What it had to solve
With the eyes of the world about to tune into the Euros' opening night, the group-travel brand wanted to capture the moment by linking itself to the squad-snub story with a bold, memorable stunt.
The idea
Mobile billboards invited the dropped stars to join a squad where they would actually fit — WeRoad's — driving past the Etihad and Tottenham's stadium.
How it works
DUDE London created the mobile OOH, produced with WeRoad's in-house marketing team. James Maddison's invitation started at the London Eye and wound through Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Circus to end at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium; Jack Grealish's travelled Manchester's Northern Quarter, Piccadilly Gardens and Oxford Road before ending at the Etihad.
What it did
The stunt ran in the days the world tuned in for the Euros, playing on the two players' fame for holidaying together in Ibiza. No engagement or reach figures were reported.
Background
On June 13, 2024 — days before the European Championship kicked off in Germany — group-travel brand WeRoad invited Jack Grealish and James Maddison to join 'the WeRoad squad'. England manager Gareth Southgate had announced his Euro 2024 squad the previous Friday without the two, both among England's best-known players and both famous for holidaying together in Ibiza.
Mobile billboards carried the invitations through each player's city: Maddison's route started at the London Eye, passed Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Circus, and ended at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium; Grealish's wound through Manchester's Northern Quarter, Piccadilly Gardens and Oxford Road before ending at the Etihad Stadium.
The campaign was created by DUDE London and produced by WeRoad's in-house marketing team. CMO Fabio Bin said that with the world preparing to tune into the Euros, WeRoad 'saw an incredible opportunity to capture the public's attention' with 'a bold and memorable stunt', adding: 'Whether you're a diehard football fan or just someone looking for inspiration to explore new cultures, we hope that this mobile billboard will have people packing your bags before the final whistle blows.'
Why it lands
The news was perfectly on-brand: professional footballers suddenly free for a summer of travelling and partying.
The routes made the stunt local news twice — past each player's home stadium, not just in generic media locations.
Speed was the point: conceived and out within a week of the squad announcement, before the tournament's first whistle.
It extended WeRoad's established witty, tongue-in-cheek voice rather than inventing a new tone for one stunt.
What you can take
Reactive OOH works when the brand's product genuinely answers the news: two footballers with famous holidays and no squad to join are exactly WeRoad's customer.
Since then
The mobile billboards ran through Manchester and London in the run-up to the Euros' opening night; WeRoad continued its zeitgeist-led OOH approach, with a separate 'Beat This Billboard' challenge running in Manchester the same month. No results figures for this stunt were reported.
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