Global's Adpower Platform Launches Outdoor Campaign Targeting UK SMEs
2026-09-15 · via invidis
Global has launched a marketing push for Adpower, its self-service platform for booking outdoor and audio advertising, aimed at persuading small and mid-sized UK businesses to try out-of-home media. The opening phase, called Love Letters, places 100 personalized billboard messages near the offices or storefronts of participating brands, each written from the point of view of the billboard itself.
The copy, produced with agency Stink Studios, references specific details about each business. A billboard pitching to footcare brand Margaret Dabbs London jokes that their relationship "has legs" despite the billboard having no feet. Sushi chain Sushidog gets asked to wrap the board in seaweed. Womenswear brand Kaiia receives a rhyme about velour. According to Global, all 100 letters were typed on a typewriter and photographed to give the creative a physical, imperfect texture before being used as outdoor ads.
For digital signage and DOOH operators, the campaign matters less for its creative gimmick and more for what it signals about where Global is pointing its self-service tools. Adpower lets smaller businesses that are used to buying digital ads, but not traditional out-of-home, book outdoor and audio campaigns directly, with AI tools available to help generate creative if a brand doesn't supply its own. That positions Adpower against other self-service DOOH booking platforms that have been chasing the same SME budgets that have historically gone to social and search advertising instead.
Adpower Director Miranda Mathews said many SME brands have "spent years flirting with the idea of brand advertising" and that the platform was built to make premium media more accessible to smaller, ambitious businesses, according to Global.
What comes next
Love Letters is described as the first phase of a larger rollout. Global says additional outdoor advertising will run across the UK from late September using its Street Hubs and billboard network, along with Transport for London inventory. Radio spots will follow on Global stations including Heart and Capital, with an audiovisual campaign planned for later in the autumn.
The announcement does not specify how many of the 100 recipient brands are new to outdoor advertising versus returning Adpower customers, nor does it give figures on inventory pricing, minimum spend, or how the AI creative tools work in practice. It also does not say whether the billboards used for the letters are digital or static, which limits how much operators running digital out-of-home networks can draw from this specific activation beyond the broader signal that Global is investing in lowering the entry barrier for smaller advertisers.
The announcement in full
Reproduced from invidis for reference. Digital Signage Magazine did not write the text below.
Global’s self-service advertising platform is courting smaller businesses with personalized billboard messages — each one composed from the perspective of an outdoor display looking for a relationship.
Billboards rarely make the first move. However, Adpower is changing that with Love Letters, a nationwide campaign designed to introduce 100 independent UK brands to outdoor and audio advertising.
Created with Stink Studios, the campaign gives every participating company its own personalized letter. The copy draws on the products, personality and history of each business and is written as though the billboard itself is doing the courting.
For Margaret Dabbs London, a luxury footcare brand, the billboard acknowledges that a relationship between the two might be a long shot because it has no feet. Its pitch, naturally, is that the partnership “has legs.”
Sushidog receives an invitation to wrap the billboard in seaweed and spread the word, while womenswear company Kaiia is serenaded with a rhyme about its velour clothing.
The 100 letters were individually produced on a typewriter and then photographed for use as outdoor creative. Stink Studios said the analog approach brought imperfections, texture and a physical quality to the campaign.
The ads are being placed near each recipient’s offices or stores, making it hard for founders and employees to miss their oversized admirers.
Adpower is Global’s self-service platform for booking outdoor and audio campaigns. It is aimed at smaller and growing businesses accustomed to buying digital advertising but less familiar with traditional media. Users can upload their own creative or use the platform’s AI tools to produce outdoor and radio ads.
“Many SME brands have spent years flirting with the idea of brand advertising,” said Adpower Director Miranda Mathews. She added that the platform was created to make premium media easier for smaller but ambitious businesses to access.
The Love Letters activation is the opening phase of a wider Adpower marketing campaign. Additional outdoor advertising will begin across the UK in late September, using Global’s Street Hubs and billboard network as well as Transport for London inventory.
Radio spots will run on Global stations including Heart and Capital, with an audiovisual campaign scheduled to follow later in the autumn.
Apparently, after sending 100 love letters, Adpower is ready for something more serious.