Pondering Over Posters...

[Image taken from here, thaaaaaaaanks]

Recently, TBWA's 'Hello Boys' Wonderbra billboard was voted the greatest poster advert ever created in Campaign's Outdoor Hall of Fame, held in association with the Outdoor Media Centre. Other ads that appeared in the running were the famous army recruitment poster, "Lord Kitchener Wants You" as well as 'Beanz Meanz Heinz' and the Apple iPod silhouette adverts. You can see the 100 posters that were in the running as well as the top 10 here.

While I was looking through the adverts that made the cut it got me wondering, when I think of posters not one of the examples that made the top 10 sprung to mind, in fact nothing sprung to mind. Maybe I wasn't thinking laterally enough, or long enough for that matter, it was fucking frustrating to say the least. As a normal consumer/average person living in London I'm exposed to adverts pretty much all day everyday, on top of that it's part of my job to notice and take note of them, so why couldn't I think of one I thought was great, let alone the greatest?

After a while I decided to do the thing that we always do when we're not sure of something, I went out to the network and asked a few of them the same thing. The responses I got were brilliant, as always [see below] but the same thing seemed to happen in their heads that did in mine, ummming and ahhhhing, and hmmming and haaaing. When I asked Jayga he said "there have been innumerable clever poster campaigns, I just can't think of one" and Kyle said he was "not sure, can't really remember any".

If anything this reiterates a statement we stand stoically by; kids don't think in league times, they don't think about online and offline adverts, posters and TV, they're all just conversations to them. So have them consistently, have them courteously and oh, have a read of the below.

Been a while.

Niceness.

"Not sure can't really remember too many but I remember the Rooney one? Nike did? Dunno if it was a poster or not but I remember the image during the world cup" Kyle, 20, London

"I like the G Star Raw one I think it is, with the world's best chess player on it. I hate G Star Raw but it's different and stuff!" Brandon, 16, Manchester

"The Apple iPod posters circa 2004, the silhouettes with their ipods, that's a fav. And the most memorable/famous for me would be the 'Hello Boys' wonder-bra malark due to the controversy and tinggg." Tamika, 19, Essex

"Well the best poster for me was the Jordan - Wings poster. Advert though, I'm not sure." Oliver, 20, Leytonstone

"The coolest one I can remember is the old ipod ones, with the bright, bold, single colour backgrounds and a silhouette of someone dancing, but you can see the headphone cable of the ipod etc. I thought they were mint." Ben, 22, Manchester

"Limitless. Uno the one I'm talking about? Yeah, that one towers above all of them for me." Hayley, 18, Essex

"There have been innumerable clever poster campaigns. Erm... I like the Orange/T-mobile joint campaigns. It's simple, it conveys the point quickly and simply, it's jovial amd maintains brand identity while being cooperative." Jayga, 22, London

"The YSL OPium perfume advert because it is provocative and alluring and sensual without being outwardly slutty

and its so simple." Dionne, 24, London

"I like rave line-up posters because I love going to raves! :) One of my favourite raves is one that gio goi are helpin a couple of mates who have started to Dj, its bez outa happy mondays sons, its called stepping out, at moho live in manchester." Mike, 18, Glossop