OOH + Campaigns copywriting examples for ecomm & FMCG brands

Wype

Wype’s attention-grabbing campaign

The line between ads like this and Bart Simpson's "SEX! Now I have your attention..." poster is absolutely paper thin, which is why we <em>love </em>it when brands nail it. To do something that grabs attention, gets across your USP <em>and </em>creates enough curiosity (not to mention free PR) that people discover your brand? That's wicked smart. (Plus, it's rare you get an ad that's really clever <em>and </em>fun to sing to the tune of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHQG6-DojVw">Katie Melua</a>.)

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Dove

Dove’s banging voice of customer campaign

We know there’s a huge amount of irony that something in a copywriting swipe file contains <em>almost zero </em>copywriting whatsoever. But, <em>as per usual, </em>Dove<em> </em>have killed it with this OOH ad campaign based around real, unfiltered feedback from reddit users about their products. And it's <em>kinda </em>copy, in a way. Maybe. Ish.

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Jack Daniel's

Jack Daniel’s oh-so-readable tube ads

Reading Jack Daniel's ads while waiting for the tube to uni is what made Jack want to be a copywriter. So, as cliche as it is, we had to include one in here.

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Spotify

Spotify’s second time lucky OOH ad

This version of the Spotify ad started off as a "Dear Person in LA who listened to Forever Alone playlist for 4 hours on Valentine's Day. You OK?" ad. We much prefer this version.

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Candy Kittens

Candy Kittens’ research-led OOH campaign

We'll be honest, we wrote Candy Kittens off at the beginning as just another celebrity brand flash in the pan. They've consistently proven that wrong, year after year.

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Dash

Dash’s growing-up messaging

We added this in our swipe file (despite kinda missing the wonky voice they had before) because it's such a good example of a brand broadening their messaging post-product market fit to grow. And it worked really, really, <em>reallllly </em>well. They sold 4.9 million cans in July 2025 alone. Saw a 74% uplift year on year. They're on track for £60m+ retail sales in 2026. So we think they'll cope with us missing their wonky voice.

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Rubies in the Rubble

Rubies in the Rubble’s smart positioning copy

We've always felt a natural affinity with Rubies in the Rubble based on our shared love of the word "gooder". So it's hard to tell if we like this copy because it's genuinely good or whether it's because it feels written <em>specifically </em>for us. Either way, we're big fans.

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Beachbum

Beachbum’s smart positioning statement

Full disclosure: this is our work. We know it's a bit self-indulgent to include stuff we've worked on. But we're really proud of this one <em>and </em>it's doing something really handy that you can pinch, so we're holding our noses and including it.

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KFC

KFC’s all-timer of an apology

The GOAT corporate apology statement? We think so. (We know this is in every copywriting swipe file known to man. Sorry. But a banger is a banger.)

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Naked Paper

Naked Paper’s properly clever tagline

We're absolute suckers for a bit of wordplay that serves a purpose. (We're just suckers for wordplay in general, really.) And this new tagline-slash-positioning statement from when Naked Paper rebranded from Naked Sprout is an absolute banger. It's a positioning statement, a joke, a catchy line and a flag in the ground, all in 5 words. Too good. PS. How good is this little snippet from their rebranding announcement? <em>Naked Sprout made sense to us at the time. As a fledgling business our name was fresh, natural, and gave a nod to the fast-growing bamboo in our tissue.</em> <em>B</em><em>ut it turns out not everyone hears “sprout” and thinks “bamboo”. Five years on, and hundreds of questions about brussel sprouts later, we’ve grown as a team and as a business. </em>

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Thinx

Thinx’s taboo-breaking OOH campaign

<p class="font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]">We 💛 a bold, outspoken brand.</p> And in 2016, Thinx ran these taboo-breaking ads on the subway in New York. <p class="font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]">They drove a 2,000% increase in website visits. And annual revenue grew 20x.</p> Not bad, eh?

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Tony's Chocolonely

Tony’s Chocolonely’s banger of an activation

We're big, <em>big </em>fans of this Tony's activation in 2021. They set up a billboard in a shopping centre that was stacked with free full-size chocolate bars. Naturally, people helped themselves. And as the bars disappeared, it revealed a message that said: <em>"There's no such thing as free chocolate. Somebody always pays the price."</em> They got their product into people's hands <em>and </em>drove home their key message about exploitation in the industry <em>and </em>got a load of free press. Properly clever stuff. No notes.

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Patagonia

Patagonia’s “how did they think of this?!” ad

This is Jack's favourite bit of copy ever written. He's waxed lyrically about this in several of our newsletters, on Instagram and to whoever will listen. And to be fair to him, it is an absolute banger.

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Little Freddie's

Little Freddie’s “we see you” OOH ad

There's nothing groundbreaking or new about what this ad is doing. But it's doing it <em>really </em>well. And that's why it's in our swipe file. To remind us that not <em>everything </em>has to reinvent the wheel. Some ideas are tried-and-tested classics for a reason. And making your customer feel seen and understood? That's an all-timer move. (Plus, Jack is currently spending from 6:05pm - 6:20pm cleaning food from his little one's hair, ears, in between his fingers & toes. So we had to include it.)

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La Vie

La Vie’s A+ objection handling OOH ad

There's a handful of post-Oatly brands popping up that are taking that outspoken, playful and brave baton and running with it into new industries. And we <em>love it.</em> (For a while there, brand voice felt like a dying art.) And La Vie are one of those brands that are just killing it with their copy. They've run lots of OOH campaigns that we've loved. But this one is our favourite because it's just so goddamn clever.

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FeverTree

FeverTree’s 10/10 reframing move

We're suckers for copy that isn't just a good bit of copy, but that changes an entire industry in an instant. And in 2005, FeverTree did just that. This was pre-financial crisis <em>and</em> pre-craft boom and consumers were starting to trade up across the board. They were spending more on better coffee, better food, better wine... this idea that you could pay a wee bit more and get something significantly better was becoming mainstream. It was the very early days of the craft boom, basically. <p class="font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]">And so, with customers happily paying £35 for a bottle of Hendrick's, FeverTree asked "why are people paying so much for good gin and then drowning it in cheap tonic water?".</p> And thus, this banger of an ad (and the whole thesis for their company) was born. Love it.

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Lucky Saint

Lucky Saint’s clever messaging judo

<p class="font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]">Full disclosure: one half of this studio doesn't drink. So we've seen, read, and tried pretty much everything the AF beer has to offer.</p> <p class="font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]">And most of it sounds like this: "so good you won't know it's AF." "You won't miss the booze." "Sober never tasted so good."</p> <p class="font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]">And that's alright. Emerging categories have to do the inelegant hygiene work at the beginning before they can go bigger, we get that.</p> <p class="font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]">But sometimes, this kind of copy accidentally puts the absence front and centre. And nobody is drinking alcohol free beer for what it lacks.</p> <p class="font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]">Lucky Saint don't do that. And that's why this ad went straight in our swipe file.</p>

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Gousto

Gousto’s clever way to make customers feel seen

We've got another Gousto ad from this campaign going in the swipe file too. But this one was interesting because it a different approach than the usual "you're too busy to cook" angle that meal kits usually riff on. It speaks more to time-poor foodies than busy parents. That's super smart. Now, the real question is: is this in the swipe file because it's good copy or because Jack has a spice cupboard that is overflowing with <em>definitely not cheap</em> herbs and spices he needed to cook one meal three years ago and felt personally attacked when he read it? We'll never know. (It's definitely both.)

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Patagonia

Patagonia’s 10/10 Black Friday posts

Another day, another bit of Patagonia copy in the swipe file. (Patagonia team, if you're reading this, you don't need a restraining order. Promise.) Now, we all know Patagonia <em>loves </em>using the consumerism of Black Friday to draw attention to their mission. (We’ve talked about <a href="https://dowordsgood.com/how-patagonia-used-a-100-year-old-technique-to-grab-attention/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">that famous “Don’t buy this jacket” ad</a> last year.) And this year's were absolute bangers too. No notes.

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Skyscanner

Skyscanner’s lightning fast OOH campaign

This would have gone in the swipe file anytime (because we're suckers for a good pun and 70s music). But to have done an ad this good with a really sticky headline <em>that also </em>newsjacked Scotland qualifying for the World Cup <em>and </em>did a play on the Scottish team's unofficial anthem <em>and </em>did that play on words in a way that was directly tied to Skyscanner's core messaging <em>and </em>got the ad up lickety-split after the final whistle? Too good. Too goddamn good.

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Spotify

Spotify’s sneakily clever OOH campaign

We initially saved this because we love The Clash and thought it was a clever little play on words. (And really smart art direction to mimic the album colours.) Then, as we were writing this up, we realised there's actually a lot more going on in this ad that we realised.

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Ocado

Ocado’s *really* clever positioning play

This is a weird one to include in the swipe file because we are not fans of that "Everything Carrots" headline at all. That could work so much harder. And yet, the ad is still a banger <em>in spite </em>of the headline because it's so rooted in fully understanding how their customers shop. 9/10 (despite the headline).

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Specsavers

Specsavers’ perfect Oasis reunion gag

Joe sent Jack a blurry (ironic) photo of this on his way to the gig last year. So, so good.

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Yeti

Yeti’s super smart price sensitivity handling

Jack is a bit of a Yeti fanboy, so there's a tiny bit of bias going on here... But the thing we love about this is the way they're using copy to handle price sensitivity without taking about price sensitivity at all. So good.

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Brewdog

The Brewdog ad we (very reluctantly) love

If you've ever read anything we've written before, you'll know that we weren't the biggest fans of Brewdog out there. (Understatement of the year.) But even we had to reluctantly give them their dues for this one, because it's a genuine banger. So as much as it feels like agreeing with Piers Morgan, this bit of copy more than earns its place in the swipe file.

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Good Pair Days

Good Pair Days’ sneaky smart copy

For obvious reasons, we love a copy-heavy ad. And the first time we saw this ad, we both were massive fans of the fact that it didn't feel like a wine club at all. It wasn't that M&S-y voice of grapes and regions and terroir. Nor was it the Brewdog-ification approach of "We're not like other wine clubs". It just felt like a cool brand that was 100% sure of who it is. Straight in the swipe file!

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Rock Face

Rock Face’s 10/10 category judo

Jack is a *massive* fan of Rock Face's products, so it was a happy coincidence that they're good at messaging too. There's loads of stuff we love about this ad, not least of which how brazen it is to run an OOH campaign parodying a huge fragrance house. Love it.

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Surreal

Surreal’s cheeky “famous people” ads

In 2023,  Joe messaged Jack this message: "Mate, check out this cereal brand's copy. It's so good." We've been massive fans ever since.

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Patagonia

Classic Patagonia print ad

It’ll come as no shock that we bloody love Patagonia here at DWG. They basically wrote the playbook on being a mission-led brand. (And they’ve been on our dream client list for years now.) And they ran this full page ad in the NYT on Black Friday in 2011, while every other brand was promoting a big sale or discounts. Absolutely love it.

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Tesco

Tesco’s refreshingly honest ad copy

We absolutely love this ad. Imagine leading the meeting to pitch this idea. "Hey. Well, thanks for taking the time to meet with us today. We're thinking that we're going to tell everyone that our product is cheap and comes in an ugly can..." But this ad is so good because it's so brave and bold. But, even more importantly, it's based in <em>really, really </em>knowing how your customers think about your products.

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