Casting for Billboards, Not Just Feeds: Why Big-Format Needs Big Presence
It’s one thing to look good in a close-up Insta story. It’s quite another to hold attention three storeys high on a billboard in Shoreditch, while traffic and TikTok fight for your viewer’s brain.
Out-of-home (OOH) advertising is big, bold, and unforgiving. There’s no swiping away, no muting the soundtrack, no 15-second escape hatch. Your cast needs to land immediately—with one look, one pose, one perfectly calibrated presence. And that’s where MXM Casting comes in.
The Challenge of Casting for OOH
OOH stills are about impact. But more importantly, they’re about clarity. The audience is walking, scrolling, commuting, daydreaming. Your message has to hit with:
Instant emotional clarity
Visual distinctiveness
Brand-aligned presence
That means the talent you choose can’t just be photogenic. They need to command the space—and deliver the entire campaign mood in a glance.
What We Look for in Billboard-Ready Talent
1. Striking Features and Clean Lines
Billboards magnify everything. Subtle doesn’t always work. We look for performers with strong silhouettes, captivating eyes, and expressions that read from 50 feet away.
2. Confidence Without Overacting
This isn’t theatre—but it’s not film either. OOH demands a kind of poised, quiet power. Someone who knows how to work their face and body for a frame that will be everywhere, huge, and repeated.
3. On-Brand Energy
Luxury? Gritty streetwear? Corporate empowerment? We don’t just find someone who fits the clothes—we find someone who fits the ethos. We make sure their energy matches the billboard message, not just the moodboard.
Real-World Case: From Street to Super-Sized
One of our favourite large-scale jobs involved casting for a dual-city billboard launch for a drinks brand. They wanted “bold and real” to stand out against overly polished competitors.
We street cast two sisters on a market run. Their energy was contagious. We cleaned up their wardrobe, left their personalities intact, and boom—two 20-foot portraits that felt like truth. The client’s engagement went through the roof.
The Scale Factor
With OOH, what works on set doesn’t always work on the wall. Our casting process always accounts for:
How talent reads from distance
How skin tone, eye shape, and expression play with lighting & print
How the image will be cropped across multiple formats
It’s not just about “looking good.” It’s about photographic impact at scale.
MXM’s Hybrid Roster
We don’t just pull from model boards. We work with actors, real people, dancers, activists, stylists—people who know how to embody presence in a single click.
We’ve cast for:
Fashion x streetwear collabs
Corporate reputation campaigns
Transport OOH takeovers
Global beauty and skincare brands
All with talent who know how to turn heads—and keep them.
Big Canvas. Bigger Expectations.
When your ad is blown up on the side of a building or plastered across the tube, you can’t afford forgettable. And that starts with casting.
At MXM Casting, we deliver talent who don’t just show up in the frame—they own it. So if your next campaign is going big, let’s make sure your cast can match the scale.
