Slick Rick Explains His New Innovative Ad Campaign With Outfront Media

Outfront Media Inc. unveiled ‘Slick Rick Is Art,’ its latest digital video advertising campaign designed by Outfront Studios, the company’s in-house creative boutique.
The new campaign was launched to celebrate hip-hop icon Slick Rick’s newest debut singles, “Can’t Dance To A Track That Ain’t Got No Soul” and “Midas Touch.”
Inspired by “The Ruler” himself, the creative boasts bold, attention-grabbing designs with details such as a smoky background, flashy bling, and an image of Slick Rick himself, all which incorporate subtle motion to make the animation dynamic and engaging.
With the goal of reaching a young, urban millennial audience, Outfront Studios fashioned the campaign as a mini movie, flashing one of four different creatives to tell the iconic hip-hop artist’s story.

“I wanted to make a statement, tell a story with this campaign, which is why I partnered with a company that cared just as much about the creative and the story as I do,” – Slick Rick, known within the hip-hop community as one of the greatest storytellers of our time.

“Outfront Studios was able to create a video that captures who I am and what my singles represent and give them a larger-than-life stage that rivals the audiences I’ve performed for in stadiums,” Slick Rick added.
The campaign is currently running for two weeks across the Times Square Trio, which includes three digital screens of varying sizes located at the crossroads of Times Square, reaching half a billion people yearly.
The creative is displayed on a continuous 15-second loop every two minutes, maximizing the reach and awareness of the campaign

“We understand that urban audiences want fun, shareable moments, which is why we designed the creative to reinforce Slick Rick’s brand and allow his personality to pop on the screen,” said Tim Wasicki, Regional Creative Director at Outfront Media. “Times Square attracts some of the largest audiences in the world and that requires campaigns to stand out. This creative paired with Slick Rick’s natural energy has done just that.”
In addition to the digital screens in Times Square, the campaign leverages Outfront Media’s geolocation technology capabilities to integrate mobile assets into the out-of-home campaign.
The partnership between mobile and out-of-home drives three times the amount of secondary actions from consumers, which is among the most important measures for mid-funnel mobile ads.