What Product Marketing Teams Can Learn from Surreal’s Outdoor Campaigns

There’s a new kid on the breakfast block. Surreal, the plucky British cereal upstart, is pouring a hearty bowl of creativity into its protein-packed, low-sugar offerings. But it's not just their cereal that's causing a stir - it's their deliciously disruptive Out of Home (OOH) campaigns that have the marketing world milk-moustache-deep in admiration.

With cheeky rebukes to the status quo of boring breakfasts - be it their ‘non-celebrity’ endorsements or taking on mascots of competitor brands - Surreal’s outdoor campaigns are stopping people in their tracks. Literally.

Now, as a tech product marketer, you may or may not be thinking about OOH campaigns or billboards. But Surreal’s creative communication transcends medium, offering up a cheat code for the most universal product marketing challenges.

Surreal’s cheat code for creative product communication

Whether you're pitching healthy breakfast or a cloud solution, standing out in a crowded market, translating complex features into benefits, and creating emotional connects with customers are everyday battles. And most tech marketing is often about as exciting as watching paint dry (or cereal get soggy!). Here’s how Surreal’s approach can add a splash of some much-needed creative milk to otherwise staid product narratives:

‍Now let’s look at each of these with examples from Surreal’s OOH campaigns.

Subverting category norms

Playing on ‘January Health’
It’s January. Time for a reset. But Surreal says: “It’s wet and cold and miserable and we just wanna watch movies and not think about work until at least March.”
As do their ads.

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At a time of year when most health food or fitness brands converge into sameness with ‘New Year, New Me!’, Surreal flips the script. Their billboards sarcastically dismiss the January health frenzy and connect directly with their audience’s post-holiday fatigue with an irreverent ‘Can’t be bothered this month?’ While still highlighting their protein content, the billboards feature stock images, stick figures, and intentionally ‘lazy’ design to acknowledge what many are thinking but not saying.

Surreal’s about-turn does more than draw attention. It also speaks at a very human level to consumers who feel unmotivated after holiday binges, amplifying their voice in a crowded market.

Lessons for product marketing teams

1. Embrace counter-positioning
   Identify the expected messaging in your industry category. Look for recurring themes, tones, and visuals that dominate the space. Is everyone talking about AI, cloud computing, or digital transformation? Consider taking a contrarian stance.
   Example: If competitors are touting complex features, your campaign could focus on simplicity: "Too many features? We just do one thing, really well."
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2. Leverage timing
   Like Surreal's January campaign, time your messaging to coincide with industry trends, cycles, or major events.
   Example: During tech conference season, when everyone's announcing new products, your campaign could be: "No new features this year. Just perfecting what we already do."
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3. Tap into consumer sentiment analysis
   Utilise social listening tools and customer feedback channels to gauge the unspoken feelings or frustrations of your target audience. Then address them to better connect with your consumer’s realities.
   Example: "Tired of constant updates? Our software stays the same. Boringly effective."

Using cultural analogies

The Super Bowl touchdown (or is it a try?)
Surreal tackles a classic problem here: explaining something quintessentially American to a British audience.

In a brilliant play of cultural translation, Surreal turns the American Super Bowl into a relatable concept for British audiences. They cleverly compare it to rugby "but with more adverts and less cauliflower ears," instantly bridging the Atlantic divide. The kicker? They've co-opted the term "super bowl" for their own high-protein, low-sugar cereal, creating a witty double entendre that ties directly to their product. And just when you think they've run out of plays, they drop a Taylor Swift reference, making sure even the sports-averse perk up their ears. All in a space of two billboards, they managed to explain the unfamiliar, inject a distinctly British flavour, and still keep the product front and centre.

Lessons for product marketing teams

1. Bridge gaps with familiar cultural analogies
   When speaking to an audience unfamiliar with certain concepts - or even product features - find relatable analogies within their own cultural context. Research and identify key cultural symbols, events, or phrases and use these insights to translate your product's benefits or features into terms that feel local and familiar.
   Example: For a cloud storage service marketed in India during IPL cricket season:"Your data's new Powerplay: Six saves, no wickets lost.”
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2. Lean into wordplay
   Don't shy away from puns and clever language that relates to your product. Put interesting juxtapositions or visual puns to work here. When done well, it can make your message more memorable.
   Example: For an AI writing tool with advanced autocorrect: “We’ve got your back….space!”

Addressing objections and skepticism‍

Marketing cereal to marketers
Now this example could well be advice for how to respond to haters. But it isn’t.It’s about leaning in. Here’s Surreal leaning into marketers after being criticised for creating ‘ads that only appeal to marketers’:
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This self-aware campaign deliberately speaks to marketers in their own language, tuning into marketing conventions and industry jargon. By acknowledging the 'insider' nature of their marketing and poking fun at themselves, Surreal disarms critics while endearing themselves to their audience.

Lessons for product marketing teams

1. Anticipate and embrace objections head-on
   a) The "it's too expensive" objection: Acknowledge your price point while highlighting the value your product brings.
   Example: For a high-end project management software: "Yes, we're expensive. But so is missing deadlines and using 3 tools to manage your projects. Choose your expensive."
   b) The "we don't have time to implement a new solution" pushback: Acknowledge the pain of change while emphasising long-term gains the customer benefits from.
   Example: For an LMS - "Implementing our software takes 2 hours. Not implementing it wastes 2 hours for every teacher at your school, every day. You do the math. (Or ask the math teachers!)"
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2. Speak to pain points & frustrations
   Paint the everyday challenges your audience faces with a funny brush, showing you're in on the joke, to make them feel seen and understood.
   Example: For a project management tool - "Because 'ASAP' is not a deadline, and your team knows it."
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3. Use industry clichés & insider jokes
   Gently poke fun at overused industry terms or references your audience can relate to. This positions your product as less of a hard-sell and more of a shared experience.
   Example for a CRM tool: "Circle back is not a verb. We’ll automate your follow-ups so you don’t have to use it.”
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4. Break the fourth wall
   Acknowledge the marketing process itself, creating a sense of transparency and shared understanding with your audience.
   Example: For a data analytics platform - "This ad uses buzzwords to sell you a product that eliminates buzzwords from your reports."‍

Developing a flexible brand voice

Cheeky everywhere
Each of Surreal's campaigns might look & feel different, but they all share a consistent underlying tone - irreverent, witty, and slightly cheeky. This consistency in brand voice helps build powerful brand recognition and loyalty, even when visuals and concepts change across campaigns and channels. Their ongoing social media tie-ins with their outdoor campaigns are an example of this consistency. The images of the billboards shared across different social media channels - from LinkedIn to Instagram - tie in extremely well with the rest of the content's tone:

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Some of these photos of Surreal’s billboards also leave you guessing whether or not this was actually an OOH campaign. That said, whether it's a billboard, a guerrilla marketing stunt, or a LinkedIn post, the Surreal voice comes through loud and clear, no matter where you might encounter their message.
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Lessons for product marketing teams

1. Stay consistent
   Develop a distinctive voice that can adapt to different contexts while remaining unmistakably "you". Practice voice translation and create voice templates to make sure your tone stays the same across channel and media.
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2. Be transparent
   Don't be afraid to share behind-the-scenes content or admit to missteps - it can humanise your product and your brand.
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3. Turn constraints into content
   Legal restrictions, B-rolls and bloopers, and rejected ideas can all become fodder for engaging content.
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4. Involve your team
   The people behind your product can add more authenticity to your voice. Featuring them and sharing their stories goes a long way in creating emotional connections with your audience.

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Indirectly referencing competitors

Tony & the fine print
Competitor nods get a whole different meaning with Surreal. When up against the Goliath’s of the cereal market - names & characters that have long dominated breakfast tables - piggy-backing off them is the David thing to do.

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Surreal manages to evoke the familiar mascots of a certain frosted flakes brand without ever actually mentioning them. The genius lies in how they subvert expectations - instead of cartoon character mascots, we get regular Joes with famous names or wordplays on competitor brand names.

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The fine print explanations add an extra layer of humour, turning what could be a legal necessity into a punchline.

And this is a particularly laudable tactic in times when competitors are constantly on the watch and bitter email exchanges between sales teams about “incorrect feature comparisons” abound!

Lessons for product marketing teams

1. Leverage “archetype” competitors
   Instead of directly naming competitors everywhere, create fictional archetypes like “Traditional Helpdesk”, or “Public Cloud Giant” or “One-channel Wonder”  that embody common limitations and in your industry. This avoids legal hurdles and also makes sure you don’t sound overly aggressive.Example: For a customer service software company, when creating a comparison table, you could use:

1. Present industry averages
   Instead of directly comparing with specific competitors, add industry averages to show how your product does better than other offerings out there. This also helps you control the narrative by defining different ‘types’ of solutions out there.Example: For a project management tool - instead of a traditional feature comparison, create a "Time Saved" table. List common tasks and compare the time it takes to complete them using your product versus the industry average.
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2. Create competitor “Easter Eggs”
   To create a shared understanding and flex your industry knowledge, include subtle references that your target audience will immediately recognise as a nods to competitors, without explicitly naming them.
   Example: For a ride-sharing app: "No surge pricing here. We won't take you for a ride, just give you one.”

Product marketing isn’t just about the product

Surreal's campaigns remind us that effective marketing is about more than just communicating product features - it's about creating moments of joy, surprise, and human connection. As you plan your next product marketing campaign, ask yourself: How can we turn our product into a conversation starter?

And remember: no good conversations ever started with a list of product features.