Since advertising began there has always been a race to create bigger and bolder adverts. By creating' The World's biggest advert' automatically assists in creating free media coverage around the advert itself and is a sure fire recipe for grabbing attention for the brand or product.
Although the Guinness book of records has a certified holder for the ‘worlds biggest billboard' there are lots of other great examples of creative and interesting pieces throughout the world which claim to be one of the world's largest. Here are ten of the biggest:
Nokia wanted to put the fun into sharing locations so to create interest in their mobile navigation products, they built the world's largest signpost and put it up fifty metres into the air, next to London Bridge. People who saw the sign could text in their favourite locations and they would be displayed on the electronic signpost and the arrow would turn into the direction of the location. The Arrow was over two tonnes in weight and was the length of two double decker buses.
The largest billboard on the planet is made from biodegradable and recycled materials. The land of records, Dubai, has made another entry into the Guinness Book of World Records, not with another land reclamation project, but with a 1.5 km long advert. The $3.2 million billboard will be unveiled in the Emirate next spring. The advert will be promoted in 40 different countries over a period of 12 months in an effort to reflect the true colours of Dubai. The billboard is the brainchild of Adrac, a global advertising and marketing agency. The most fascinating feature of this mammoth advert is that it has been made with vented biodegradable and recycled PVC. Designed to be 100 percent eco-friendly the billboard has been made using eco-friendly inks, structure, transportation, cleaning and chemicals. The advert breaks down into 450 10m X 2m sections which are to be assembled just like a jigsaw puzzle. The sections of the billboard fit into two 40-foot shipping containers, which ensure easy transportation of this billboard. The billboard will be funded by 100 sponsors, including 40 premier sponsors.
Created by Street Advertising Services in the UK for the 2011 Wimbledon tournament. SAS painted a picture of Roger Federer's face onto a rugby pitch 70m x 50m. The face was created with laser guided robots, 3,000 litres of paint and industrial paint sprayers. Once completed over 1000 litres of shaving foam were added to Federer's stubble which was then shaved off with a lawn mower to create ‘the world's biggest shave' for Gillette. Welcoming travellers into Vienna for the Euro 2008 football championship, Betfair.com spent four months growing the world's largest advertising hoarding which said, ‘No 1 FOR FOOTBALL AND STILL GROWING'. The advert was grown out of wheat, cotton and marigold plants by farmers on fields which covered the space of fifty football fields!
Located in Arica, in the desert in Northern Chile, Coca-Cola created the world's largest Coca-Cola logo. It was 50m tall and 120m wide but just for fun it was actually made from 70,000 empty Coke bottles! Underneath it reads ‘100 años' (meaning 100 years) as it was made to celebrate the company's 100th anniversary.
Towering above all of Las Vegas, Optimus Prime is crashing through Las Vegas's most iconic structure, the Luxor Las Vegas Hotel and Casino, protecting all of mankind. With piercing eyes and special lighting effects, Transformers has taken over the pyramid on the strip. Paramount/Dreamworks enlisted SkyTag, the innovators of Tall Wall spectaculars, to produce the world's largest building wrap to date, covering the entire side of the Luxor. The mammoth pyramid is 500 feet high, and Optimus Prime is over 100,000 sq. ft.
Although not the first brand to claim its advert can be viewed on Google Earth, the KFC logo is certainly one of the most ambitious. The logo was created in the desert by Rachel, Nevada. It took six days to build and was made up of 65,000 tiles which measured 87,500 square feet. OK, strictly speaking this is a poster not an advert but the lines of difference are blurred. This Poster was created by Sony Music Entertainment in a field close to Heathrow Airport, London. The poster was made out of signmaking vinyl and spanned over 2,700 square metres. It won the Guinness book of records title for ‘World's biggest poster'.
One of the biggest Building side adverts in the world is also one of the funniest. The advert, created in Columbus, U.S, which measures 400 sq metres was created by Nationwide Insurance and advertising a fictitious company called ‘Coop's paints'. The advert depicted the illusion of spilt paint all over the building and car park and parked cars.
Spread over 100,000 Square metres, the Swissair advert was created at Munich Airport out of Spring Barley, which was then mowed and coloured with linseed oil. The advert took four months to grow and prepare.
Although the Guinness book of records has a certified holder for the ‘worlds biggest billboard' there are lots of other great examples of creative and interesting pieces throughout the world which claim to be one of the world's largest. Here are ten of the biggest: