Journal

Tube trains with eyelashes. Giant barbies. Handbag cars. Hot air balloon beers. The past few years have seen brands and consumers fall hard for CGI-led Fake Out of Home concepts – and for good reason.

What is FOOH?

FOOH (Fake Out of Home) is advertising content that appears to show a brand doing something spectacular in a real-world location – a giant product appearing on a famous landmark, a CGI object interacting with a real street. The goal is to create VFX content so convincing that viewers genuinely ask: did they actually do that? The bolder, the cleverer, the more shareable.

Why photorealism is everything

Our take? The more photorealistic, the better. That doesn’t just mean crowds of people pointing at a CGI object dropped into real footage. It means the object itself is executed flawlessly – lighting that matches the location, shadows cast and reacting as they would in real life, and motion that feels organic and physically believable. The success of a FOOH piece lives and dies in the conversation it generates.

Brewdog at Tower Bridge

When Brewdog briefed us on the Wingman Tower Bridge piece, our goal was impact, disruption and rebellion – hallmarks of the brand. We placed a true-to-size CGI hot air balloon on the Thames, passing through the open bridge. When it went live, a happy coincidence made it even more believable – Tower Bridge had been stuck open earlier that week, causing traffic chaos across the city. Comments flooded in asking whether Brewdog had engineered the whole thing as a PR stunt. The result? Their most-viewed piece of content on Instagram, with over 3 million views.

Nespresso x Liberty: beauty over virality

Not every FOOH piece needs to go viral to deliver value. When McCann briefed us on the Nespresso x Liberty collaboration announcement, the brief was beauty and consistency – not spectacle. We simulated flower trails and coffee movement, matching colours with a bespoke print and tying shapes across other campaign angles. The result was a piece that balanced playfulness with sophistication, perfectly in step with both brands.

Key things to consider when planning a FOOH campaign

Photorealistic CGI is non-negotiable – the quality of the object matters as much as the concept. VFX can serve both disruptive viral campaigns and premium, cohesive content strategies. Proper integration of lighting, shadow and motion is what separates convincing from cheap. And the boldest ideas, executed flawlessly, have the greatest potential for genuine audience engagement.