How Challenger Brands Create Big Impact with Takeover Advertising

Turning the City into a Stage

For challenger brands, visibility is everything. These are the brands that thrive not by outspending industry giants but by outthinking them. Slick Gorilla, one of the UK’s leading men’s hair styling and grooming brands, has done exactly that with its latest out-of-home (OOH) takeover campaign across London.

Running from the 14th-28th July, the campaign transformed the London Underground into a creative showcase for confidence and individuality. Using high-visibility placements across the capital’s busiest tube lines, the brand made sure its audience couldn’t miss the message “Slick Squad to the Rescue.”

The takeover featured 4-Sheet and 16-Sheet posters in hand-selected stations, ensuring that every interaction between commuters and the brand felt deliberate, bold, and fun. It was not just about visibility but about energy, creating moments of entertainment in the daily commute that feel like part of the city’s rhythm.

The Creative Power of the “Slick Squad”

Slick Gorilla’s creative concept sits at the heart of why this campaign works. The “Slick Squad,” a team of SAS-style heroes formed to save men from bad hair days, captures the perfect balance of humour, relevance, and attitude. At the centre stands “Captain Good Hair,” a character who gives the brand a cinematic personality and instantly recognisable identity.

Each poster draws inspiration from traditional Hollywood blockbuster movie art. It’s nostalgic yet fresh, designed to stop commuters in their tracks. The brand’s creative team understood that modern audiences crave something unexpected, something they can photograph, share, and talk about. This approach turns a simple OOH campaign into a cultural moment.

For challenger brands, this kind of creative bravery is essential. It creates distinction and brand recall far beyond what digital banners or static social content can achieve.

Expanding the Takeover Beyond the Underground

The campaign didn’t stop beneath the streets. In June, Slick Gorilla taxis took to the roads, with super side ads bringing the same high-energy design to the city’s busiest routes. The visual continuity between the underground and above-ground formats gave the campaign a sense of scale usually reserved for major FMCG players.

This cross-format execution is a reminder of how transport advertising can extend the life of creative storytelling. Taxis, in particular, act as mobile billboards that connect the brand directly with target audiences in motion, from commuters and shoppers to nightlife crowds across the capital.

Why Takeover Advertising Works for Challenger Brands

Takeover advertising allows emerging brands to create a sense of dominance in highly competitive markets. It offers full ownership of key touchpoints, building familiarity through repetition and scale. For challenger brands, that perceived scale translates directly into credibility.

By surrounding audiences with a cohesive message across multiple touchpoints, these brands achieve what digital impressions alone cannot - emotional connection through presence. The combination of strong storytelling, visual consistency, and geographical precision turns a short-term campaign into a long-term memory.

Slick Gorilla’s takeover perfectly illustrates this. It’s confident without arrogance, creative without confusion, and purpose-driven without losing its sense of fun. It shows that OOH is still one of the most democratic platforms in advertising, where bold ideas can stand shoulder to shoulder with global household names.

Staying Slick in the Marketing Landscape

For advertisers and agencies, the Slick Gorilla campaign is a reminder that scale is not always about budget, but about execution. A strong narrative, consistent branding, and an understanding of audience movement patterns can make a campaign feel omnipresent.

Whether it’s through humour, design, or smart media planning, the campaign demonstrates how creative ambition can turn an independent grooming brand into a household name on the move.