09.01.09

When an account executive is standing alongside Dallas North Tollway and shouting at the top of her lungs at a man standing on a billboard, you know you’re executing a fun idea.

As part of an ad campaign for Austin Ranch, a new apartment community in North Dallas, we were asked to create a series of eye-catching billboards to help brand a casual, natural lifestyle. The billboard needed to evoke the feeling of a small town, plus rustic pleasures like hiking. And, of course, it had to be noticed by listless rush hour commuters.

With billboards, you have maybe 10 words to work with. Tops. Any more, and the text gets too small to read while driving. To make it worse, those 10 words are probably the same 10 words you’ve ignored on every single billboard that vied for your attention today. To differentiate our straightforward message from the rest, we decided to add another dimension. The third one.

That’s where the mannequin came in. And his dog.

We assigned him the thankless job of sitting atop the billboard 24 hours a day. The goal is to grab that “What the…?” moment when drivers spot a human shape 50 feet in the air. While that alone would have been enough to get the fleeting attention needed to deliver our message, someone pointed out that we probably don’t want anyone calling the police about a potential suicide. To solve this, the mannequin got a dog.

A lesson in advertising mannequins: he had a serious case of Uncanny Valley going on. Waxy skin, creepy vacant stare. Up close he was not your ideal spokesmannequin. He was engineered to be seen outdoors from a distance. The skin reflects natural light in a way that makes it appear more “skin-like,” and an application of makeup gives the impression of a face when seen from 50 feet away. The ad just needed the impression of realism, not photorealism.

For his outfit, we chose a simple flannel ensemble to build on the place-wear-you-can-go-for-a-hike-before-breakfast image.

The shouting account executive scene came while setting up the final billboard. Real humans slouch. Mannequins don’t — unless you force them, which is what she was directing. In retrospect, a cell phone might have been a good idea. But when all was completed, Austin Ranch had itself an effective, noticeable, and playful billboard.