Bring Experiential OOH Activations to Life With BM Outdoor
Beauty, fashion and lifestyle brands can use experiential outdoor media to turn a product launch into a physical environment people can enter, explore and share. BM Outdoor can help brands plan experiential OOH, street-level activations, mobile media and high-impact placements designed around the way audiences move through a city.
Maybelline’s Toronto launch for Lifter Gel shows how a familiar city idea can be rebuilt as a compact brand world, giving visitors multiple reasons to stop, interact and create content.
Maybelline Brings a Slice of New York City to Toronto
For the launch of its new Lifter Gel, Maybelline New York transformed a Toronto parking lot into a New York-inspired experiential setting.
The activation was built around recognizable city cues, including a fully customized Maybelline taxi, a hot dog stand, a poster wall and numerous branded details designed to make the space feel cohesive rather than like a single promotional installation.
The taxi became one of the strongest visual anchors. Branded wheels, license plates, bumper stickers and car tags turned the vehicle into a photo opportunity that connected Maybelline’s New York identity with the Toronto setting.
Branded Details Turn the Space Into a Complete Experience
The activation extended the Lifter Gel visual language across the environment instead of relying on one hero sign. Pink surfaces, product imagery and editorial-style graphics helped connect each physical touchpoint back to the launch.
That consistency matters in experiential OOH because visitors often encounter the campaign in fragments: one person may notice the taxi first, another may interact with the product wall, and another may discover the sampling area. A strong visual system helps every touchpoint feel like part of the same story.
Scratch-and-Sniff Turns Product Discovery Into Participation
One of the most interactive elements was the scratch-and-sniff wall. Guests were invited to explore different scents and match their favourite to one of the new Lifter Gels.
That simple interaction changes the role of the audience. Instead of only looking at campaign visuals, visitors physically participate in the discovery process before moving on to product trial.
The wall also translated the sensory qualities of a beauty product into a larger public-facing format, making the launch easier to understand at a glance while still rewarding people who chose to engage more closely.
Product Trial Extends the Experience Beyond the Visuals
After exploring the scent wall, guests could try the product, grab a drink and sip it through a custom crazy straw featuring the Lifter Gel tube itself.
This sequence created a natural progression from attention to interaction to trial. The environment attracted visitors visually, the sensory wall encouraged participation, and sampling gave them a direct experience with the product.
Why the Customized Taxi Works as an Experiential OOH Asset
The Maybelline taxi connected the activation to New York immediately. Because the vehicle was customized down to the wheels, plates, bumper stickers and tags, it worked as more than a prop.
It became a recognizable piece of street culture rebuilt through the brand’s visual language, giving guests a clear photo moment while reinforcing the Maybelline New York identity in a Toronto setting.
What OOH Advertisers Can Learn From the Lifter Gel Launch
The campaign shows how experiential outdoor marketing can combine several forms of engagement in one compact footprint. Visual branding creates the initial attraction, themed objects establish context, interactive elements invite participation, and product sampling brings the experience back to what is being launched.
For beauty brands in particular, that approach can be useful because texture, scent, colour and personal preference are difficult to communicate through static creative alone. Experiential formats can make those qualities more tangible while still giving the campaign a strong public presence.
How BM Outdoor Can Support Experiential Brand Launches
Brands planning product launches, pop-ups or street-level experiences can combine experiential installations with billboards, DOOH, mobile media, transit and other outdoor formats to extend the idea beyond a single location.
BM Outdoor can help plan OOH and experiential campaigns that connect high-impact creative with the locations, formats and audience movement patterns that make a launch easier to discover.
Bring Your Next Experiential OOH Campaign to Life With BM Outdoor
If your brand wants to turn a product launch into a physical experience people can see, enter and share, BM Outdoor can help bring the concept into the real world through experiential OOH, street-level activations, mobile media, DOOH, transit and high-impact placements built around the creative idea.
Summary
Maybelline’s Toronto Lifter Gel launch turned a temporary outdoor space into a highly visual, participatory brand environment. By combining New York cues, a photo-ready taxi, tactile scent discovery, product trial and social-friendly design, the activation gave visitors several ways to engage with the product beyond a traditional ad. It is a strong example of how experiential outdoor media can connect physical place, product discovery and shareable moments in one campaign.
Sources
Campaign information and visuals were supplied for this article. The supplied material describes Maybelline New York transforming a Toronto parking lot into a New York-inspired Lifter Gel launch experience with a customized taxi, hot dog stand, poster wall, scratch-and-sniff interaction, product trial and a custom Lifter Gel straw. No verified reach, impression or campaign-performance figures were provided.
FAQs
What was the Maybelline Lifter Gel activation in Toronto?
It was a New York-inspired experiential product launch that transformed a Toronto parking lot with a customized Maybelline taxi, hot dog stand, poster wall, branded details and interactive product discovery.
Why did the activation use a New York City theme?
The theme connected the Toronto experience with the Maybelline New York brand identity, using familiar city cues such as a customized yellow taxi and street-inspired details.
How did the scratch-and-sniff wall work?
Guests were invited to explore the scented wall and match their preferred scent to one of the new Lifter Gels before moving on to try the product.
What other interactive elements were included?
The supplied campaign information says guests could try Lifter Gel, grab a drink and use a custom crazy straw featuring the Lifter Gel tube, while the customized taxi served as a photo opportunity.
Why is this campaign relevant to experiential OOH?
It combines a public-facing physical environment, strong branded visuals, interactive discovery, product sampling and photo moments, showing how outdoor media can become a participatory launch experience.
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