Metads Installs 5-Meter Walk-In LED Cube at Düsseldorf Christmas Market
2026-11-12 · via invidis
German 3D-specialist agency Metads has installed a walk-in LED cube at the Düsseldorf Christmas market, running from November 19 through December 30. The structure, named Portal 2016, stands five meters high, wide and deep, and is open at the front, with the back wall, side walls and ceiling each made up of 25 square meters of LED. According to Metads, that adds up to roughly 50 times the surface area of a digital City-Light poster, and the company calls it the largest walk-in 3D cube in a public space in Germany.
For operators, the appeal here is less about resolution or brightness and more about dwell time and format novelty. Metads says the cube displays exclusively anamorphic imagery, perspectively distorted content that only resolves into a 3D effect when viewed from about 14 meters in front of the structure. The company produces this content itself and tested the format in a hall beforehand, including a piece for Sephora.
How the ad model works
The cube runs daily from 10 am to 10 pm and can carry content from up to ten brands per day. Each brand gets a 10-second slot inside a 100-second loop, which Metads says works out to roughly 400 plays a day per advertiser. Booking is open now for brands wanting a slot before the installation comes down.
Metads CEO Lukas Flöer frames the format as a bet on captive audience behavior at Christmas markets: "At the Christmas market, people have time; they stop and pull out their cell phones. That's exactly why we built the cube," he says, according to the announcement. That is a claim worth noting rather than taking at face value. The format depends on foot traffic stopping and looking up, which is a different proposition than a roadside digital billboard glanced at from a car.
This is not Metads' first large-format DOOH play. The company recently paired an LED cube, the Ocean Outdoor Portal, with the large DOOH screen at the Center on Potsdamer Platz, suggesting an interest in building a portfolio of these immersive, temporary structures rather than a one-off stunt.
Context: permitting pressure on permanent DOOH in Germany
The announcement notes that Germany makes it difficult to secure permits for large-format DOOH setups, particularly permanent ones. That framing matters: installations like this cube, along with Hamburg's Lighthouse and a Düsseldorf LED tunnel cited in the release, read as workarounds. Temporary, event-tied structures sidestep some of the regulatory friction that blocks permanent large-format screens, while still giving brands a flashy, high-dwell-time placement.
What the announcement does not say is pricing for the ten-second slots, how many of the ten daily brand spots are already booked, or whether Metads plans to make this a recurring seasonal fixture beyond this year's run.
The announcement in full
Reproduced from invidis for reference. Digital Signage Magazine did not write the text below.
With a 5-meter edge length, four LED panels, and exclusively 3D-effect imagery, Germany's Metads is showcasing its next walk-through format in Düsseldorf.
Starting November 19, German 3D specialist agency Metads will install a walk-in LED cube at the Düsseldorf Christmas market.
Through December 30, the cube named Portal 2016 will display content from up to ten brands daily from 10 am to 10 pm. According to Metads, this makes it the largest walk-in 3D cube in a public space in Germany.
Each side features 25 square meters of LED
The cube is five meters (about 16,4 feet) high, wide, and deep, and is open at the front. The back wall, side walls, and ceiling each consist of 25 square meters (about 269 square feet) of LED. Together, they provide approximately 50 times as much surface area as a digital City-Light poster.
Metads displays exclusively anamorphic images there, which the company produces itself. These images are perspectively distorted and appear three-dimensional only when viewed from a vantage point about 14 meters in front of the cube. Metads tested the format in advance in a hall, including with an image for the beauty brand Sephora.
Each brand receives ten seconds within a 100-second loop. This means each ad runs about 400 times a day. Brands can book spots starting now. “At the Christmas market, people have time; they stop and pull out their cell phones. That’s exactly why we built the cube,” says Lukas Flöer, CEO of Metads.
Metads recently displayed an LED cube, in this case, the Ocean Outdoor portal, and combined it with the large DooH screen at the Center on Potsdamer Platz.
Although the installation is temporary, large-format DooH formats are on the move in Germany – where it is difficult to get permits for these kind of DooH setups, especially when they are permanent. Recent installations, like the Metads cube, the Lighthouse in Hamburg , or the LED tunnel in Düsseldorf , move the needle toward some more German immersive DooH fun.