Dec 10, 2015

THE BILLBOARD THAT KNEW NO BOUNDARIES
In the out-of-home (OOH) advertising business, acquiring a single billboard for 1 month is considered a modest media buy. In such a scenario, clients certainly expect a higher return on investment than other advertising media like television or radio. But few advertisers would calculate that 1 board times 28-days equals tens of millions of impressions. OOH does tend to outperform other media as a generator of earned media and social engagement. But there are limits, conventional wisdom says, on how much conversation even the highest-performing billboard can yield.

Earlier this month, a hiphop superstar sent conventional wisdom packing. Drake's one-month, one-billboard media buy detonated an explosion of earned media, racking up more than 86 million impressions in a matter of days.

What follows is an account of how and why it happened. We share the inside backstory of the most viral billboard in history, and reveal some data and analysis to help marketers and media professionals better understand the power of OOH advertising as a launchpad for earned media.

THE STORY
When Universal Music Canada executed a media buy on Clear Channel Canada’s out-of-home network on behalf of their client, Toronto rap mogul Drake, they didn’t blanket the city with billboards or dominate a subway station. Universal quietly bought a single billboard for 28-days, and selected a strategic location aside a busy expressway.

As the sun rose over Toronto’s Gardiner Expressway on the morning of Wednesday, November 4th, Universal’s billboard went live. On it were just 3 words, a number, and a simple graphic.



The billboard didn’t feature a glam shot of the star, or pitch his music or merchandise. Its cryptic message didn’t even mention Drake explicitly. But fans instantly understood that “The 6 God is watching” was a telegraph from Toronto’s biggest entertainment export.

For those unaware, “The 6” is Drake’s affectionate moniker for his beloved hometown, Toronto. Why “6” you ask? Toronto’s main area codes are 416 and 647. If you’re seeing a numerical pattern, so did Drake. Finally, who is “The 6 God,” you ask? That would be Drake himself. Drake, Drizzy, Aubrey, 6 God: He’s a man of many names.

By lunchtime, curious fans started taking notice. A few took their intrigue to Twitter and Instagram, where they shared pixelated photos of the billboard, no doubt taken as they drove by on the Gardiner Expressway. Throughout the day, the chatter simmered. A speculative consensus emerged: This was a signal from Drake himself that release of his anticipated new album, “Views From The 6,” was finally near.

That afternoon, things heated up. Toronto radio stations and blogs started retweeting fan photos of the billboard. At 5:00pm, Drake himself noticed the fan chatter and Instagrammed a photo of the board - a cropped version of an earlier fan photo - with the caption, “Be home soon.” (Drake later removed the photo but swopped out his Instagram profile pic for a higher-quality shot of the billboard with Toronto’s CN Tower in the background.)

That evening, the story went from kids playing with matches to five alarm inferno. Large media outlets published articles on the billboard, speculating about its enigmatic message. Camera crews and photographers were showing up at the billboard as though it were the site of a crashed UFO. Journalists and bloggers were calling the offices of Universal Music and Clear Channel Canada, asking for comment. Headlines like, “What’s The Deal With This Drake Billboard In Toronto?” and “Drake Posts Mysterious '6 God' Billboard in Toronto” hit the homepages of Complex Magazine, MTV, and Billboard Magazine. Canadian television station CityNews covered the story on their primetime news program. The next morning, roughly 24-hours after the billboard went live, the social media buzz peaked. Pitchfork, Time, GQ, MuchMusic, CBC, Elle, and other outlets published articles on the billboard and weighed in on the social media conversation. In this second wave, the story had taken on a new dimension. Beyond the original “Drake’s mysterious billboard” angle, coverage now included the “Drake billboard goes viral” angle. Now fuelled by mainstream media coverage, a blistering backdraft of photos, tweets, retweets, likes, shares, and comments scorched the web. By 10:00am, Twitter mentions reached more than 700 per hour.

http://clearchannel.ca/drake-viral-billboard/