The Challenge
ReCar had never run an OOH campaign before. There was no agency relationship, no creative precedent to build from, and a tight timeline to get into market before the “harvest season”; one of the most competitive car-buying periods of the year.
The automotive advertising landscape didn’t make it easier. Stock cars, keys, smiling faces; the same visual language everywhere. Breaking through that noise meant doing something deliberately different, with only a brand guide for colour and typography as a starting point.
Visual Showcase
My Role
As project lead, I owned the campaign from brief to final asset delivery. That meant developing the creative concept, writing the copy, presenting to stakeholders, and directing the internal designer through to final production.
With no agency budget, I built a custom AI creative director agent to support ideation and concept development; accelerating the process without sacrificing strategic rigour. The AI informed the thinking; every creative decision was mine to make and defend.
The
Approach
The creative process started with a structured conversation with a custom-built AI creative director agent; working through audience insights, campaign objectives, resource constraints, and the core creative challenge: how do you stand out in a market saturated with the same visual language?
Three concepts emerged from that process. The winning direction leaned into emotional storytelling; bold copy that spoke directly to the friction points of car buying, with no cars in sight. No stock photos. No keys. No forced smiles.
The concept was presented to the CEO and Director of Sales. There was no pushback; they were ready to do something different, and the creative matched that ambition. From there, I developed all campaign copy and creative direction, working closely with the internal designer to bring the assets to life across every OOH format.
The Outcome
ReCar’s first ever OOH campaign launched July 4, 2025 in Moncton, New Brunswick and Halifax, Nova Scotia on billboards, bus panels, mall murals, mall stairs, and light post wraps.
Compared to the same period the previous year, the results were measurable:
★ 14% increase in website traffic
★ 25% increase in returning users
★ 22% increase in organic search
The results made the case for more. The campaign expanded to additional cities, including Saint John, Fredericton, and additional placements in Moncton, validating both the creative direction and the media strategy.
For a brand’s first major out-of-home push, built without an agency, on a tight timeline, with one internal designer, those numbers reflect what happens when creative is rooted in something real.
Ready to talk about what a campaign built around real customer insights could look like for your business?