Portals in plain sight: Why smart glasses could reframe OOH

While we shouldn’t view the latest developments in AI-powered smart glasses through rose-tinted lenses, there’s reason to be optimistic that these innovative devices could deliver compelling brand activations and experiences for Out Of Home.

The latest wearable innovations teaming up with the original advertising medium? Why not? The developments in AI-powered smart glasses hint at a future that gives a fully immersive brand experience. It is a shift that could rewrite the rules of how brands live in public spaces and the billboards we walk past every day could soon be revealing entire worlds.

OOH has long been the city’s biggest screen, impossible to ignore, a part of daily life.

OOH is a medium that continually reinvents itself, with deeper integrations of digital tech and there have been some stunning examples of creative work in 3D anamorphic builds, such as Nike’s jaw-dropping Air Max billboard in Shinjuku, Tokyo.

Above: Using anamorphic technology, Nike celebrated Air Max Day in March 2022 by unveiling an astounding 4K, 3D display at Tokyo’s Shinjuku Station.

Smart glasses have been around a while and their AR functionality, gaming and video watching capabilities are understood. But the next generation of these devices looks like being a quantum leap for the creative imagination if they work seamlessly.

Snap is lining up new lightweight, immersive Specs for release next year, a wearable described as an ‘ultra-powerful wearable computer’ that brings ‘AI assistance into three-dimensional space’. Meta’s Ray Ban Display, meanwhile, has a ‘heads up’ display projected on one lens only visible to the wearer, who can control the device through touch, voice or hand gesture via a ‘Neural Band’.

Not a campaign, a platform

OOH has always been more than media. It’s a medium that fires up dreams and becomes woven into culture. It is the billboards at London’s Piccadilly Circus, now known as the Piccadilly Lights. The mural that becomes a neighbourhood landmark. The projection that suddenly makes a building feel alive.

Smart glasses may still be early in their journey, but they hint at something profound: the possibility that OOH could evolve from a static surface into a living, interactive medium.

OOH has long been the city’s biggest screen, impossible to ignore, a part of daily life, and an incredibly potent platform for messaging because it forces people to stop, look and share.

Now a new lens has entered the conversation. The smart glasses may still be early in their journey, but they hint at something profound: the possibility that OOH could evolve from a static surface into a living, interactive medium. Not just a campaign, but a cultural layer.

The best OOH has never sat neatly inside a media plan. It has always spilled into culture: the stunt that becomes news, the mural that becomes a selfie backdrop, the screen that sparks a viral moment. With smart glasses, the canvas stretches even further.

OOH already plays beyond its apparent borders: live stunts, projection mapping, pop-ups and experiences designed to spark conversation. Glasses do not replace this. They heighten it.

Above: The largest digital screen of its kind in Europe, London’s Piccadilly Lights is a high-resolution display that can incorporate AI to create targeted ads based on passing pedestrians and traffic.

Smart glasses will first appeal to Gen Z and younger millennials, digital natives who move fluidly between physical and digital worlds and who crave novelty, immersion and shareable moments.

This is not just another channel but a multiplier, a way to stretch ideas into unexpected spaces.

They open up three layers of experience: the physical city, where posters, buildings and street objects become part of the canvas; the digital layer, where moments are captured,

shared and amplified; and the AR layer, where a glance transforms reality into something more.

This is not just another channel but a multiplier, a way to stretch ideas into unexpected spaces where the physical and digital flow together as one.

Unexpected spaces, unexpected formats

Surprise has always been OOH’s greatest asset. The medium comes alive in the places people do not expect: Glasses will sharpen this potential.

With AI vision, brands can appear in new ways. Imagine a mural that blossoms into animation when seen through the lenses. Or a shopfront that reveals a hidden story. These are not campaigns to tick a box. They are cultural worlds waiting to be stepped into, whether you are on the street, online, or seeing the city through a lens. These moments add intimacy: sparks of magic that feel personal to the observer yet ripple outward as cultural buzz.

The fact they are designed for quick, glanceable moments makes them a natural fit with the short, punchy style of OOH. Finally, the AR layers can translate, caption or adapt content, making communication more inclusive.

The cultural frontier and portals to our imagination

History shows us that when new devices arrive, they do not just change how we look at the world. They change how culture itself unfolds. Television transformed living rooms into stages for global events. The Sony Walkman gave people a private soundtrack to public life, reshaping how they experienced moving through the city. The iPhone redefined how we document and share our lives, putting an editing suite and broadcast channel in every pocket.