactive ad which shows how we can all make tangible changes in the fight against domestic violence. The creative employs a unique use of facial recognition technology which allows the interactive screens to recognise when people actively pay attention to an image of a bruised woman. Those who look at the screen get feedback via a live video feed that runs along the bottom of the ad as a visual ticker-tape, registering an increasing number of viewers. As more people notice the image of the women her bruises slowly heal, demonstrating to passers-by that by taking notice they can help confront domestic violence by not turning a blind eye.

Image credits: WCRS

#29 Vw Polo Telegraph Pole Billboards

Image credits: DDB, Sydney, Australia

#30 Pond's Facial Wash

Image credits: Ogilvy & Mather

#31 Fun Magnet Billboard At Yonge & Dundas In Toronto

Image credits: fallsviewcasino

#32 Sea Shepherd Switzerland

Image credits: serviceplan

#33 Lost In Space Ship Crash Billboard

Image credits: dailybillboardblog

#34 Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital - We'll Put You Back Together

Image credits: Extra Credit Projects

#35 Toyota Times Square Live-Climb Event

Image credits: Saatchi LA, USA

#36 Funnel Campaign

Image credits: Grip Limited

#37 "See, I Can Draw The Sky..."

Image credits: Archy Sinatrya

#38 Billboard Turned Into Bug Trap For Insecticide Spray Ad

Image credits: PublicisItaly

#39 Denver Water Billboard

#40 Sick Legend Of Zelda Street Art

Image credits: jakebrotrill

#41 This Companies Campaign Utilizing Only Half A Billboard To Get Their Point Across

Image credits: Nemothe1st

#42 Short Life

Caption: would you trade your life for a few minutes less in traffic? Do not accelerate to get faster at the end of your history. Be a coherent and conscious motorcyclist.

Image credits: Executiva Propaganda

#43 This Tylenol Ad

#44 3m – Tape Holds Billboard

Image credits: 3M

#45 The Way This Billboard Uses Its Pole To Make A Really Big Straw

Image credits: moonpies4everyone

#46 Excellent Billboard

Image credits: Tottenheimer

#47 Are You Team Chick-Fil-A Or Team Popeye's?

Image credits: atomicprops

#48 When Leaving Early For Happy Hour Doesn’t Go As Planned

Image credits: atomicprops

#49 Happy Beer Can Appreciation Day

Image credits: atomicprops

#50 A Visually Stunning Film Deserves Visually Stunning Billboards

Image credits: MidnightOilAgencyUS

#51 Creation Museum

Image credits: answersingenesis

#52 Philco Power

To show the power of the Philco Rapid 1000 W Powder Cleaner, sold on the Casa & Video store network, Propeg created an impact action in Rio de Janeiro where we see the vacuum cleaner sucking up much of the building's gable.

Image credits: Propeg, Brazil

#53 Haste Passes, Consequences Remain

Brazil is one of the recordist countries in motorcycle accidents in the world. Therefore, the importance of producing creative, impactful and efficient advertising campaigns have the goal of raising awareness, to educate bikers about traffic growing. After all, a thousandth of a second can have consequences for the rest of your life.

Image credits: Executiva Propaganda

#54 United Cooling Popsicle

Image credits: Trozzolo

#55 Ferdinand 3D Billboard

Image credits: Proof

#56 Carnival - Current Temperature - This Billboard Ran In NYC From January To March

Image credits: Arnold Worldwide, USA

#57 Coca-Cola - Refresh

Image credits: Moroch USA

#58 Outside The Box

Image credits: BBDO

#59 KitKat Break Slogan

Image credits: Jeremy Carr

#60 Paralen. The Head Pinch Campaign

Image credits: Prodigious

#61 Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital Campaign

Image credits: Extra Credit Projects

#62 Ipod Billboard Ad

Image credits:

#63 Billboard In Houston

Image credits: signad

#64 Luke Cage Watching Over 10th Ave In NYC

Image credits: redspider74

#65 This Upside Down Billboard In Kings Cross, Sydney, Australia

Image credits: readerbynight

#66 Chocolate Billboard In Mumbai, India

Image credits: ogilvy&mather

#67 The Most Incredible Billboard Collaboration I've Ever Seen

Image credits: Jonnyspringfield

#68 Ghosts

Image credits: Cosette

#69 We Have An Eye For Halloween And Great Billboards

Image credits: atomicprops

#70 McDonald's Hand-Drawn Chalkboard Menu Style Billboards In Poland

Image credits: Good Looking

#71 Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, 3D Billboard

Image credits: Midnight Oil

#72 Us Movie 3D Scissors Billboard

Image credits: dailybillboardblog.com

#73 Coke Billboards That Point You To The Nearest Recycling Bin

Image credits: Publicis Italia

#74 Rampage Building Wraps

Image credits: Concept Arts, USA

#75 Blue Cross Giant Pacifier

To drive home the idea of maternity coverage, Copacino worked with Premera Blue Cross and local fine artist Jason Puccinelli to affix a giant pacifier to an outdoor board in the downtown Seattle area.

Image credits: Copacino+Fujikado

#76 United Heating & Cooling - Baby Light My Fire Campaign

Image credits: Trozzolo

#77 The Billboard Of National Debt I Pass Everyday

Image credits: GenericException

#78 Toyota Vehicle Of Change

The Toyota Mirai eco-billboard campaign will help clear the air. Thirty-seven billboards in Los Angeles and San Francisco will create 24,960 square feet of pollution scrubbing surface and reverse the equivalent of 5,285 vehicles worth of nitrogen dioxide (NOx) emissions per month. NOx is a key ingredient in acid rain and smog.

Image credits: Rainbow Kirby

#79 McCafé Snow Report

Image credits: Cossette

#80 Inside / Outside Campaign

Image credits: Grip Limited

#81 Austin Gets It... Delivered

Image credits: The Shop agency

#82 Ad For Panasonic's Nose Trimmer

Image credits: Saatchi & Saatchi

#83 “Realty Boxes”

Image credits: MNFX

#84 Our Billboard Created By Johnson Group Was Nationally Recognised At The 2017 Obie Awards For Outdoor Marketing

Image credits: chattanoogazoo

#85 This Billboard In Portugal

Image credits: KakNap

#86 Drove By One Of The Best Billboard Ads I've Ever Seen This Morning

Image credits: funran

#87 Ripley's Aquarium

Image credits: Brandon Tillman

#88 Ad For Michigan State University 50th Anniversary

Image credits: Extra Credit Projects

#89 Naval Museum Billboard

Image credits: Trigger, Calgary