Our target was to reach Belgium’s leading marketing directors, because those are the people with the upper hand in plans for campaigns. We wanted them to attend our presentation where we show that even in these modern times, outdoor is still a very effective medium. But as they are very busy people that receive thousands similar requests a day, we knew an email wouldn't do. So, we had to find another way to get their attention.

With this campaign, we wanted to target each Belgium’s biggest marketing director personally.

As they don’t have the time to listen, we wanted marketing directors to experience for themselves how effective outdoor is. Without their permission, we put a photo of each marketing director on a single billboard along with their name and an email address of JCDecaux. Then we waited for reaction, so they could tell us themselves how effective outdoor still is. They reacted how we wanted: confused, shocked and a little annoyed that people contacted them to know what the purpose was. We responded with an email apologizing for any inconvenience: “we wanted you to experience the effectiveness of outdoor advertising. As you got so many reactions from only one single billboard. Imagine what our entire network could do for your brand!”. We invited them to signup for our presentation. Why wouldn’t they free up some of their time now? After all, they experienced the effectiveness of outdoor for themselves.

Every single one of them booked a presentation, and we reached a response of 100%.

JC Decaux gives presentations to inform clients about the possibilities of outdoor advertising. This year, we focused on the fact that even in these modern times, outdoor is still a very effective medium.

But every year, we struggle with the same issue: Belgium Leading marketing directors (Coca-Cola, Renault...) never have the time to attend our presentations.