Billboards are an excellent advertising tool as a person can not help but see them as you are driving or walking by.  Some advertisers take billboards to the extreme using great creativity.  Here are the top 10 creative billboards.

#10 Berger, Natural Finish Colours

A billboard produced by JWT agency from Mumbai, India, which implemented optical illusion to express the message, ‘Natural Finish Colours’, in a clear manner.  The billboard was cut out to look like the painter hanging from the ropes was painting the same color as that of the sky.

#9 Oldtimer Motorway rest stop

Placed at the opening of a tunnel this is a creative billboard by a Vienna, Austria agency.  The billboard is advertising “Oldtimer” a large Austrian motorway rest stop chain.  The billboard states “All you can eat rest stop” as you drive right into the open mouth!

#8 Adidas 2006 World Cup

A giant picture of German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn arched over a road near Munich airport in this Adidas campaign for the build up to the 2006 World Cup.  Sadly, giant Oliver couldn’t do any more than real Oliver could to help his side, who lost out to eventual winners Italy in the semi-finals.

#7 Playboy Wet T-shirt

This Playboy billboard surprised and delighted Germans in 2007. It is an example of using the outdoor weather to affect your advertising campaign.  The slogan on the billboard is “Guys, pray for rain”.  When it does rain the playboy t-shirt turns transparent and the breast beneath are exposed.

#6 The Day After Tomorrow

This really creative billboard is not because of the content but the location.  Created by a Mumbai, India company the billboard was placed half under water in the ocean, keep with the theme of the movie.  For those, that haven’t seen the movie, it’s a film about global disasters which results in the world being submerged in the sea.

#5 Ford Mustang Burnout

Created by Team Detroit this billboard was showcased in Detroit, MI at the Woodward Dream Cruise, the world’s largest one-day automotive event. A smoke machine was installed behind the board, and every few minutes the rear wheel would spin, spewing smoke for the ultimate one-minute burnout.

#4 Calgary International Film Festival

This billboard made by a Calgary, Canada company is advertising the Calgary International Film Festival.  The slogan being: only the best films make it.  To make the billboard more dramatic the company made real water comes out of the eyes as tears.

#3 Bloom Grocery Chain

The billboard on N.C. 150 in central North Carolina emits the smell of black pepper and charcoal to promote a new line of beef available at the Bloom grocery chain. Bloom is part of the Salisbury, N.C.-based Food Lion chain. The billboard shows a fork piercing a piece of meat. A Bloom spokeswoman says the billboard will emit scents from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. every day until June 18. A high-powered fan at the bottom of the billboard spreads the aroma by blowing air over cartridges loaded with fragrance oil.

#2 Nationwide Insurance

Nationwide Insurance pulled out all the stops for this ad campaign.  TM Advertising took over three billboards mounted on the side of the Atlas Building in downtown Columbus, two for a fake company called “Coop’s Paints” and one for its logo and “Life Comes at You Fast” tagline. The middle “Coop’s Paints” billboard spills yellow paint out of the imaginary world of advertising and into reality, covering the bottom of the building, the parking lot below, cars and the parking attendant’s shelter.

#1 McDonald’s sundial

McDonald’s sundial billboard is the perfect example of such creativity and ingenuity. Displayed is their breakfast menu as well as their lunch menu. The sun casts a shadow on each item that corresponds to the time of day you would normally eat it.  Ad agency Leo Burnett, with the help of an engineer, researched the perfect location so that the sundial can create the cool effect.