Toyota Billboard – A Climbable Billboard

A good advertisement is not just about pushing a product- it’s about solving a problem. After all, at the core of strong businesses is the desire to change the world in some fashion, not just to make money. When an advertisement comes along and is able to challenge the way its audience sees the world, it promotes the vision of its company. An example of such an ad can be found in the form of an innovative campaign run by Toyota some time back.

The Climbable Billboard – What Is It?

There are multiple layers to this advertisement. First, an incredibly large amount of billboard space was bought depicting the vehicle in front of a cliff face. This works on a traditional billboard level, as the car in front of the cliff is supposed to evoke a feeling of wonder and adventure- all normal stuff for a car ad.

You know those artificial rock walls that can be found inside of recreational sports centers? Something similar to that was created for a billboard advertising the new Toyota RAV4 Hybrid.

While parts of this advertisement indeed resemble your average billboard, don’t be so easily fooled. Unlike your usual billboard with faux 3D elements, the rocks on this billboard are designed to handle the weight of a human body and are fully climbable. The height of this artificial rock wall clocks in at a dizzying a 120ft.

Three professional rock climbers and one brave amatuer climber took on the trial to scale the side of this wall, surrounded on all sides by the towering skyscrapers of New York’s Time Square. Each of the climbers demonstrated their climbing technique to amazed onlookers in real time, encouraging them to go out and seek adventures of their own.

Who’s Behind The Ad?

The ad agency responsible for this campaign is none other than the LA branch of the famed Saatchi & Saatchi. Despite being based out of Los Angeles, they decided the best spot for such a large and innovative campaign would be New York’s Time Square, which has been home to some of the most creative (and expensive) physical media ads over the years.

It was here in Times Square that Saatchi LA were not only able to capture the attention of the denizens of New York, but the entire world as reports of the impressive campaign spread across the internet through articles such as this one.

What Were The Results?

The ad itself stood as the largest outdoor climbing wall ever built in New York city, earning itself a record which will certainly give New Yorkers and record buffs a reason to remember it for quite some time. However in terms of pure fiscal results- the sales of the Toyota RAV4 hybrid in 2016 and 2017 have shot up in comparison to previous years. It’s annual sales figures for 2016, the year in which the ad aired, were the highest in the vehicle’s history.

The campaign was bold enough that famed advertising publication, Adweek, suggested that such an ad may have “redefined the billboard.”

Toyota’s commitment to the message behind their lines of outdoor SUVs was conveyed through the passion that was put into this ad. Given the increased sales figures, it’s only safe to assume that this passion was properly conveyed and inspired many to go on adventures of their own.

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