Thinking Outside The Box

It has become such a cliche to say “think outside the box.” Few ever really do “think outside the box.” Lately I haven’t seen any advertisements where they “think outside the box.” Designers and, particularly for advertising, marketing/creative directors are expected to “think outside the box”, and may profess to being experienced at “thinking outside the box.” The advertisements that are out on the streets today (by that I am focused more on print ads this time) seem to prove otherwise.

The Toronto Underground

iPod advertising takes over Toronto subway, a MacMinute article, provides great inspiration for “thinking outside the box.” It did for me, and I was glad to have seen the article since I have never made it up to Toronto, nevertheless their subway station.

Going Up

The advertisement that really caught my eye was the “staircase” ad. What use of space. I mean where else do people look when going up the stairs. If they don’t notice the “poster” then they will when they fall right up to it when not paying attention to what their doing. Also take note that all of the ads are also based upon the TV commercial of the dancing silhouettes, which I happen to think is brilliant especially considering the target audience.

They Are Everywhere

Notice how many different ads, all with the same basic layout, for the iPod are plastered in this one station. These are in just a handful of photos and I’m sure there are plenty more that are not shown. Backlit, up the stairs, across the tracks, on the used newspaper bin….

The point is, try something new, think of the possibilities, weigh the options, push the envelope, truely “think outside the box.”

Want to make Thinking Outside The Box a regular feature? So do I. Send us your suggestion, preferably with a link to where the thinking is happening

PS: Oh, I almost forgot. This is post number fifty. Oh yeah!