The Best 3D Billboards

Especially in our era of digital media, advertisements which utilizes real-life 3D space are often overlooked by creative agencies. Billboards offer advantages and freedom that other mediums such as banner ads won’t be able to compete with. Here are some of the best and most creative examples of 3D billboards from a variety of companies and industries.

Donatos Pizza

The most impressive part of this billboard is the fact that they’ve actually teamed up with another advertisement. Consumers are used to advertisements competing with each other, each in their own little separate pieces of the world. When two advertisements end up crossing paths like this the result is an unusual but unique synergy which ends up benefitting.

It doesn’t stop here though, Donatos has actually teamed up to do similar ads for their pizza with other brands. The fact that they were able to coordinate this level of cross promotion not just once, but multiple times, is astounding.

Hairclub

Compared to some of the other selections on our list, this ad doesn’t necessarily push the boundaries of what can be done with 3D billboards. Compared to lavish and impressive set pieces on some of the other billboards, this ad’s simplicity shows that creating an effective 3D billboard doesn’t necessarily require a huge budget.

Quitplan

If one were to take a moment to really look at the actual graphics of the billboard, they would quickly realize that it is comprised entirely of some plain text on top of a colored background. It seems like a lot more is going on here thanks to the 3D cigarette butt under the sign, but this billboard is the picture of simplicity. The majority of the ad is actually in the cigarette butt itself- the sign conveys the information it needs to convey but the eye is naturally drawn to the cigarette due to the contrasting light color compared to the billboard.

Galavant

Cars and planes “breaking through” the billboard are a commonly recurring theme when you look at many 3D billboards. A horse however is a new spin on the old formula. While the visual interest and excitement of something approaching the audience is still there, the horse, night, and fantasy environment aren’t something people are as used to seeing and make it stand out.

Fallsview Casino

There’s a certain magic about big things that shouldn’t be big and small things that shouldn’t be small. When we end up seeing something that isn’t the size we’ve come to expect, it invokes a sense of wonder and giddy. This concept is used frequently in film and many amusement parks to great measure. Thus, the concept of making a giant ad out of a small commonplace object does well to capitalize on this idea.

The Peanuts Movie

While most other “crashing through the billboard” ads simply stick out the front of a thing, this one goes a step further and actually makes it appear to destroy the ad. Similar types of ads also don’t usually have a good reason for the subject of the ad to be coming out the front- what is it moving towards? Those familiar with The Peanuts series of comics and cartoon shorts though will recognize this billboard as a small recreation of one of the more famous strips. Even for those not familiar with the brand, it’s still visually interesting and does a good job of conveying a sense of excitement about the movie.

Absolut

Ever gone to a furniture store just to get inspiration from how they’ve set up their mockup living spaces? There’s something cool about seeing dioramas, how perfect and frozen in time they appear to be. This Absolut ad invokes the same spirit while also adding in a different layer of visual interest, the 90 degree angle of the furniture.

Much like a piece of art conceived by MC Escher, the rules of gravity just don’t seem to work the same way on this ad. Drivers will inevitably be drawn to the piece out of curiosity and wonder, thus inadvertently exposing themselves to the Absolut brand.