A billboard reading “GME go BRRRRR” is currently the #2 most liked Reddit post of all time. Through TPS Engage, a platform that enables you to purchase hourly slots on hundreds of thousands of billboards worldwide, the digital billboard was programmatically reserved by a group of madlads from the popular Reddit sub r/wallstreetbets.
How it all began:
The billboard was scheduled to broadcast a 15-second advertisement for 10 plays between 12 and 1 pm on Thursday, January 28. The campaign cost $1,871 in total. When the advertisement first ran. On Friday, images of the billboard were postedon various subreddits. The only subreddit where it didn’t make it was r/wallstreetbets, sadly, because they couldn’t get past the auto-mod.
By Saturday, someone had managed to repost the article they shared on r/wallstreetbets and tagged the original billboard owner. It took off right away, receiving over 200,000 upvotes in a matter of hours. Currently, it has 11,900 comments and 377,000 upvotes.
Image source @defiance
Complete madness ensues.
What it indicated:
For the data nerds out there, there were over 40,000 individuals browsing, making accounts, and submitting campaigns, which caused the WallStreetBets website to break instantly. The billboard video became viral on Twitter as well, with hundreds of other accounts sharing it in addition to the official Reddit account.
Thousands of messages were sent in to be displayed on the billboard, some with messages and creatives of the highest calibre and others with less impressive ones.
Next, what?
Even if it doesn’t materialise, the fact that over 121 individuals supported a ridiculous fundraiser to have a message displayed on the NASDAQ screen proves the impact a strategically placed billboard advertisement can have. All you need to do is have the appropriate message and time.
In addition to all of this, we’ve been excited to see this spur new approaches to leveraging hourly and contextual billboards from media, digital, and creative companies. The suggestions and requests that have been made have been absolutely incredible.
While the GME team were incredibly grateful for the attention and encouragement, we want to reaffirm that the goal has always been to make the out-of-home market more open, user-friendly, and interesting overall. That objective is still relevant today.
