Paddy Power turns Dublin’s dreaded wheel clamps into comedy billboards

Paddy Power has hijacked wheel clamps across Dublin, turning the city’s most hated parking icks into a fresh piece of ambient media for its upcoming comedy festival.

The guerrilla marketing campaign from BBH Dublin targets cars immobilised on city streets in the days before the Paddy Power Comedy Festival, swapping a driver’s grim discovery for a laugh.

The stencils appear directly on the yellow clamps themselves, with footage of surprised drivers shared across Paddy Power’s social channels to build buzz ahead of the festival.

It follows a run of ambient stunts from the bookmaker and taps into a wider trend of brands repurposing overlooked street objects as media space, seen previously in IBM’s street furniture billboards.

Spotting a clamped car yesterday came with an upside: finders received free tickets to this weekend’s festival, which runs at Iveagh Gardens, Dublin, from 23 to 26 July.

Marcos Gemal, Executive Creative Director at BBH Dublin, said: “Paddy Power is always challenging people to have a laugh. So we sought out a brand new media space where you can be guaranteed 100% of people will definitely need one.”

Dean Finn, Senior Marketing Manager at Paddy Power, said: “Wheel clamps have never been known for lifting spirits. Thankfully, the Paddy Power Comedy Festival is. If we can swap a grim surprise for a good laugh, we’ve done our job.”

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