Bill Is Bored Case Study
The Brief
With a long-standing partnership and history of successful campaigns, VAST Billboards approached Antony & Mates to tackle a new challenge: prove that billboards don’t just build brand awareness – they convert.
VAST wanted a campaign that could demonstrate the potential of billboard advertising as an effective tool to boost digital engagement and drive actions.
The Idea
To demonstrate billboard effectiveness, we knew we needed clear, measurable data.
We envisioned a campaign that would drive people to a dedicated website, with all traffic generated solely from billboards.
But we faced the age-old challenge: how do we get people to visit a website, based solely on a billboard impression? The answer: curiosity.
And so, Bill was born.
Inspired by the term “billboard,” we created Bill, a playful, 8-bit character who’s simply bored.
We knew that Bill’s character and his situation needed to resonate universally, so we stripped the billboard messaging back to a single, intriguing message: “Bill Is Bored. Help Bill cure his boredom at billisbored.com.”
With this minimalist, curiosity-driven approach, we sought to spark intrigue across New Zealand.
The Campaign
The strategy was as clever as it was straightforward. We placed Bill on VAST’s extensive network of digital billboards, omitting any branding or additional context and focusing purely on driving curiosity and clicks.
The goal was to create a moment of confusion for passersby, coercing them to visit the website simply to find out what “Bill Is Bored” was all about.
On arriving at billisbored.com, visitors were met with Bill himself, still bored and in need of help. To cure his boredom, we gave visitors five options to choose from:
- Cook Bill a Meal
- Adopt a Pet for Bill
- Tell Bill a Joke
- Give Bill a Compliment
- Give Bill a New Hobby
Each choice triggered a form, inviting visitors to contribute their own ideas, input their names and email addresses, and check a box to allow their responses to appear on future billboards.
After submitting, visitors were directed to a landing page of Bill reacting to their suggestions.
But we didn’t stop there. After a couple of weeks, we took some of the best responses and brought them to life on billboards.
New billboards across New Zealand showed Bill in a variety of engaging scenarios based on these submissions: from enjoying yummy sushi to caring for his new pets (a sausage dog and a 12-foot Burmese python), taking up hobbies like “cloud watching” and body “bill-ding,” and responding to jokes and compliments from his new friends.
The Results
After just one month, the campaign proved to be an overwhelming success. Using only billboards, we generated:
- 4,860 visitors to billisbored.com
- 1,930 form submissions, yielding a conversion rate of 40%
The “Bill Is Bored” campaign has redefined what billboard advertising can accomplish.
By merging creative storytelling with clear, data-driven metrics, we demonstrated that billboards can inspire curiosity, drive engagement, and produce conversions – proving their power as an effective tool for digital interaction.
The success of Bill is a testament to our commitment to pushing creative boundaries. We proved that creative thinking and a fresh perspective can turn even the simplest of mediums into a powerful tool for digital engagement.
Bill’s journey showed that with the right approach, billboard advertising can be an entry point to interactive storytelling – sparking curiosity, engagement, and action.
