Naked’s #GetNakedAnywhere campaign has generated more than 20 million organic views on TikTok, making it a viral TikTok phenomenon, but it started with an Out of Home (OOH) billboard campaign.
Naked’s #GetNakedAnywhere campaign has turned an Out of Home (OOH) billboard campaign into a viral TikTok trend, with the top two videos racking up 3.8 million and 3.2 million organic views and total campaign views of nearly 20 million (Image supplied)
Inspired by real data of South Africans getting Naked, the campaign started with over 150 unique billboards across South Africa, each highlighting a time and place someone bought Naked insurance from their smartphone.
Alongside this, the brand rolled out an extensive series of personalised video and digital ads featuring common South African names and relatable situations—whether playing padel, visiting the dentist, suntanning, or attending a rugby match.
People loved spotting their names or names of friends and family as they scrolled through their socials or drove to a meeting.
A life of its own on TikTok
“We knew we were really onto something when people started tagging their friends in our Facebook ads.
“Most people scroll past ads as fast as they can, but this campaign not only got people to pay attention but also to tag their friends in the comments,” says Ernest North, co-founder of Naked
A few months into the campaign, it took on a life of its own on TikTok.
“A trend started on TikTok where hundreds of users began posting videos, asking Naked to feature their names on billboards,” says North.
“Within days, hundreds of user-generated videos of our billboards were posted, completely unprompted by us.
Name requests for billboards
The top two videos racked up 3.8 million and 3.2 million organic views. The total campaign views hit nearly 20 million without ad spending, while some 30,000 new followers found the Naked TikTok page that week.
North says the comments of their TikTok posts were flooded by 10s of thousands of requests from people who wanted to see their names on our billboards.
He explains that while it was not realistic to put up thousands of new billboards overnight to address these requests, the Naked creative team did the next best thing.
With the help of the agency Run Jump Fly, they designed editable billboard templates allowing them to generate hyper-realistic video billboards featuring the names of TikTok commenters.
In just a week, Naked posted 60 videos featuring the 600 most requested names — each set to fun, topical songs like My Name Is by Eminem, Say My Name by Destiny’s Child, and That’s Not My Name by The Ting Tings.
A clear, repeatable idea
North, says they believe this campaign works because it’s relatable and personal without trying too hard.
“Throughout the campaign, we continue to stick to a clear, repeatable idea that makes the campaign instantly recognisable.
“And, instead of explicitly asking for participation, we aim to spark conversation — so people want to be part of it.”
“We knew we were really onto something when people started tagging their friends in our Facebook ads.
“Most people scroll past ads as fast as they can, but this campaign not only got people to pay attention but also to tag their friends in the comments,” says North.
