Brands such as L?Oreal, McDonald?s and Unilever are participating in a test of how out-of-home ads coupled with a mobile activation drive brand recall via placements in a giant interactive soccer game during the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. 

Clear Channel Outdoor, a leading outdoor advertising agency, is using the world?s largest rooftop digital screen and interactive digital totems to drive engagement with ?Le Grand Kick,? a communal mobile game Cannes attendees register to play by tapping one of the NFC and QR code tags around the festival. The rooftop screen will also showcase advertising from a number of brand partners including Samsung, L?Oreal, McDonald?s, Weather Channel, Unilever and YouTube.

?CCO's growing network of digital screens and our 2014 global roll out of Connect has accelerated the metamorphosis of OOH advertising from being the oldest form of advertising to the most modern and creative,? said David Grabert, ?senior vice president, marketing and communications at Clear Channel Outdoor, San Antonio.

?Our mobile capability is opening up an enormous range of creative possibilities resulting in increasing relevance and the corresponding consumer impact and attention. We are the last remaining true form of broadcast.?

Big implications
The ad firm is also demonstrating its global interactive mobile advertising platform Connect, which uses NFC tags or QR codes on advertising panels.

It has just been implemented in the U.S. this month. The global roll out of Connect is expected to reach 175 million consumers monthly across 23 countries on 5 continents by the end of June 2014.

Clear Channel Outdoor has partnered with CURB, for exclusive rights to host the biggest outdoor digital HD screen in Cannes.

Located 12 stories up at Le Grand Hotel, an iconic site on the Croisette and equivalent in size to two double-decker buses, it is visible and unmissable day and night - from the entire Cannes bay and as far away as 3.5 miles. The screen is showcasing the best in OOH advertising, as well as Le Grand Kick.

Powered by mobile interactive technology, the communal game taps into World Cup soccer fever and will allow Cannes Lions attendees to take a virtual "penalty kick" using their mobile phones during one of the 3 daily match slots.

Providing they are in Cannes, and within playing proximity of the Grand screen, players register to take part in the game by simply tapping / swiping their smartphone on one of Clear Channel Outdoor?s Connect tags located around the festival.

Users will be directed straight to the registration page where they are asked to confirm their location, and then proceed to fill in their details and join a virtual queue to take their shot, which works via swiping the ball on a touchscreen phone.

If they click to register and it is not match time or they are not in proximity of the screen, they will be given a message which directs them to the location of the screen and advises them of match times for when they can play.

Connected awareness
The combination of mobile and digital has started to transform the Out of Home industry, creating a mobile-social-Out-Of-Home interaction that has revolutionized the ways in which outdoor advertisers can engage with their customers.

To promote ?Revenge Wears Prada,? the sequel to ?The Devil Wears Prada,? Harper Collins wanted to reach women who had seen the film adaptation of the book but were unlikely to be regular book-buyers by driving pre and post launch awareness via harnessing the book?s position in pop culture.

The use of Outdoor as a high-visibility channel would allow the campaign to be seen by the target audience ? women of all ages, and an integrated campaign ran on Clear Channel UK?s Connect Mobile Platform which included traditional and digital panels with NFC and QR code capabilities.

The creative played on the universally appealing central theme of fashion, and leveraged the Connect Mobile Platform to add another dimension to encourage consumers via a strong call to action to download the first chapter of the book for free on their mobile phone via NFC or QR code. They were also led directly to the Amazon site where they could purchase the book. A map facility also showed the nearest bookstore where they could buy the book.

Likewise, to celebrate this month?s Disney release of Maleficent, a campaign in France ran on 600 Connect-enabled digital totems in 36 premium shopping malls which had a movie theater nearby.

With a simple tap and scan of their smart phone, shoppers had instant access to the film?s trailer and could take part in a Facebook contest to win free movie tickets and DVDs.

?Mobile platforms are the future for advertising and OOH is perfectly positioned to be the amplifier of mobile communications,? Mr. Grabert said.

?OOH creates connectivity with the mobile consumer ? engagement, conversation and transaction,? he said.

Final Take
Michelle is editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York