Oohwards 2025 Categories

THE OOHWARDS 2025

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Main awards

These are the most coveted categories, where we honour the best brand, the best agency, and the best campaign!

This is awarded to the most creative and impactful OOH campaign. It could be a simple hoarding, a massive installation, a high-tech innovation – anything under the sun, literally!

This is awarded to the brand who bags the maximum OOHwards this year! Note: You can’t separately apply to this category. The brand with maximum wins across categories will automatically win this!

This is awarded to the agency who bags the maximum OOHwards this year! Note: You can’t separately apply to this category. The agency with maximum wins across categories will automatically win this!

location

From bus stops to airports, from metro stations to cinemas… the world is the canvas for a creative marketer! These categories celebrate exactly that.

Airports provide access to a variety of eyeballs looking around for a distraction, literally! From signages to carousels, it’s a very exciting ad space for brands. This award recognises the best use of airports in the most creative way by a brand.

From creative signs to artwork to complete takeovers – metro stations and metro trains are seeing a lot of exciting ad activity in 2025. This award celebrates the best of the pack.

An average person sees a bus stop, a marketer sees an opportunity! This award is for the campaign that used a bus stop in the most impactful way.

Sports stadiums provide a big canvas to catch the attention of the audience – live and on TV! This category is for the brand that did the most creative campaign using a stadium. It could be cricket or any other sport.

People are heading back to the movies, and so are brands! This award recognises the best OOH ad at the cinemas.

Brands are getting super creative with temporary installations, pop-ups and mini-stores! This category is for the campaign that executed this best!

medium

OOH isn’t a one trick pony – each medium within the OOH world requires a different skill set to master it. These categories identify the best in business across different mediums like billboards, posters, gantries and so on.

You know what never goes out of style? A good ol’ classic signage! This award is for the brand who launched the most impactful billboard or hoarding that appealed to its target audience.

Buses, rails, autos, bikes – you name it, and they are being used in the most creative ways by brands to get their message across. This award celebrates brands who have used public transport to create a splash!

Gantries are a time-tested way to make an impact. This award is for the most impactful use of gantry advertising.

A great poster for the right use case is bang on for effective messaging to a targeted audience. This award is for the campaign that best leveraged posters or banners.

Don’t judge a book by its cover, unless it’s a store – said every customer ever! This award is for the best store facade that is true to the vibe of the brand and does what it’s goal is: to get customers in!

Gone are the days for a plain, vanilla office front. The office facade presents exciting opportunities for branding to both customers and talent. This is for the best office facade.

In-store activations have a super high impact on sales conversion. From good ol’ banners to digital displays to even holograms, a lot is happening in the in-store ad world, and this awards celebrates the best ones!

The humble wall can be a creative canvas for various cool things in advertising. From a big bold message to the use of QR to art to clever placement, this award is for the best use of wall advertising.

Few things are as charming as a hand-painted ad! From walls to windows to beyond, this award is for the most on-point use of a hand-painted display.

digital & new age

Out of home doesn’t mean ‘traditional’. From anamorphic to holograms, a lot is happening in OOH today. These categories celebrate the best of that work!

OOH ads have gotten oh-so-creative, thanks to the flexibility that comes with a digital screen! This award is for the best digital OOH campaign – any location, any theme!

3D and anamorphic features have completely changed the possibilities of what an outdoor ad can do. This award is for the coolest OOH ad that used 3D or 3D anamorphic to make an impact!

CGI and mixed reality have ensured that outdoor spaces can completely transform into a marketing canvas. This award is for the campaign that used a real life location and gave it a memorable twist using CGI or mixed reality.

Drone-led advertising is the shiny new thing, quite literally! From announcements and launches to celebratory campaigns, this award is for the most creative use of drones by a brand.

Holograms are being used to deliver the wow factor – in stores, at launches, on campuses. This award celebrates the best use of holograms for the brand.

Technology has broken the realms of what we thought an outdoor ad could do. From the audio-visual possibilities to 3D to sensory, tech is making outdoor ads even bigger and better. This is for the best use of technology for an outdoor campaign.

Augmented Reality has become a game-changer for outdoor ads and installations. This award is for the most creative use of AR in any type of an OOH campaign.

From smells to sounds to trials – outdoor campaigns are wayyy beyond a plain, vanilla one-way message now. This one’s for the most engaging & experiential OOH ad.

campaigns

These categories cover the most relevant and popular type of campaigns witnessed in 2025, ranging from campaigns created with Regional nuances, or around Social Causes, or for Sporting events, among others.

Personalization and localizing have been great tools for brands to meaningfully connect with regional audiences. This will be awarded to the best regional OOH campaign.

Did you capture an occasion like Diwali, Holi, Mother’s Day, Christmas or anything else with a branded billboard or any other type of outdoor activation? This is awarded to the best occasion themed OOH campaign.

From Olympics to T20, sports fever ruled not just on the playing pitch, but also on the advertising pitch! This will be awarded to the best sports related outdoor ad, linked to any sports or sporting event!

Marketing for movies is becoming WILD! Outdoor ads play a big role in bringing a feel of the movie and building anticipation around a release. Whether digital or traditional, this award is for the best outdoor ad campaign for a movie.

TV shows and web series are no longer the smaller cousins of movies – in entertainment or in marketing. Whether digital or traditional, this award is for the best outdoor ad campaign for a TV show or web series.

This is awarded to the brand which used the outdoor medium successfully to create buzz about a new product or service, while achieving desired results. It includes both launch and relaunch.

Did you capture a topical moment and leverage it by integrating your brand in a clever poster or billboard or anything else off screen? This is awarded to the best moment marketing related message… in the real world!

Out of home installations and activations are fantastic coversation starters. This is the award for the OOH campaign that raised awareness or contributed towards the good of people and society.

Brands often build on each others presence and message using the outdoor medium. From a wholesome message to a sassy retort to starting a trend – everything’s game.

This is awarded to the brand which used the out of home medium to successfully create buzz about a new product or service, while achieving desired results. It includes both launch and relaunch.

Some of the ideas never see the light of day! The reasons can be many, but the creativity deserves to be applauded. If you think you had a stellar OOH ad which didn’t see the light of the day, this is for you. Please ensure you have express approval of all necessary stakeholders to submit this entry, since we could be featuring the winners and the creatives.

creativity

These are categories which showcase a brand’s full range of creativity and celebrates content across a range of thematics like copywriting, humour, placement, data and so on.

The right copy can make people stop and stare at your OOH ad, quite literally. This is the award for the best copywriting on any type of an OOH ad.

Location is undoubtedly the most powerful element of an OOH campaign. This award is for campaigns that made the MOST out of their location, by leveraging it in the most astute and effective way.

It sounds simple, but making someone laugh is often a very difficult thing to do. There is nothing that users find more entertaining than content which can make them laugh. If your OOH campaign tickled that funny bone, this is for you.

A little surprise brand placement or a cheeky, unconventional outdoor ad placement is always a delight! This one’s for the best guerrilla marketing done out of home.

Did you create an OOH campaign mock up that never actually hit the ground, and yet was super convincing? Tell us! This award is for the best “fake OOH” – the kinds that social media often loves!

An interesting thing about OOH campaigns is how they can harness the power of things around them! This award for the out of home campaign that leveraged any local landmark in a memorable way!

We love innovation – in placement, in tech, in message, in materials, anything! Forget the boxes, and tell us why you’ve brought the coolest innovation in outdoor advertising!

Don’t have the moneys to spend on the most premier things? You gotta tap into creativitiy and cheekiness that much more. This is the award for the best OOH campaign within a budget constraint!

Data-driven campaigns can unlock optimised placemenet, optimised copy and optimised ROI! This award is for the best use of data to create an impactful OOH ad.

This is the OOHWARD for the OOH that makes you go ooh! Yes, that’s literally the judging criteria! If you believe your campaign had a certain wow factor that made it stand out, tell us what and why!

If you have executed a truly creative campaign, which doesn’t even fit into any of our mentioned categories, here’s a category for you. Share with us your chosen campaign, and why you think it deserves the out of the box award.

people

A potent tool in marketing is real people – the general public, influencers, celebrities. These categories celebrate campaigns which leveraged this community in the best way possible.

Influencers wield power beyond phone screens. This award is for the best OOH activation using an influencer-led campaign.

Celebrities draw attention and help enhance recall. This award is for the best OOH activation using celebrities.

There’s something about the buzzing energy of a flash mob that works on the ground, and then creates a ripple effect online. This award is for the best use of flash mobs as part of a brand campaign.

Sustainability

Responsible marketers are leading the way with their materials and methods to show how sustainable OOH advertising can be. These categories are a toast to that!

Brands are using thoughtful innovations to create outdoor ads that are sustainable. It’s either the materials, or the practices, and sometimes it even results in beautiful art! This award is for the best OOH campaign using sustainable methods.

Many, many brands have rightly taken up the cause of promoting initiatives that are good for the environment. OOH campaigns are a great way to create awareness around themes that matter. This award is for the best OOH campaign promoting any green initiative.

Beyond India

There is cool work happening outside India, by Indians and non-Indians. We want to celebrate them all with these awards!

Indian talent is making its mark around the world. This award is for the best international OOH activation done by an Indian brand or agency.

This award recognises creativity outside India! This one’s for the best OOH campaign done by any brand or agency headquarted outside India. It includes any type of an outdoor campaign.

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