The billboard used to promote Today FM and the Irish Cancer Society’s “Shave or Dye” campaign has won the top prize in the annual Posters of Distinction competition run by out-of-home monitoring specialists PML Group.

Designed for Today FM and the Irish Cancer Society by Irish International, the poster emerged as the public’s favourite out-of-home advertising campaign in 2012 from more than 1,000 contenders.

“The Today FM design is great in that it encompasses almost everything that we preach about creating strong out-of-home posters,” says Colum Harmon, marketing manager at PML Group.

“It’s clean and clear, with a good dose of humour and is strongly branded with minimum text. It’s an excellent example of how outdoor should be done.”

Seven of the 10 category-winning designs had a person or character as the central aspect to their design, Harmon notes.

“This obviously resonates with the public and is a good lesson for creating effective posters going forward.”