Happy New Year!
How did you spend your time during the New Year holidays?
I recently watched the Back to the Future trilogy—a timeless and entertaining sci-fi classic first released in 1985.
In the films, the future city of 2015 was imagined with flying cars, hoverboards, fingerprint payments, and even instant-hydrated pizzas. At the time, these visions sparked enormous excitement and curiosity about what the world beyond the millennium might look like.
Today, decades later, some of these once-fictional ideas have indeed become part of our everyday lives—such as smart glasses, biometric payments, and voice-controlled devices.
This naturally leads us to a question:
If certain cinematic visions of future cities have materialized, could the ways outdoor advertising is depicted in films also offer hints about its future?
With this in mind, as we explore new possibilities for the future of outdoor advertising, let’s take a look at how it has been imagined in cinema depicting future cities.
Outdoor Advertising as a City Landmark
In films such as Blade Runner(1982) and Blade Runner 2049(2017), outdoor advertising appears on a monumental scale, becoming part of the city’s skyline. Advertisements are not secondary elements, but defining features of the urban landscape.
This suggests a future in which outdoor advertising functions as a landmark—closely tied to a city’s identity and visual memory.
From Information to Emotion
In Minority Report(2002), outdoor advertising is portrayed as dynamic and immersive. Instead of delivering detailed information, it captures attention through motion, light, and atmosphere.
This reflects a shift toward emotional impact. In the future, outdoor advertising may focus less on explaining and more on creating instant impressions that remain in memory.
Presence as Environment
In works such as Ghost in the Shell(2017), viewers may not recall specific advertising messages. Instead, what remains memorable is their sheer presence. Advertisements appear as part of the city’s visual fabric—repeated, large-scale, and impossible to ignore.
This suggests a different way of understanding the value of outdoor advertising. Rather than delivering individual messages, its strength lies in shaping the atmosphere of urban space. Through continuous and ambient presence, outdoor advertising becomes part of everyday life, influencing how cities are experienced rather than simply what is seen.
The outdoor advertising seen in films is not a prediction, but a reflection that amplifies current trends—monumental scale, dynamic visuals, emotional resonance, and integration with the city.
As we begin this year, we invite you to explore the future possibilities of outdoor advertising with us.
This yeart at Kesion, we continue to create innovative outdoor advertising that connects cities, brands, and people.
Please feel free to contact us anytime if you would like to discuss ideas or projects with us.
See you next time：)