Orlagh Keane, Client Director, Source out of home, with this week’s Out \ Look on Out of Home
Meeting the Moment at the Vhi Women’s Mini Marathon
Every year, the Vhi Women’s Mini Marathon changes Dublin for a few hours. Streets that people usually pass through become part of the route. Footpaths become viewing points. Familiar corners and city centre stretches take on a different energy because the day belongs to the thousands of women moving through them.
That is what makes the event such a strong platform for Out of Home. It does not sit behind closed doors or stay within a venue. It happens in public, across the city, with participants, supporters, volunteers and passers-by all becoming part of the atmosphere around it.
Vhi’s long-standing role as title sponsor was once again visible across the event environment this year, with Outdoor used to speak to participants in the places where the day was actually unfolding. Planned by Spark Foundry and PML, the sponsorship gives the brand a clear association with the event, but OOH is what brings that association onto the street, close to the route and into the shared public experience.
That distinction matters. Event-led Outdoor is not just about placing media near a busy occasion. It is about understanding how people are moving, what they are likely to be feeling and what sort of message has a right to meet them there. Around a participation event like the Women’s Mini Marathon, the audience is not simply passing by. They are part of the thing itself.
Vhi’s creative around this year’s event understood that well. Messages such as “You got this, Ladies!” and “Dublin is all YOURS today!” spoke directly to participants as they moved through the city. “Good luck today, ladies! Good luck tomorrow, legs!” brought a bit of knowing humour that runners and walkers would recognise immediately, particularly anyone already thinking about the stairs the next morning.
The Baggot Street creative added a nice extra layer of context, with “She is the RUNNING queen, FAST and sweet, over BAGGOT street” turning a location on the route into part of the message. That kind of detail is small, but it makes a difference. The line only really works because of where it appears, and that is often where Outdoor is at its strongest. The location is not just a place to hold the message. It becomes part of the message.
For an event like this, that level of relevance is important. The Women’s Mini Marathon carries different meanings for different people. Some are running for a time, some are walking with friends, some are remembering someone, some are raising funds, and many are doing a bit of all of that together. In that context, the right message can add something to the day rather than simply occupy space around it.
The wider event environment also carried other relevant brand and cause-led messages. Planned by EssenceMediacom/PML, Leapmotor’s activity aligned neatly with the language of movement, with “Walk, jog, run or LEAP” connecting the brand to the energy and participation around the day. Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, planned by Media 365/Source out of home, also had a visible presence in the Women’s Mini Marathon environment, with creative from Publicis reflecting the role major public participation moments can play in bringing attention to organisations rooted in support, solidarity and awareness.
That mix of title sponsor activity, adjacent brand messaging and public-good communication is part of what makes major participation events so valuable from an OOH perspective. They are not simply gatherings of people. They are public moments with a particular mood, a clear pattern of movement and an audience that is emotionally engaged in what is happening around them.
We have seen the same principle across other major public occasions, from Irish Life Dublin Marathon activity planned around the shape of the route, to cause-led campaigns around Darkness Into Light and the Very Pink Run. In each case, the strength of Outdoor comes from understanding the occasion properly, not just being close to it.
That point is especially important in the context of women’s sport and women-led participation events. The Vhi Women’s Mini Marathon is one of the great fixtures in the Irish public calendar because it brings women of all ages, backgrounds and abilities into the city in a way that is visible, positive and communal. For brands, that visibility should be treated with care. The opportunity is not just to be seen by the audience, but to show up in a way that feels considered and relevant to the day.
At PML Group, this is how we think about event-led planning. The starting point is not just where the media can go, but what the day looks like from the point of view of the people taking part. Where are they gathering? How are they moving? What are they seeing around them? What will feel useful, encouraging or welcome in that setting?
For an event built around thousands of women taking ownership of Dublin for the day, Outdoor has a natural role to play. It gives brands a way to be present in the public spaces where the event is being felt, not as a layer sitting outside the experience, but as part of the city around it. The strongest messages in these moments are the ones that understand why people are there in the first place, and meet them in the right way.
Red Bull Soapbox Race Attracts Thousands for Dynamic Spectacle
More than 35,000 spectators flocked to Stormont Estate, Belfast as Red Bull Soapbox Race brought gravity-fuelled entertainment, wild creations and high-speed chaos to the city.
By combining smart placement with carefully selected formats, this OOH campaign planned by Richmond Marketing, PHD and PML NI delivered strong visibility across Belfast in the lead-up to race day.
Backlit portrait panels and 96 sheet formats provided both scale and continuity, ensuring consistent presence across the city. To maximise impact, premium wraps were utilised in the heart of Belfast, positioned on either side of City Hall and dominating some of the busiest pedestrian areas, capturing significant footfall.
This was further supported by targeted placements near student areas, helping to increase relevance among younger audiences.
A coordinated digital presence extended both reach and flexibility, with formats including:
- Adshel Live and Station Live panels to capture commuters throughout the day
- Arthur Square activations at weekends to tap into peak city centre footfall
To take things further, dynamic digital formats were incorporated, featuring a live countdown to race day on screens, driven by Liveposter. This created feelings of urgency and excitement, updating in real time as the event approached and turning everyday journeys into a reminder that the race was just around the corner.
Hosted by former Ireland rugby international Andrew Trimble and social media personality and television presenter Kayleigh Trappe, the event saw 40 teams from across the island of Ireland tackle the epic downhill course in front of thousands of excited spectators. Throughout the afternoon, homemade machines launched over jumps, powered through water hazards and navigated ramps and obstacles along the challenging route.
Red Bull Soapbox Race was last held on the island of Ireland in 2016, when 30,000 spectators turned out in Cork for the event. Stormont Estate previously hosted the race in 2008.
Originally launched in Belgium in 2000, Red Bull Soapbox Race has since become a global phenomenon, bringing creativity, entertainment and fearless downhill racing to cities around the world.
Planet OOH: Tay Story
Ahead of Disney and Pixar’s upcoming Toy Story 5, a series of billboards appeared carrying little more than the familiar blue sky and cloud backdrop, Disney and Pixar branding, and two large yellow letters: TS. On the face of it, that was simple enough, Toy Story shorthand. For Taylor Swift fans it was never going to be that straightforward.
The fun was in the double-read. The creative was unmistakably Pixar, but the TS lettering also pointed towards Taylor Swift, the 13 clouds in the background giving fans a detail to pick apart, aligning with her longstanding association with the number as her ‘lucky’ numerical. It was simple enough to work as a teaser for the film, but loaded enough to become something else entirely once the right audience got hold of it.
The campaign appeared across high-profile urban locations including Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, San Francisco, London, Paris, and Toronto, with the media choice keeping the idea deliberately public. Large format Outdoor gave the tease scale, but it also gave fans something physical to find – a clue placed out in the world, waiting to be photographed, shared and argued over.
That is where the campaign really leaned into the strength of the medium. Outdoor can still make something feel discovered, particularly when the creative gives just enough away to start a conversation. In this case, the billboards became the bridge between the street and the timeline, turning a simple public tease into online discourse as fans pulled apart the initials, the clouds and the possible Swift connection.
The reveal then moved to digital OOH, with a dynamic countdown appearing in Times Square. When it ended, it confirmed that Swift had written and produced a new original song, “I Knew It, I Knew You,” with Jack Antonoff for Toy Story 5. By then, the announcement already had people waiting for it. The Outdoor had done more than carry the reveal – it had created the thing people were talking about before the reveal arrived.
