Billboard Advertising for Brand Launches & Going Global

When a brand launches something important — a product, a collection, a new market — it wants the world to notice. And there’s a reason so many launches end up on a billboard: nothing else says “this is a big deal” as loudly or as publicly. For brands going global, a landmark billboard isn’t just advertising; it’s a declaration.

Why billboards fit launches

A launch is a moment, and billboards are the medium of moments:

• They create anticipation. Billboard presence before a launch signals something big is coming.
• They announce scale. A product on a large-format screen reads as “serious” from day one.
• They build proof-of-scale. Consumers see a brand on a big, famous screen and upgrade their assumptions — the implicit message is “this brand has arrived.”

The launch playbook

The brands that launch well with billboards follow a pattern:

1. Pick a moment. A launch, an anniversary, a collection, a partnership — something worth a spectacle.
2. Choose a location that matches the message. A landmark for global scale; a well-trafficked local area for a regional launch.
3. Design to be photographed. The screen time is one campaign; the share is the second. Bold, self-explanatory, shareable.
4. Coordinate the moment online. A handle, hashtag, or QR turns the physical moment into search, follows, and sales.
5. Run long enough to land. A day is a stunt; a few weeks builds awareness.

The landmark advantage for global launches

For brands entering new markets, the landmark billboard is especially powerful. A screen at Times Square, Piccadilly Circus, or a major Asian city center:

• Reaches a global, affluent audience — Times Square alone draws roughly 380,000 pedestrians daily.
• Generates social amplification — landmark spectaculars get photographed and shared worldwide.
• Signals legitimacy — instantly upgrading how a new brand is perceived.

This is why so many Asian and Chinese brands use landmark billboards to go global: Western consumers may not know the name, but a Times Square appearance changes the conversation from “who are they?” to “they’re big enough for Times Square.”

The data that backs the strategy

• Outdoor delivers the highest ad recall of any format at 86% — critical when your brand is new.
• 74% of mobile users act on their phone after seeing a DOOH ad — a landmark appearance drives real discovery.
• Global OOH spend hit $54.2 billion in 2025, up 15% — more brands are using physical visibility for launches than ever.

Doing it for real

Globalstars has run this play for brands across categories. For iShop Shanghai, we built an international campaign spanning nine cities — New York, London, Berlin, Paris, Tokyo, Singapore and more — placing high-impact outdoor formats at world landmarks. For tea brand Guozi Shu Le and ambassador Yang Zi, we took the campaign across five continents — New York, Paris, Sydney, Buenos Aires, and Johannesburg — turning a Chinese beverage into a global talking point.

The insight behind both: put the brand where the world already looks, and the launch becomes an event.

Your launch deserves a stage

A billboard launch is about more than reach — it’s about the moment people remember, photograph, and talk about. For a product launch or a global market entry, nothing creates that moment like a landmark billboard.

Globalstars sources and operates premium billboard inventory around the world — highway LED screens, city-center displays, and world-landmark spectaculars. We help you plan, design, and execute launches that put your brand where the world is looking.

If your next launch deserves a world stage, [talk to Globalstars](https://www.globalstarscn.com/).

Data sources: World Out of Home Organisation; OAAA/Harris Poll; Solomon Partners; Globalstars case studies.